Word & Mouth Blog

Where food, hospitality, branding, and human behavior all crash into each other. I write about restaurants, wine, placemaking, customer experience, and the small details that make people talk about a business long after they leave.

For even more snarky takes on marketing, pop culture, branding, and the internet, visit my Substack, Burnt Popcorn & Branding: Substack

  • A mix of hospitality, branding, customer psychology, hospitality culture, and internet behavior from someone who’s worked behind the scenes in marketing long enough to know what feels authentic and what feels painfully forced.

  • Yes. Especially if your marketing currently sounds like ChatGPT wrote it.

  • No LinkedIn thought leadership energy here. Just strategy, storytelling, and occasional side-eye toward trends, Chat-GPT written branding advice, and “disruptive” ideas that all look the same.

  • People in marketing, hospitality, branding, retail, wine, or anyone who secretly judges restaurants by their menu design before reading the food list.

Digital Marketing Shana Bull Digital Marketing Shana Bull

The reason why Instagram prioritizes Reels: short-form videos are search engines.

The REAL reason why Instagram is focused on Reels is that short-form videos (IMO) are the best search engines. Teenagers use videos within Tiktok to search for the things they care about, and Instagram wants those viewers. Short-form videos provide that information in easy-to-understand, quick bites versus longer YouTube videos or blog posts - so more viewers mean more $$ for digital ads.

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Shana Bull Shana Bull

Finding Trending Audio on Instagram Reels

Being able to find and use trending audio on Instagram Reels has become a big part of both Instagram Reels and TikTok. Trending audio (both trending songs & original audio that creators make) can help even small accounts grow their Instagram accounts. Here are tips on how to find trending audio on Instagram Reels to use for your social media marketing efforts.

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Changes to Instagram’s Feed is Coming - What Does This Mean for Social Media Marketers?

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram announced that the social media platform will be updating the Instagram feed and this means social media marketers need to pay attention to how Instagram users interact with the feed - in three different ways. Engaging, fun and educational social media content (*cough* videos) will still be key to connecting and growing on social media.

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Instagram Reels & Growing Your Instagram Page

The big social media story of the week is that Instagram has finally revealed that they are “no longer a photo-sharing app.” The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri meant to tweet is that Instagram is no longer JUST a photo-sharing platform. They are moving towards where their customers are looking for - video, especially Instagram Reels to grow your Instagram Page.

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