Digital Marketing

The notification pinged on my phone last week. Another creator in my WhatsApp group had shared a screenshot of their YouTube Analytics dashboard. “CPM down 23% year-over-year,” they wrote. “Is anyone else seeing this?” I opened my own analytics. The numbers told a familiar story. My K-pop dance cover channel — the one I built around exclusive choreography breakdowns and sustainable fashion hauls — showed a similar dip. As someone who migrated from Bangladesh to study textile engineering in the UK, who found her creative voice through dance covers at 42, and who now relies on this income stream to fund my sustainable luxury lifestyle aspirations, these fluctuations aren’t abstract data points. They’re the difference between planning next quarter’s fabric sourcing trip and wondering if I need to pick up freelance consulting work. ...

Right, let’s talk about something that’s been keeping me up at night lately — LinkedIn ad costs creeping up while my engagement feels like it’s stuck in treacle. If you’re a creator in the UK trying to make LinkedIn work for your business in 2026, you’ve probably noticed the same thing I have. The platform’s changed. Drastically. And not always in ways that help people like us — the ones building authentic communities, sharing real expertise, and trying to monetise without selling our souls to the algorithm gods. ...

Right then. Let’s talk turkey — literally. You’re a UK-based makeup artist with a sultry tutorial empire, Malaysian roots, and a budget that screams “student loan” not “sugar mummy”. Your WhatsApp broadcast list has been quietly growing. Now brands are sliding into your DMs asking for rates to reach Turkish audiences. Cue the panic: what do you actually charge? I’ve been there. Staring at a blank rate card, imposter syndrome whispering that everyone else knows the secret handshake. Spoiler: there is no handshake. There’s data, there’s leverage, and there’s knowing your worth without pricing yourself out of the conversation. ...

The notification pinged at 3 AM. Another month, another revenue drop. For the third quarter running, the ad share cheque from X barely covered the cost of the ring light I bought in January. I stared at the dashboard, the graph a slow bleed from £2,400 to £1,100 to £680. Same impressions. Same engagement rate. Half the money. If you are building on X in the UK right now, you have felt it too. The platform still calls it “ad revenue sharing,” but the maths no longer works for creators who treat this as a business rather than a hobby. The question is not whether the rates will recover. The question is what you do while they don’t. ...