Social Pros Podcast

Gwynne Spann, Director of Content Marketing at Visit California, joins this episode of the Social Pros Podcast for a behind-the-scenes look at their TikTok strategy. 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 Gwynne Spann, Director of Content Marketing at Visit California, is on Social Pros to chat about TikTok, content marketing, audience targeting, and much more. She shares the initial hesitancy she and her team had around TikTok and how her daughter convinced her to finally take the plunge. While fairly new to TikTok, we get a glimpse into how Visit California approached the platform in the right way, prioritizing authenticity and a tailored strategy specific to TikTok. Gwynne explains how the wider marketing strategy uses a lot of geographic targeting based on audience travel habits and how that influences the type of content they post. We also hear a bit about how Visit California works with travel partners, brand ambassadors, and Gwynne hints that we’ll likely see more influencer content in the future.  In This Episode: 4:41 – How marketing to in-state residents differs from out-of-state audiences 7:44 – How Visit California uses audience targeting 11:28 – Why Visit California launched its own TikTok 17:48 – Why TikTok is such a different beast than other social channels 20:57 – How Visit California works with all its different business and venue partners 24:30 – The success metrics that Visit California monitors 26:56 – How Visit California does sentiment analysis 31:02 – Gwynne explains what type of content is resonating the most on TikTok 36:10 – The top piece of advice Gwynne has for those thinking of becoming a social pro Resources Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Bari Rosenstein, Social Media Manager at Auntie Anne's Pretzels, joins this episode of Social Pros to talk all about her winning social media strategy. 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 Bari Rosenstein, Social Media Manager at Auntie Anne's Pretzels, is back on the Social Pros Podcast, this time to share her strategies behind promoting pretzels to a growing fanbase. Impressively, Bari works as a social team of one but collaborates with other social media managers in the Focus Brands portfolio and beyond. In this episode, she discusses how Auntie Anne’s likes to use user-generated content from its passionate fans to create relatable social content. Bari also explains how she reaches out to influencers and how a simple gift of free pretzels led to a highly successful campaign during the Olympics. One of the reasons Bari loves her current role is that it’s so open to trying new creative ideas.  That’s why she’s been experimenting with the increasingly popular Auntie Anne’s TikTok channel. In This Episode: 5:59 – Auntie Anne’s expansion into drive-throughs and beyond 8:46 – Where Auntie Anne’s works within the Focus Brands family 10:33 – How Auntie Anne’s works with franchisees on larger marketing efforts 13:58 – Bari walks us through how they manage the social media calendar 16:09 – The reports and KPIs that Bari measures for franchisees and the larger business 18:12 – How Bari manages to be a social media team of one 23:10 – How the Focus Brands social media managers collaborate 26:10 – How Bari gained the trust of her team to post freely on social 28:28 – Bari talks about how Auntie Anne’s crisis management works and the struggles during the pandemic 31:52 – Where influencer marketing fits into the Auntie Anne’s social strategy 36:27 – Bari shares her ultimate Auntie Anne’s pick 37:41 – Bari’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Josh Greenberg, Director of Social Media and Digital Consumer Engagement at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, is on Social Pros to put the spotlight on customer care. 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 Snapchat Full Episode Details Josh Greenberg, Director of Social Media and Digital Consumer Engagement at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, says that being “customer obsessed” is the secret to their success. But what does customer obsession look like? SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment likes to focus on the individuals who love the brand and find ways to connect with them one-on-one. By doing so, the brand manages to make customers feel special and valued. Josh explains how SeaWorld manages to strike a balance between being a fun and silly brand whilst also prioritizing world-class customer care. He takes us through some fantastic examples of how SeaWorld has gone above and beyond what other brands would do on social media. Josh explains how interactions like these work behind the scenes and how collaborating with different departments and brands under the SeaWorld name works. In This Episode: 5:02 – How working in an agency differs from being a permanent part of a social team 7:51 – How Josh adapted to his new role and responsibilities 9:41 – How Josh balances social media across all the SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment brands 12:41 – The metrics and KPIs that SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment looks at 16:13 – The types of content that drive guest engagement the most 18:19 – The lessons Josh learned about change management when he first took his role 21:03 – Why it’s so important to build a relationship with people on social media 25:05 – How Josh’s team became customer obsessed 27:53 – How Josh helped to overhaul the SeaWorld Twitter accounts 31:22 – Why social care needs to be authentic 34:25 – Josh explains the metrics and analytics he’s looking at on TikTok 37:00 – Why you need to create content that’s relevant for each specific channel 38:26 – Josh’s top tip for anyone thinking of becoming a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Double your advertising budget on Snapchat with free ad credit Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Andrew Stebbins (Influencer Marketing and YouTube Strategist) and Rob Yoegel (Senior Director of Marketing) from Linode joined this episode of the Social Pros Podcast to delve into their success on YouTube, influencers, and more. 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 Linode’s Andrew Stebbins (Influencer Marketing and YouTube Strategist) and Rob Yoegel (Senior Director of Marketing) are on the Social Pros Podcast to talk all about their YouTube and influencer strategies. Linode is a cloud hosting company that’s been in the space for 18 years now. And yet, it’s only been in the past few years that they’ve really ramped up their focus on marketing. From relying entirely on word-of-mouth recommendations to now mastering YouTube, Linode has been on a big learning journey. In this episode, Rob and Andrew share more about how and why they got started on YouTube and why it’s been a key part of their education and customer acquisition strategies. Andrew gives a detailed look into his work with influencers and brand advocates and where they fit into Linode’s marketing push. Rob also shares some stats behind their success and how leveraging influencers on YouTube has led to 15-20% customer growth each month! In This Episode: 4:05 – What Linode does as an “alternative cloud provider” 5:47 – How Linode’s marketing stance has changed over the past 18 years 7:46 – Rob explains why content marketing has become key for Linode 9:45 – Why YouTube became a huge focus for Linode 11:38 – Linode’s advice to other social pros about using YouTube 14:08 – How Linode’s YouTube channel started and where it is today 20:26 – How Linode works with brand advocates and influencers 23:01 – The benefits of using existing customers as influencers 25:56 – Rob explains how Linode uses paid advertising on YouTube 29:47 – Linode’s approach to repurposing content 32:20 – How optimizing metadata on YouTube is key to success 34:29 – Why using video chapters is such an underutilized yet useful feature 36:04 – What the analytics say about engagement on YouTube 39:22 – The next steps for Linode 40:50 – The key YouTube performance indicators Linode’s marketing team prioritizes 42:58 – Andrew gives his top tip for someone wanting to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce How to Host Multiple Discord Bots on A Single Server from Linode’s YouTube channel Deploy A Static Website Using The Linode CLI | Object Storage Tutorial from Linode’s YouTube channel Here's how to roll your own VPN | WireGuard Tutorial from Linode’s YouTube channel Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective from the Veritasium YouTube channel Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Dan Gingiss, Chief Experience Officer at The Experience Maker and keynote speaker, joins this episode of Social Pros to throw the spotlight on the customer experience. 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 Dan Gingiss, Chief Experience Officer at The Experience Maker, is a keynote speaker and author of ‘Winning in Social Customer Care’. His latest book, ‘The Experience Maker’ offers fantastic insights into how to build remarkable experiences for your customers. He joins the Social Pros podcast to give us a sneak peek at the wisdom he’s packed into his latest book. Dan discusses the importance of customer experience and how the pandemic only highlighted this. While there’s a lot of competition in many industries, there’s not much competition when it comes to providing a fantastic customer experience. Dan talks about how we’re often disappointed by brands and that one clear way to stand out is to go beyond customer expectations. Dan takes Social Pros listeners through the WISE system of creating content and communicating with customers, and why good customer experience starts with good employee experience. In This Episode: 4:40 – Why there’s an ongoing need for books about customer experience 9:23 – How you can still overdeliver on social media to keep customers happy 12:22 – Why you can’t do good customer experience without good employee experience 15:11 – How a focus on customer acquisition rather than retention affects the customer experience 21:03 – How Dan feels about brand voices on social that don’t match the brand 24:05 – Dan explores some examples of brands that are getting it right 26:45 – Why marketing’s job has always been to promise the customer experience 28:24 – The most important metrics for social media 31:38 – Why CEOs are overlooking the ROI of satisfied customers 32:27 – Why Dan thinks using social to sell is the wrong approach 33:30 – Why customers and brands now prefer direct messages on social media 36:46 – Dan’s top tip for someone looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce The Experience Maker by Dan Gingiss Winning in Social Customer Care by Dan Gingiss Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Izzy Greer, Marketing Manager of Portfolio Brands at Balsam Brands, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how to make seasonal content engaging all-year-round. 