Choosing an Agency

A pinned post or featured item is the one choice an agency actively re-selects. Here is what that single pick actually reveals about its self-assessment.

A video’s edit and its thumbnail get judged by different rules. Here is what separates a thumbnail someone actually designed from one nobody thought about.

How to tell a deliberately blank caption from a lazy shortcut, and exactly what an image or video must prove on its own before that silence counts as earned.

Stories vanish, but what an agency chooses to save as a Highlight is a real curation decision. Here’s how to read it as a craft signal.

A guest takeover is a visible test of an agency’s process. Here’s what a controlled handoff looks like on screen, and what a wobbly one quietly gives away.

A serialized social story has to work as a single post and as a chapter. Here is how to judge whether a multi-part run actually holds together on its own.

What separates an agency that curates reposted user content with a real editorial eye from one that just grabs whatever tagged posts are easiest to find.

A screenshotted DM looks like raw proof, but cropping, framing and consistency are craft choices. Here’s how to read what a staged screenshot leaves out.

How to tell whether a franchise or multi-location account is one real system, or just a template getting worse the further down the location list you scroll.

Stories are built to disappear, which flips the craft standard: rawness is often the point and polish can read as tone deaf. Here’s how to judge it right.