Social Pros Podcast

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No matter how much of a 'social pro' you are, you won't get far without the help of an incredible social media team.

Someone who understands this better than anyone is Tressie Lieberman, Vice President, Digital Marketing and Off-Premise at Chipotle. Tressie and her team have helped Chipotle (the masterminds behind the world's greatest tacos and burritos) skyrocket social engagement through smart influencer marketing, active social listening and genius promotions.

One of these promotions has amassed over 1.4 billion views on TikTok (yes, you read that correctly). On this delicious episode of the show, Tressie reveals the ingredients that went into creating such a wildly successful social media promotion and doesn't hold back on sharing her best insights and tips for B2C brands who want to reach the same level of success.

In This Episode

04:52 – The key role that communication plays when juggling multiple locations and employees
06:02 – How Chipotle uses social as an integral tool to learn more about their customers
08:40 – How Chipotle segment their target audiences by channel
09:39 – A look at how the social team at Chipotle operates across different channels and expertise
13:35 – What Chipotle looks for in an 'ideal influencer'
16:46 – How Chipotle gained 1.4 billion views for a single promotion on TikTok
24:37 – How Chipotle set up their initial colonization plan for TikTok
27:00 – How the customer service team gets involved in social
31:59 – How Chipotle's legal team helps to guide the company in terms of contracts and other relevant factors

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

The Purdue and Don'ts for Engaging Higher Ed Students May 22, 2020

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Abby Eddy, the Assistant Director of Digital Engagement at Purdue University, joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about how you can use social media to connect with your audience during uncertain times.

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Full Episode Details

As we enter what is traditionally considered 'commencement season' for many, millions of students are finding themselves at a standstill. Lecture halls have been swapped for Zoom calls and cap and gowns have been replaced with 'comfy clothes' like joggers and trainers.

In a world seized by a global pandemic, how are major universities dealing with the impact of COVID-19 and leveraging social to engage with Higher Ed students?

Abby Eddy, the Assistant Director of Digital Engagement at Purdue University, has really perfected the university's approach to messaging their students during this uncertain time. Abby talks about how she uses social media to bring some levity during these times by embracing pop culture in a way that is relevant to Purdue and speaks to their audience.

In This Episode

04:58 – How Purdue University are using social conversations to engage with students and organize on-demand commencement
11:16 – How different departments and team members have come together to help the university communicate effectively online
13:19 – How Abby's team manages Purdue University's brand voice across the board
17:31 – Why it's important to find a balance between 'COVID-19 messaging' Vs. more 'cheerful' content
22:30 – How to choose what pop culture moments to play into
23:46 – How Purdue University uses past performance data to cultivate future results
26:46 – An insight into the successful hashtag engagement campaign for the launch of the Purdue Podcast

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Why a Serial Entrepreneur Mindset is Key to Social Success May 15, 2020

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Dan Phelps, Head of Social Media Marketing at Wells Fargo, joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about the power of embracing a serial entrepreneur mindset as a social practitioner.

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The role of a social practitioner often expands beyond the realm of crafting social ads, scheduling posts, and interacting with customers on various platforms. For a lot of us, we must embrace the mindset of a serial entrepreneur and become extremely nimble and fluent in the art of…. well, selling.

As Dan Phelps, Head of Social Media Marketing, Wells Fargo, articulated, it's our responsibility as social pros to sell the idea of social to leaders that can't grasp just how important social is in today's world.

Dan shares so many incredible perceptions with us, including how he communicates real-time social media data to make business, marketing, and communication decisions so much more powerful.

In This Episode

03:24 – How Wells Fargo's team of social professionals are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis
05:20 - How Dan's team deal with different audiences
11:37 – How Wells Fargo's relationship with legal changed during the coronavirus outbreak
14:39 – The process of shifting marketing messages during a crisis
18:23 – How audience interaction has changed
22:44 - How Dan and his team leverage social listening and artificial intelligence tools
31:09 – Tips to cultivate a culture where using social data plays a key role in the organization
34:57 – Advice for managing social media teams

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

What You Must Adjust in Your Social Media in These Crazy Times May 08, 2020

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Zontee Hou, Head of Strategy at Convince & Convert and Lauren Teague, Strategist at Convince & Convert, join the Social Pros Podcast to reveal what changes you need to make in social media during these uncertain times.

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The social media landscape has changed drastically since the coronavirus spread across the world. In a short matter of time, everything has changed, including how people and brands use social media.

