Podcast Summary: Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media

Episode: Head of Instagram for Business Unlocks Secret to Growing in 2025 (#847)
Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Brock Johnson
Guest: Thomas Finetto, Head of Instagram for Business

Episode Overview

This episode features an insightful, candid interview with Thomas Finetto, the Head of Instagram for Business. Brock dives into Thomas’s experience, discussing how brands—big and small—can crack the code to Instagram growth heading into 2025. The conversation centers on actionable strategies, leadership mindsets, innovative content tactics, and how to embrace the ever-changing realities of social media marketing to drive real business success.

Key Discussion Points

1. Trust and Agility in Social Content Creation

• Empowering Creators:
  Thomas emphasizes that the most successful brands in social media foster trust and speed by empowering their social teams. Leadership must recognize what they don't know, and allow creators to move fast to leverage trends and cultural moments effectively.

  • “If you have a leader who recognizes enough that they don't know what the hell is going on, or a leader that says, like, okay, I see that you guys just need to move fast on this one so that you don't miss, like, an opportunity, a trend, a cultural event, then that is the biggest differentiator.” (02:20, Thomas Finetto)

• Learning from Big Brands:
  Thomas cites Duolingo, Away, and Ryanair as organizations excelling in this area due to leadership buy-in and fast, unfiltered content creation—even at the risk of controversy.

  • “You cannot please everyone...Pick one [audience cohort]. Just start with one, knock one domino over and the rest follow.” (04:35, Thomas Finetto)

2. Posting Volume, Frequency, and Reposting

• Dispelling the ‘Let it Breathe’ Myth:
  Thomas directly challenges the common advice to post sparingly. He recommends pushing content out frequently to accelerate learning and reach.
  • “You're much better off posting five times a day. Every day. You learn so much faster...And then the other thing I always say is repost some of that content. If it's evergreen, you only ever hit on a good day, like 5% of your audience. So post it again.” (05:50, Thomas Finetto)

3. Entertainment Is Essential

• Brands = Entertainers:
  Entertain first, sell second. Whether through comedy, storytelling, or relatability, engaging audiences with entertaining posts is non-negotiable.

  • “If you don’t have entertainment baked into your strategy, I just, I think you're not starting from a very good place.” (08:19, Thomas Finetto)

• Memorability Through Stories:
  Brock and Thomas agree: stories drastically outperform facts for recall and resonance.

  • “A story is 22 times more memorable than a fact.” (08:47, Brock Johnson)
  • “The death of a thousand men is a statistic. The death of one man is a tragedy.” (09:19, Thomas Finetto)

4. Creative and Unique Brand Tactics on Instagram

• Using Platform Features Creatively:
  Thomas shares the example of Away using Instagram's “Close Friends” feature to promote exclusive product launches to niche creators, highlighting the algorithmic benefits and novelty of using underutilized tools.
  • “Because it pops up in your stor on your feed with the little green thing, it's like it stands out. It's different. It's almost like a free ad.” (11:23, Thomas Finetto)

5. Building and Monetizing Local Audiences

• Going Viral isn’t Always Local:
  Viral content may attract a global audience, but for local businesses, targeted ads and new ad tools like Advantage Plus and Omnichannel Ads are crucial.

  • “You can actually like take that amazing creative and then just localize it...” (14:37, Thomas Finetto)

• Collaboration for Local Reach:
  Brock stresses the power of collaborating with local creators and businesses to magnetize local followers organically.

6. Hot Takes: Employee-Generated Content

• Employees as Creators:
  Thomas is a big proponent of letting employees make content, citing higher authenticity and product knowledge; results often outperform highly produced ads.

  • “Their best ever ad was just having one of their employees act like a user...It cost them nothing...We're in this place where so many businesses just still feel like they have to be...this polished brand...that they never experiment.” (16:38, Thomas Finetto)

• Internal Creative Hackathons:
  Meta runs sessions where employees mass-create content with no meetings or distractions, leading to exceptional ROI in engagement and reach.

