Facebook Advertising, Diversity, Inclusion & Duke Basketball with Chidi Erike

Chidi Erike is a Client Partner at Facebook where he helps clients like Unilever, Peloton and Starbucks optimize their businesses across Facebook’s ad platforms. I met Chidi a few years back while I was attending a Facebook marketing summit. I was impressed with a presentation he gave on leveraging the platform for growth and taking an analytical approach to optimizing social media ad spend. Having worked at JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and SocialCode, Chidi leverages his experience in banking and technology to identify opportunities and solve problems for large growth companies and help them reach their potential through strategy, marketing, and operations. Chidi also helped launch Facebook Elevate, a program designed for women and minority-owned businesses, providing them with customized workshops focused on business solutions and reaching new customers.

Chidi has a BS in Marketing and Finance from State University of New York at Albany. He completed his MBA from Duke in 2012 with a focus on Strategy and Finance. He was also a professional basketball player, so Duke fans, we also talk about one of my favorite topics – Duke Basketball.

Discussion Topics:

(1:43) Chidi’s roles at Facebook from ad auctions to client partnerships.

(5:45) Leveraging a background in Finance at Facebook.

(6:40) How best to improve one’s marketing on Facebook/Instagram.

(14:35) Optimizing creative for engagement.

(16:59) Instagram shopping.

(20:44) Spooky Instagram ads. Are you listening to my phone?

(25:56) COVID-19’s impact on advertising and businesses.

(32:45) Diversity & inclusion at Facebook Elevate.

(40:37) Why Chidi selected Duke over other schools.

(42:00) Playing professionally & thoughts on Duke Basketball.