As we continue to navigate through these uncertain times, one thing remains certain – you still need to connect with your audience. The only question that remains is how. How can you connect with your customers, prospects, partners, and team members in a pandemic?

The strategy team at Convince & Convert has worked tirelessly to bring you the 11 changes you need to make to your social media strategy in these crazy times. Sharing a few key findings from this research (see links to the webinar and blog post below) are Zontee Hou, Head of Strategy at Convince & Convert and Lauren Teague, Strategist at Convince & Convert.

In This Episode:

05:41 – How historical patterns of social media usage have been disrupted
08:19 – Why brands need to be more deliberate about what they post
09:24 – The importance of providing a human to human connection during these times
10:47 – What brands should be listening to right now
13:47 – How to use your social accounts to communicate necessary information with your customers
19:04 – How to approach the imagery you share on social
21:12 – How social media ads have evolved to reflect the new reality we live in
23:30 – How to inject humor and entertain audiences without crossing a line
27:50 – Why brands need to activate their influencers
30:41 – How ideal publishing times have changed during the pandemic
34:17 – Whether now is a good time to experiment with different channels

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

What Works Now in Social Media Ads According to Big Data May 01, 2020

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R.J. Talyor, CEO and Founder of Pattern89, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how you can optimize social media advertising based on real-time data.

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Tired of spending marketing dollars on under-performing ads? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way you could predict what works and reduce wasteful marketing spend?

R.J. Talyor, CEO and Founder of Pattern89, leverage AI's power and deep dives into creative analytics to help advertisers optimize top-performing social media ads. Most marketers focus on their brand, which is understandable. However, creative is responsible for 47% of ad performance. So, it makes sense that you spend more time (and fewer dollars) optimizing the creative elements of your ads to drive the most engagement.

With more data than there are stars in the galaxy, Pattern89 can predict what will work best with over 95% accuracy. Of course, the creative recipe that works for one advertiser may not work as well for the next. But that doesn't mean you can't use data and artificial intelligence to predict what will work, optimize ads, and get more clicks.

In This Episode:

04:10 – How Pattern 89 uses AI to predict the success of social media ads
07:06 – Why you can't always depend on best practices to work for every brand
09:30 – Surprising usage data that has been released amidst the COVID-19 crisis
16:15- How companies are shifting their marketing spend in the middle of this pandemic
18:42 – How ideal publishing windows have changed
23:09 - What the data from Pattern89 tells us in terms of marketing messages as we transition to a 'new normal'
31:13 – What type of ads and ad formats are performing best right now
34:36 – How AI has improved dramatically in just 18 months

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

How Johnsonville Makes the Social Media Sausage Apr 24, 2020

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Stephanie Dlugopolski, Sr. Public Relations & Social Media Manager at Johnsonville Sausage, joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about their delicious social media strategy, the power of social listening, and so much more!

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Full Episode Details

It wasn't so long ago that social practitioners around the world had their content calendars planned out weeks, if not months in advance. Then, something that nobody could have predicted happened – a global pandemic landed right on our doorsteps and threw a wrench in our plans.

It sucks, but this is the current reality we all face. The truth is that the social content you may have needed pre-pandemic may not be the same content that you need going forward. Stephanie Dlugopolski, Sr. Public Relations & Social Media Manager at Johnsonville Sausage, has shifted the focus of her team's content and leveraged the power of social listening to answer her customer's most pressing questions during the COVID-19 crisis.

Stephanie shares how you can use data from social listening insights and leverage it with other parts of your organization. She challenges you to think about how you can reach your customers with the right message in the right places where they're spending most of their time on social.

In this episode:

04:10 – How Johnsonville Sausage's social team are structured
06:19 – How Stephanie's team strategizes seasonal content
07:52 – Why you should consider audience segmentation when it comes to your social media strategy across different platforms
11:38 – How to use and leverage user-generated content
13:58 – The power of social listening and using it to better understand your customers
18:40 – How Johnsonville Sausage's publishing schedule and demand has shifted due to the pandemic
21:23 – Whether it's time for brands to take on a larger societal role
24:49 – How sponsorships have helped Johnsonville Sausage build brand awareness
29:45 – How Stephanie's background in journalism has aided her role in social
37:14 – What to consider when thinking about regional brand expansion

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

How to Optimize Impact of Social Media Visuals Apr 17, 2020

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Dustin W. Stout, the Founder of SoVisual.co, joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about what makes people want to engage with visuals on social media and the importance of having a message before you create any graphics.