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 Snapchat Full Episode Details Izzy Greer, Marketing Manager of Portfolio Brands at Balsam Brands, oversees marketing strategies for brands including Balsam Hill, the Christmas and seasonal décor store. She joins the Social Pros Podcast to share how she and her team keep the holiday spirit going on social 365 days a year. As a seasonal brand, Balsam Hill has to get really inventive in keeping its content both relevant and engaging, even in the summer months. Izzy explains why Balsam Brands prioritizes authentic user-generated content, working with influencers, and promoting on Pinterest. Izzy also shares some of the strategies behind paid versus organic content and how her team likes to unite them to create authentic content that resonates with its customers.  In This Episode: 5:34 – How Izzy structures content all year round for seasonal products 7:00 – How internal systems and pacing works for marketing seasonal content 8:53 – The reasons why people engage differently with Balsam Brands throughout the year 10:10 – Izzy’s key insights from social listening 12:40 – How Izzy’s team manages effective customer conversations 14:44 – Why Balsam Brands looks for an authentic connection when working with celebrities and influencers 20:20 – The tools Balsam Brands uses to collect and analyze content performance data 21:56 – Why an effective Pinterest strategy considers the platform’s planning and search engine functions 25:05 – How to create the volume of visual marketing content needed for social media 28:27 – How Balsam Brands taps into user-generated content Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Double your campaign spending with a Snapchat special offer Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Adam Brown, Executive Strategist at Salesforce and Social Pros host, joins this episode as a special guest to talk all about Salesforce’s latest State of Marketing Report. 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 Adam Brown, Executive Strategist at Salesforce and our very own Social Pros podcast host, joins this episode from the other side of the table. He’s on the show to share all the wisdom and insights that Salesforce’s latest report has to offer, including the highlights and surprising trends. The State of Marketing Report is something Salesforce publishes every year, and each time it comes out, the marketing world learns so much from it. In this episode, Adam discusses how the role of CMOs has changed, why businesses are focusing more on user-generated content, and how marketing is now all about data science as well as creativity. In This Episode: 1:50 – Adam explains how Salesforce put together the State of Marketing report 3:34 – What the report tells us about customer experience 5:25 – How marketers’ top three priorities are also their top three challenges 6:58 – What the report reveals about the way CMOs track their progress 8:29 – Why 88% of marketers have changed their marketing strategy 11:34 – Why marketers are increasingly using social media and email to boost reach 14:56 – The ways marketing departments want to level up their strategy 16:49 – Why training in influencer marketing and user-generated content is so vital 19:25 – How improved marketing tech empowers social pros to do less of the tactical stuff and more of the strategy 20:45 – Why 77% of marketers believe that their work provides more value now than a year ago 24:36 – How Salesforce has expanded its report with sub-reports and a Tableau dashboard Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Dave Fleet, Managing Director, Head of Global Digital Crisis at Edelman, is on the Social Pros Podcast to share his insights into modern digital crisis management. 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 times of crisis, it pays to plan ahead and act fast, says Dave Fleet, Managing Director, Head of Global Digital Crisis at Edelman. Dave joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how the ways businesses handle crises today have changed over the past few years. He talks about the impact of the digital world and how businesses have had to completely change the way they respond to crises. According to Dave, the old ways businesses managed crises are now obsolete. Today, organizations need to plan ahead and act fast in a way that’s rooted in trust. Misinformation spreads like wildfire. Dave discusses the use of multimedia content and different platforms to handle crises and why businesses need to be careful not to make things worse. In This