Industry Voices: Natasha Pierre

What’s your biggest source of inspiration? 

My biggest source of inspiration is the problem that I’m trying to solve and who it’s going to help. 

I often find that the struggles my community and clients face the most often have to do with them not feeling worthy of taking up space, their mindset, their confidence, what society has told them about their appearance, or about having to be perfect. 

The work I’m doing with video content can allow people to heal and find confidence and clarity in a lot of other places in their life.

What does the word “authenticity” mean to you?

Being unedited. When we curate, edit, and tweak things, to the point of no longer truly being ourselves, that’s when we start to show up inauthentically.

It’s also about trusting your intuition, trusting your gut, and trusting yourself to show up as you are without having to curate, edit, or look or sound a certain way.

Which social platform are you loving right now and why?

The social platform I’m loving right now is honestly Instagram. I have not been on Threads in weeks and I have not been on TikTok all year.

Instagram has been feeding me content that is really valuable, and I feel like I’ve been discovering more people. And I’ve loved to use it as a hub for recipes, hair inspiration, outfit inspo, wellness routines, leveling up my life, and getting inspired.

If you could give brands or Creators one social media tip right now, what would it be?

Focus on your hook. From partnering with Meta this year, I attended a conference where I heard from TikTok and all these other brands. The hook was one of the biggest things that they highlighted, whether it’s a short-form video that’s 15 seconds or less, or if it’s a little bit longer. 

Your hook can be visual, or it can be the text that you’re including (like, “have you ever wondered what social media tip gets me the best results with my content?”). Or it could be movement, or how you’re editing your content. 

Drawing people into the video in those first three seconds makes the biggest difference for reach, views, and engagement.

What’s one thing every Creator should know about brand campaigns?

First: outline everything. When you’re creating a piece of content for a brand, outline what you’re going to say, what you’re going to be creating, and what the visuals are. It doesn’t have to be a script, but definitely go into detail so you can get approval before you film and edit. That is a game changer. Even if they don’t require it, do it anyway. 

And the other big thing that I’ve learned is—don’t be afraid to negotiate. I landed one of my biggest partnerships this year—a five-figure deal and it started at half of that rate. What I learned was that negotiating doesn’t mean you’re going to lose the deal. And if it does, then it wasn’t meant to be anyway. It’s also okay to say no to something if you don’t have the capacity, or if it doesn’t feel aligned. 

I’m very picky with what I do and say yes to. I don’t think you always have to be that way, especially if you’re just starting out, but I think more Creators would get paid more and do more of the stuff they want to if they were pickier and negotiated.

How do you stay ahead of fast-moving social media trends without losing focus on your current goals and objectives?

I try not to stay ahead and I try not to keep up. I focus on creating really great content that I’m proud of, and on original video content. 

I also focus on creating video clips and topics that I can use multiple times. I can repurpose these by posting them on stories, as an Instagram Reel, or on TikTok. 

This approach means I don’t rely on what’s trending when I’m creating my content, and that shift has really allowed video to feel a lot easier for me.

Which Creators do you think are truly excelling right now?

• Ali Bonar: She’s one of the founders of Oat Haus, which is an oat-based spread—it’s so delicious! She’s just such a great example of a founder. She shares a little bit about her personally, she shares behind the scenes of running Oat Haus. Her content alone greatly impacts Oat Haus’s video strategy, even though they have separate accounts.
• Tayllor Lloyd: I’m not in the tech Creator space, but I love all the nerdy tech things that she shares from her setup to her office to how she’s filming content. It’s even influenced the way I travel. I’ve enjoyed her content and I’ve also been enjoying watching entertainment-focused Creators, which seems like a new sector that we’re seeing emerge. These types of Creators are building such credibility to the point where they can venture off and do really big things.
• Chubby Diaries’ Jeff Jenkins: He landed his own TV show, and it’s been really cool going from following him on social media to seeing his brand really blow up and his impact widen so broadly.

Which brand currently has the smartest social strategy, and why?

The first is Pattern Beauty. They’ve found such a great balance of making their content feel very personal by showing different hair types and hair care routines. They show that personal element, and also provide really valuable content.

Having Tracee Ellis Ross in their social content definitely doesn’t hurt their strategy. Seeing her talk about the launches and having so much fun with it, and being totally herself makes it feel so dynamic and so interesting.

The other brand is TALA by Grace Beverley, a Creator. One of the things they do so well is they have these behind-the-product videos where they address what their shoppers wanted, the problems they’re facing, and the features they’re requesting—it then all ladders to why they created the product. They really show what the problem is, what the solution is with their product, how they’ve made it better, and how they’ve made it more sustainable. 

Their content is really aligned with their values, but it also just shows the thought and the quality that goes into their content and into their products. They’re just taking storytelling to the next level!

What’s your biggest social media/marketing prediction?

Conversational content. We saw the boom of Threads and people just wanting to have conversations and casual chats. I’ve also really been loving broadcast content.

These two elements show that people are wanting to connect and have conversations with Creators and brands. I urge other Creators to consider how they can create conversations with their content—for example, a series that’s inspired by questions from your audience, or bring an audience to a podcast episode by using their audio. 

All of those things will help you stand apart, especially in a digital world that’s moving towards AI.

What are the top tools that you can’t live without as a Marketer?

Some type of video tool, whether it’s a tripod or phone stand. InShot is my go-to video editing tool—I probably use it every day. Love it. 

I also depend on a content calendar for planning things like my email content and my podcasts. Especially when I’m collaborating with a team member, I love having a content calendar that organizes the tasks and every logistic that goes into it.