Social Pros Podcast

Whitney Magnuson, Senior Director, Social Marketing at Northwestern Mutual, is on Social Pros this week to talk about the strategy behind making finance content fun on social media. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Whitney Magnuson, Senior Director, Social Marketing at Northwestern Mutual, joins Social Pros to give us a window into how her team creates fun and engaging social content. Whitney explains how social media is a team effort that goes beyond the marketing department and how financial advisors use their expertise to pitch in with ideas. She also shares the challenges of creating content for such a highly regulated industry. Memes and pop culture might not be what you expect from a financial services giant like Northwestern Mutual, but the social team pulls it off with a nice balance between fun and informative content. Whitney also shares Northwestern Mutual’s approach to working with influencers and why they focus more on micro-influencers who represent everyday people. As a self-proclaimed data junkie, Whitney also explains why data is so important in this field and how it can help you tweak and fine-tune your social strategy. In This Episode: 5:57 – Whitney fills us in on what Northwestern Mutual offers 7:50 – How Whitney helps financial professionals with their social media efforts 10:24 – How to navigate compliance regulations on social media 11:35 – How Whitney and her team makes financial content fun 14:23 – Why Northwestern Mutual uses a very different tone on social 17:10 – How Northwestern Mutual went from being “the quiet company” on social to a social-first organization 19:11 – Advice for taking over a new social media team 21:11 – How Whitney’s background as an attorney plays into her current role 22:55 – Where influencers fit into Northwestern Mutual’s marketing strategy 26:59 – How Whitney picks influencers to work with 28:44 – How customer relationships with financial advisors have changed since COVID 31:06 – Why data is one of the most important parts of social media 34:49 – Northwestern Mutual’s focus on younger customers 37:37 – Why LinkedIn content differs from Instagram content 38:55 – Why Whitney isn’t a huge fan of Reels 43:26 – Whitney’s top tip for anyone looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Onalytica B2B Influencer Compensation Report Northwestern Mutual’s Twitter Northwestern Mutual’s Facebook page Northwestern Mutual’s LinkedIn Northwestern Mutual’s Instagram Northwestern Mutual’s YouTube channel Whitney’s blog - Mrs. Millennial Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Chad Colemen, the VP of Brand Partnerships & Digital Engagement at Dude Perfect, joins the Social Pros podcast to discuss the dynamics of brand partnerships and how to discover what works and what doesn’t. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Chad Colemen, the VP of Brand Partnerships & Digital Engagement at Dude Perfect, is on the Social Pros podcast to share the ins and outs of forming and maintaining brand partnerships. As a fan of golf and a proficient digital marketer, Chad admits that he’s landed his dream job. However, it’s every bit a job as the next role. It’s not all trick shots and hanging with the Dudes for him. He juggles a number of behind-the-scenes duties, including managing all the brand partnerships that come their way. Chad offers a peek behind the curtains at how Dude Perfect picks brand partners and what goals need to align before the partnership is considered successful. He also paints a vivid picture of what the wrong partnership looks like and how partner expectations have evolved with the success of Dude Perfect. In This Episode: 7:04 - What the Dude Perfect’s creative process looks like 13:31 - Chad’s description of a typical week at Dude Perfect 15:31 - Chad’s elevator pitch for his job role at Dude Perfect 17:21 - How Chad’s role has evolved with over the years 23:24 - How Dude Perfect vets brand partnerships 26:49 - How advertiser expectations have changed with the success of Dude Perfect 30:49 - Why embedded marketing messages work better Dude Perfect 39:14 - How Dude Perfect manages varying social media algorithms 45:44 - Chad’s top tip for people looking to be social pros Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Chad Coleman’s Twitter Dude Perfect’s Twitter Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Neil Hoyne, the Chief Measurement Strategist at Google, joins the Social Pros podcast to talk about the untapped potential of data and how marketers and social pros alike can leverage it. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Neil Hoyne, Chief Measurement Strategist at Google and author of the book Converted: The Data Driven Way to Win Consumers’ Hearts, is on the Social Pros podcast to address an issue plaguing most organizations today — what do we do with all this data? Neil explains that the journey from one data driven decision to ten of them is a gradual and progressive one. He also discusses the need to use timely and relevant data on account of the dynamism of customer behavior. Drawing from a few excerpts from his book, Neil answers seemingly simple but pertinent questions such as “why marketers don’t as the right questions” and “whether aspiring marketers should dabble in courses like psychology.” In This Episode: 06:31 - What it takes to handle the monumental amount of data available today 10:16 - Neil highlights the importance of having real-time consumer data 13:15 - Three reasons why marketers don’t ask the right questions 16:07 - What prevents companies from embracing lifetime value 19:55 - How to demonstrate the lifetime value of social media without the math 22:41 - How social pros can successfully chase the same objective as other parts of an organization 26:02 - Neil’s take on whether social media practitioners should also do measurement and analytics 29:59 - Why Neil believes acquisition is the best way to build your business using social media 32:38 - Why all organizations need some semblance of a Chief Digital Officer role 34:46 - Why Neil advises marketing students to work across disciplines 37:08 – Neil’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Grab the Social Pros Turns 500 free commemorative eBook Neil Hoyne’s Twitter Converted: The Data-Driven Way to Win Customers’ Hearts Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Tim Williams, CEO of Onalytica, joins the Social Pros podcast to talk about the power and rising popularity of influencer marketing in the B2B space. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Tim Williams, CEO of Onalytica, is on the Social Pros podcast to discuss the rise of B2B influencers, how much they get paid, and the best practices for working with them. Tim takes us into the story of what Onalytica does for brands and shares why he thinks influencers have become so key to the marketing world. He explains that there’s a major trust problem with brands, meaning that marketing is starting to lose its effect – paving the way for influencers to save the day.   Tim discusses Onalytica’s recent B2B Influencer Compensation Report and what the data shows about how much influencers are paid around the world. He also shares some red flags that brands and influencers should watch out for before starting a partnership. In This Episode: 4:08 – Tim explains the different stages businesses want to work with influencers 5:58 – Why influencers are replacing the trust that brands have lost 8:14 – How B2B has started to embrace influencer marketing 10:54 - What the B2B Influencer Compensation Report says about payments 14:40 – How the expectations of influencers differ around the world 17:37 – How to measure the effectiveness of B2B influencers 20:25 – Deciding how many influencers and what type of influencers to hire 22:41 – How the demand for influencers is creating new roles in the B2B space 25:40 – Tim explains the difficulty of managing influencers in a broader business structure 28:03 – How Onalytica helps clients determine what employees would make good influencers 30:07 – How the expectations of influencers have changed 35:27 – Tim explains how influencer marketing and account-based marketing will work together 38:56 – Red flags that influencers should be aware of before working with a brand 43:58 – Tim’s top tip for someone wanting to become a social pro or an influencer marketing manager Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce B2B Influencer Compensation Report Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Jess Zafarris, Director of Audience Engagement at Adweek, joins the Social Pros podcast to chat about one of the most important aspects of social media - audience engagement. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Jess Zafarris, Director of Audience Engagement at Adweek and author of the book Once Upon a Word, knows how to get people talking online. As head of audience engagement, it’s her job to ensure that social content sparks conversation while also telling an accurate story of the latest news. Jess explains what it’s like to engage with people with different levels of expertise due to Adweek’s highly varied audience. We’re also taken behind the scenes of how the Adweek weekly Twitter chats came to be, how its TikTok strategy is going, and what it takes to create engaging pieces of content. We hear how Jess balances the creator vs. reporter side of her role and blends informative content with fun, creative content to get the most engagement. Jess also gives some examples of brands she thinks are killing it in the world of audience engagement and shares some of her favorite campaigns she’s seen brands take on. In This Episode: 3:30 – What it’s like managing social media for a publication 4:47 – How Adweek creates content for such a broad audience 6:35 – Jess explains how they manage their content calendar 8:46 – How Jess’ role fits into a journalistic environment 13:01 – Jess explains Adweek’s TikTok strategy 16:33 – How long it takes to create content 19:11 – How social media has changed over the course of the pandemic 22:32 – Jess says who she thinks is nailing