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Full Episode Details

Is there anything more terrifying than staring at a blinking cursor on a blank screen? As social practitioners, we've all felt the intimidation of a blank screen in some way or another.

The everyday grind of a social media manager is tough. Crafting content that captures attention and fosters engagement isn't always easy. This intense pressure to continuously churn out incredible content day in, day out, can drain the creative energy out of you and even lead to burning out.

Dustin W. Stout, the Founder of SoVisual.co, understands this struggle. His team of world-class designers and copywriters produce monthly content to help take the pressure off social practitioners. These "social packs" are filled with a month's worth of engaging content and on this episode of Social Pros, we dive into these social packs and tap into Dustin's unique insight into what works and what doesn't when it comes to social media imagery.

In this episode:

03:43 – How SoVisual's social packs work
13:19 – What works and what doesn't work when it comes to social media imagery
15:32 – Why polished photography tends to be less effective on social media
18:16 – How Dustin keeps his finger on the pulse of what's working
20:50 – Tips to help you improve typography on social media graphics
25:00 – Why you always need to start with a message before you can communicate that message on a visual
27:47 – The biggest mistakes social pros make with their published content
30:18 – Changes that Dustin would love to see social networks make
33:21 – How often brands should post on social media

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

2020 YouTube Success Formula is Different Than You Think Apr 10, 2020

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Owen Hemsath, the Founder of Owen Video, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss practical ways to help you create better video content and grow on YouTube.

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Do you want to grow on YouTube? If you're someone who wants to attract more viewers, more subscribers, and more engagement, you've got to optimize your videos for watchability.

Owen Hemsath, the Founder of Owen Video, reveals that one of the biggest mistakes social practitioners make with their video content is that they've got tunnel vision for search engine optimization. They're so focused on optimizing their video content to please the Google gods that they forget to optimize them for the audience that actually matters – humans.

Owen claims that recurring episodic content is hard-wired into the human brain. So, if you want to make YouTube videos, or you want to grow an existing channel, you've got to create watchable and binge-worthy videos that present you as an expert and speak to a wider audience.

In this episode:

06:44 – Why more brands need to focus on optimizing video content for watchability
09:27 – Why most people fail on YouTube
13:09 – How to build episodic shows that perform well on YouTube
16:27 – Why episodic video content also works on other social media platforms
20:00 – How the subscriber value has decreased significantly
27:30 – How important velocity is within the first hour of publishing your video on YouTube
31:29 – How to move people from other social media channels to YouTube
35:20 – The role that live videos should play in your video content strategy
39:40 – A look inside the 4-step process of video production

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

How to Shift Crisis Communications in the Middle of a Crisis Apr 03, 2020

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Steve Kearns, LinkedIn's Social Media Lead, joins Social Pros to discuss how brands and social practitioners can navigate through the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

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Full Episode Details

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has impacted all of our lives and all of our businesses in what feels like a very short time frame. Companies and social practitioners alike are modifying their contingency plans at lightning speed as the outbreak continues to uproot the status quo.

So, how can social practitioners and businesses confidently shift crisis communications in the middle of a crisis? LinkedIn's Social Media Lead, Steve Kearns, shares some amazing advice on crisis communication tools and frameworks to help you navigate through the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

Steve emphasized the importance of pausing to think about what you're saying on social. He reminds all of us to pause before we press send and think about why they would care and why they would share?

In this episode:

06:42 – Changes that LinkedIn has witnessed amidst the COVID-19 crisis
08:49 – The evolution of marketing and communications on LinkedIn
12:36 – Leveraging LinkedIn to communicate with your ideal customers
14:40 – The importance of self-awareness when managing a social media platform on behalf of a brand
18:47 – How LinkedIn's workflow has changed as a result of the coronavirus crisis
23:42 – What agency partners can do to help support the brands and companies they work with during this time
28:27 – How virtual events can help you communicate and engage with your audience
32:57 – How you can measure social media performance differently during a crisis

Resources:

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

How Social Media Can Breed Disruptive Thinking Mar 27, 2020

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Jeremy Gutsche, the CEO of Trend Hunter, joins the Social Pros Podcast to challenge social practitioners to stop repeating past decisions and embrace disruptive thinking.

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