  • “Pens down, no meetings, cancel everything. We're just going to spend five hours making as many reels as we can and having fun...the return on like views that we get for the investment is like night and day.” (18:34, Thomas Finetto)

• Upskilling In-House vs. Agencies:
  Thomas contends agencies can’t compete with the pace and authenticity of in-house teams. He advocates hiring creative talent (e.g., comedy writers) over traditional marketers for social roles.

7. Iteration Over Perfection — And the Rise of Memes

• Aim for ‘Small Virality’:
  Pursue regular, shareable content instead of obsessing over a single viral post.

  • “Don't aim to go viral, aim to go a little bit viral. Every day, very slowly.” (21:29, Thomas Finetto)

• Memes as a Serious Tool:
  Memes now deserve dedicated staff; even high-end brands achieve engagement with well-produced memes.

  • “Brands are hiring entire positions who are just going to make memes.” (22:16, Brock Johnson)

8. What Brands Overthink

• Stop Obsessing Over Algorithms and Competitors:
  Marketers often stress over how many hashtags to use or copy competitors, instead of focusing on what’s genuinely interesting and new.
  • “Everyone is so...focused on how many hashtags to use and not focused enough on like, what would I like to see?” (24:00, Thomas Finetto)
  • “Doing competitor analysis on your competitors on social is the worst...Do a platform analysis. Like look at other verticals. What is working well?” (24:11, Thomas Finetto)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trust and Leadership:
  “The most common thing that I see from brands who really understand social...is trust from leadership.”
  (02:20, Thomas Finetto)

• On Posting Frequency:
  “You're much better off posting five times a day. Every day. You learn so much faster.”
  (05:50, Thomas Finetto)

• On Entertainment:
  “Brands need to think of themselves as entertainers first.”
  (25:35, Brock Johnson quoting Thomas Finetto)

• On Local Reach:
  “If our ad products aren't working for businesses, we don't have a business. We can't build the metaverse, we can't make AI work.”
  (14:13, Thomas Finetto)

• On Employee Content:
  “When you post that content it feels different, it feels native. Especially if you have young employees that live and breathe social in ways that like we probably don't know.”
  (17:45, Thomas Finetto)

• On Reposting:
  “You only ever hit on a good day, like 5% of your audience. So post it again.”
  (05:50, Thomas Finetto)

• On Overthinking and Competitors:
  “Doing competitor analysis on your competitors on social is the worst...Do a platform analysis...then everyone will be doing a competitor analysis on you.”
  (24:12 – 25:05, Thomas Finetto)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Leadership & Trust Discussion: 02:10–04:35
• Posting Frequency & Reposting: 05:33–06:49
• Entertainment as Core Strategy: 08:17–09:48
• Stories vs. Statistics: 09:19–10:07
• Unique Instagram Tactics (Close Friends): 10:51–12:16
• Local Audience & Ads: 13:03–15:32
• Employee-Generated Content & Hackathons: 16:38–19:02
• Agency vs. In-House & Small Virality: 19:32–22:16
• Memes in Marketing: 22:16–23:05
• Overthinking & Platform Analysis: 23:32–25:35

Tone & Closing Thoughts

The tone throughout is conversational, fast-paced, and focused on demystifying Instagram strategy. Both Brock and Thomas align on authenticity, agility, and creativity trumping over-calculated or traditional approaches.

Brock concludes by reframing entertainment for brands: it’s not about being a circus act, but ensuring every post is engaging and, most importantly, share-worthy. He reminds listeners not to obsess over small details and analytics, but to focus on producing content that’s genuinely interesting for their brand’s unique audience.

Practical Takeaways:

• Trust and empower your social team to experiment and react quickly.
• Post often, iterate rapidly, and don’t hesitate to repost evergreen hits.
• Design every piece of content to entertain or engage—storytelling works.
• Harness new Instagram tools and features creatively (e.g., Close Friends).
• Prioritize employee-produced content for authenticity and internal skill growth.
• Steal creative tactics from other verticals, not just direct competitors.

This summary captures the episode’s best insights, direct advice from Instagram’s front lines, and actionable steps for thriving in 2025’s social media landscape.