audience engagement on social media 27:17 – How effective cross-promotion programs can be across different brands and subjects 30:44 – Crafting a balance between creative content and statistics-driven content 32:58 – Why Jess thinks “metaverse” should be in the dictionary 34:39 – How brands are preparing for the metaverse 36:18 – Jess tells us about her book and side projects in etymology 38:26 – Jess’ top tip for anyone looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Adweek’s website Adweek’s Twitter Jess Zafarris’ Twitter Useless Etymology’s Twitter Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Marking this incredible milestone, our very own Jay Baer, Anna Hrach, and Adam Brown sit down to discuss the most important (and surprising) lessons learned over 10 years of the Social Pros podcast in this special one-off webinar. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details With more than 500 interviews with hundreds of industry-leading social specialists under their belts, hosts Jay Baer, Anna Hrach, and Adam Brown look back over the developments that have shaped social pros roles in the last decade. In this very special episode, the hosts share insights from previous Social Pros guests about the changes, evolutions, and the biggest surprises in social media since the podcast began. They also revisit some of the very best tips and advice from the experts over the years. The hosts go on to discuss what’s in store for the future of a social pro and what developments you can expect to see in social media roles in the next ten years. They also share their one dream guest they’d like to interview on the Social Pros podcast. Discover all the key findings and insights from 500 episodes (and counting) in our companion eBook, where you can also check out the video version of the webinar. In This Episode: 3:22 – Jay reflects on the early days of the Social Pros podcast 4:50 – Adam shares what it’s been like talking to different social pros over the years 8:26 – Why Social Pros’ success is all down to featuring great guests 12:37 – The biggest surprises in social media over the last ten years 15:24 – What a previous guest had to say about producing authentic content 17:58 – How social media has become part of customer care 20:22 – How social media has changed so much over the last decade 26:24 – Why the role of a social pro has evolved so drastically 28:43 – Predictions on what skills future social pros are likely to need 32:11 – The top guest tips for anyone looking to become a social pro 40:48 – Dream guests Jay, Adam, and Anna would love to see on the show Resources Grab the Social Pros Turns 500 free commemorative eBook Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

We’re skipping our usual podcast this week but will be back on December 31 with a special episode to mark a huge milestone... To mark the Social Pros podcast reaching its 500th episode, we ran a live webinar to talk about what we’ve heard and learned over the past 500 episodes. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details In this webinar and the special podcast episode to follow, host Jay Baer and co-hosts Anna Hrach and Adam Brown join together to celebrate one of the longest-running marketing podcasts hitting its 500th episode. The Social Pros hosts discuss different episodes, favorite guests and looks at some of the very best advice our guests have given listeners over the years. To mark the celebration, we’ve also produced a companion guide eBook that we’re really proud of. It features different highlights from the show, exclusive insights from social media experts, and gives a full rundown of the history of this podcast. To download it for free, head to this link. For those who couldn’t make the live show on December 22, the podcast episode will be available on December 31. Until then, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from all of us at Convince and Convert! Resources Grab the Social Pros Turns 500 free commemorative eBook Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Kristen Maldonado, Senior Manager of Social Media at MTV, joined the Social Pros podcast for a chat about building a strong community of loyal fans. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Kristen Maldonado, Senior Manager of Social Media at MTV, is on the Social Pros podcast to share how the team over at MTV managed to build such a fantastic community and fan base. As a lover of pop culture herself, Kristen appears to have the perfect job. Kristen explains that rather than relying on boring, false Tweets and overly manufactured campaigns, the approach at MTV is more about posting from one fan to another. The social media team at MTV are all huge fans of the artists and movies they post about, which goes a long way in making the content feel more authentic and exciting. This, Kristen explains, is key to building a strong community and boosting engagement with fans. Kristen talks about why MTV prioritizes social listening, and she also shares a glimpse into how they put together Instagram campaigns and test out