📉 SNAP cuts or delays are bad news for Walmart and other retailers.

🛒 Amazon’s Ads agent is here, alongside a new ads interface.

🎙️ Threads adds podcast promotion tools.

🚀 Report: DoorDash was the fastest growing brand of the year.

👍 Meta discontinues Facebook Like and Comment buttons for external websites.

❤️‍🔥 Inside Marriott’s data-driven path to “love-based loyalty.”

The 2025 Link in Bio Social Media Compensation Survey gathered insights from 2,500 respondents from 390+ cities and 40 countries to understand how experience, title, industry, and other factors influence pay.

Key takeaways:

• Experience matters. Entry-level salaries increased slightly (3.3%), keeping pace with inflation, but senior professionals with 12+ years in the industry saw a substantial 12% year-over-year increase.
• Title impacts pay: No surprise! Social Media Directors saw the biggest salary growth (+14%), while Social Media Managers’ median salaries are now standardized at $85,000, reflecting adjustments for new senior-level titles. Top earners, especially generalists, can make $229,000–$256,000+.
• Employment type & industry: Most respondents work in-house (70%), but freelancers and agency workers still report competitive pay. Technology leads in median salaries, followed by ad agencies, while sectors like Food & Beverage, Healthcare, and Beauty saw $10,000+ increases.
• B2B vs B2C & company size: B2B professionals earn roughly 10% more than B2C peers, and larger companies generally pay more, though self-employed respondents can compete with mid-sized company salaries.
• Gender gap: Women dominate the industry but still earn almost 25% less than men on average. Men are nearly twice as likely to hold director-level roles.

So, entry-level pay and gender equity still need improvement. Take a closer look at Link in Bio.

The Pantone Palette Generator, currently in open beta and built on Microsoft Azure, is an AI-powered tool that does what it says.

It integrates a chat-based interface into Pantone Connect, which lets you quickly generate palettes based on inspiration, trends, or emotional cues.

You can ask it things like, “What colors evoke optimism in Gen Z?” or “Show me palettes inspired by 1970s fashion editorials,” and it will give you ready-to-use combos informed by Pantone’s trend forecasting and Color Insider insights.

Adweek called it the worst ad of the year. So, we figured it should cross your desk.

The new Hugo Boss campaign, “Bottled Beyond,” is anchored by a confusing campaign poster and amateurish TV spot featuring strange interactions between Bradley Cooper, Maluma, and Vinícius Jr.

It attempts to appeal to multiple demos at once, but ends up feeling chaotic and disjointed. And then, there’s the tagline, “Boss recognize Boss.”

Despite the big a$$ budget, we’re left wondering what “Ginger-Leather” smells or feels like.