different content formats. She also explains how being a content creator on the side has helped her in her career and why it’s her top tip for other social pros. In This Episode: 3:44 – Kristen explains how the MTV social team are just as excited as the fans 5:30 – How the MTV social team manages to produce so much content with a small team 7:24 – How MTV’s social team members collaborate with different content calendars 9:50 – The balance between pre-planned content and posting lightning-fast reactions to news stories 10:42 – The role of social within the MTV brand as a whole 13:14 – Kristen explains how they coordinate with artists and how it plays out to the fans 16:55 – How the social team at MTV put together such a successful IGTV campaign with celebrities 20:11 – How MTV’s social team tests different content formats 23:18 – How the voice of MTV’s social channels came to be 26:34 – What MTV looks for when hiring new team members 28:33 – Why having a content creator background is so helpful for a social media career 32:33 – Kristen gives her top pick for an underrated show everyone should watch 35:26 – Kristen’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Kristen’s YouTube channel about pop culture  Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Amy Woods, CEO and Founder of Content 10x, is back on the Social Pros podcast to share her content repurposing expertise, and the importance of consistency, copy, and having a platform-focused approach. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details Amy Woods, CEO and Founder of Content 10x, joins the Social Pros podcast for a second time to chat about why writing is still king when it comes to content creation. Whether you’re creating podcasts, videos, audiograms, or graphics – it all starts with the writing. Amy shares some of her content repurposing expertise and a little look behind the curtain at how Content 10x creates awesome repurposed content for this very podcast as well as many others. On the social side, Amy explains why a platform-specific social strategy is always best and why it’s so important to know each platform inside out to get the very best out of it. Amy rounds off the episode with some tips for new podcasters and explains why it’s crucial to have a seat at the table when putting a content strategy together. In This Episode: 4:43 – The current state of the content repurposing industry 7:10 – How to create the right content for the right platform and audience 11:01 – Consistency with publishing schedule vs. consistency with topic 12:49 – How to successfully approach topical content 14:36 – Amy discusses whether you need a consistent ‘face’ for your brand 17:04 – How Amy prioritizes the Content 10x teams 19:50 – The implications of the rising number of podcasts 22:18 – Is it better to be niche? 26:44 – Where social media practitioners should invest their time 32:46 – The consequences of not having a content strategy 35:08 – How to become a social pro 37:27 – Amy’s choice for a video call with any living person Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce The Content 10x podcast  Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

AJ Vaden, CEO and Co-Founder of Brand Builders Group is on the Social Pros podcast to discuss the increasingly important concept of personal branding. Huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for helping us make this happen. Please support them; we couldn't do it without their help! This week: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Full Episode Details AJ Vaden is a personal branding expert and CEO and Co-Founder of Brand Builders Group. She joins the Social Pros podcast to share the tips and tricks (and common mistakes) all businesses need to know about when it comes to personal branding. According to AJ, we are in the “era of the individual,” and personal branding is more important now than ever. She explains that personal branding is not the new concept we think it is. It’s just more visible now in the digital world. It’s not just some fad or trend we can skip. Personal branding is key to building your reputation and customer trust. AJ shares the common mistakes she sees clients make and how entrepreneurs can really reach their audience through content, not just sales pitches. In This Episode: 2:54 – AJ takes us through Brand Builders Group 5:40 – Why Brand Builders Group is not just about personal brand strategy but business strategy as well 6:30 – Why personal branding is not a new idea or trend 9:36 – AJ discusses the latest research from Brand Builders Group 14:19 – The importance of company executives having their own personal brand 19:08 – Why AJ advises companies to create their own internal influencers 25:29 – The most common personal branding mistakes on social media 31:20 – AJ’s advice for using different social platforms 34:48 – Why building a personal brand isn’t about getting social media-famous 36:00 – AJ’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Trends in Personal Branding Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.