Episode: 4:52 – Dave explains the scope and scale of the work that Edelman does 6:24 – How crises play out online in the modern world 10:38 – Which is more important, how you respond to a crisis vs. being prepared 13:31 – What a well-formed crisis response looks like 14:33 – Why you should communicate early in a crisis 17:07 – How Edelman uses data and social listening to keep on top of a crisis 20:04 – How Dave and Edelman counsel customers in a crisis 22:41 – Dave’s tip for better utilizing social listening 24:12 – Why video communication is preferred for some customers 29:05 – How Edelman uses paid advertising as part of its crisis response strategy 32:07 – What the PR crisis “war room” looks like in 2021 35:26 – Social media’s place at the table during an online crisis 37:28 – The best ways to prepare for digital crises in 2021 41:17 – Dave’s one tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

John Jantsch, Founder and author of Duct Tape Marketing, joins this episode of the Social Pros Podcast to share his methods for revisiting your marketing strategy. 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 Snapchat Full Episode Details John Jantsch, Founder and author of Duct Tape Marketing, discusses what has changed (and hasn’t changed) in the marketing landscape and how you can stay relevant. He talks about how marketing fundamentals may remain the same, but the way we need to reach customers has changed. Customers are making buying decisions in different ways in the modern world, and so to keep ahead, you need to constantly tweak your strategy. John shares some great insights into how you can leverage customer reviews and use them in your strategy. He also gives his take on brand storytelling and how it has almost become a cliché (unless you do it right). In This Episode: 1:15 – Why John decided to write The Ultimate Marketing Engine 2:16 – How John pulled all his knowledge together to write such a comprehensive book 3:35 – John explains what he means by the “marketing hourglass” 6:05 – Why John refers to customers as members 9:30 – Why customer service is an overlooked part of marketing 13:11 – How The Ultimate Marketing Engine builds on the wisdom of his previous books 15:21 – How you can uncover the “real problem” in business (and solve it) 17:17 – Why customer reviews are a “hidden goldmine” of customer research 19:15 – Why businesses often miss the boat when selling a solution 21:59 – The importance of narrowing your focus in marketing 25:59 – The difference between storytelling and narrative 31:55 – What John has learned about social media from being one of ten children 34:05 – John’s approach to generating referrals and whether you should compensate them 40:05 – John’s top tip for anyone wanting to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Double your campaign spending with a Snapchat special offer Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Brad Baker, VP of Brand Strategy and Creative at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, joins this episode of the Social Pros Podcast to share how he keeps up with the ever-changing “organic beast” of 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 Snapchat   Full Episode Details Brad Baker, VP of Brand Strategy and Creative at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, has been in the social media business for a long time. In that time, he’s seen just how much everything can change, whether its strategies, best practices, algorithms, platforms – you name it. He joins the Social Pros Podcast to share his thoughts on revisiting social media strategies, how the team at Holiday Inn Club Vacations pulls it off successfully. He explains how they keep their finger on the pulse and adapt their strategy when needed – while also maintaining Holiday Inn’s strong brand legacy. Never has a travel or vacation business had to adapt more than during the pandemic. Brad takes us behind-the-scenes of how Holiday Inn Club Vacations adapted its social strategy during that difficult time. Brad also discusses how Holiday Inn works with influencers to tell an authentic story of the brand.   In This Episode: 4:45 – Brad gives a little background on the Holiday Inn Club Vacation Program 6:13 – How Holiday Inn Club Vacations navigated an unpredictable year of travel 8:07 – How the use of social media changed over the pandemic 9:56 – Brad explains the “virtual vacation” tab Holiday Inn Club Vacations introduced on their website 11:40 – How Holiday Inn Club Vacations are tapping into local knowledge to promote properties 12:53 – The KPIs that timeshare companies should measure 15:59 – How Brad’s team has moved more towards paid social 16:34 – The challenge of finding authentic influencers 19:48 – Why Holiday Inn Club Vacations is so transparent about its timeshare model 23:25 – How Brad directs and collaborates with the marketing and social teams 26:29 – How Brad makes the business case to leadership to invest more in social 29:28 – Brad shares the surprising challenges in his earlier marketing and social career 31:30 – Why social teams are so risk-averse right now 33:09 – Brad explains why social teams need to re-evaluate their strategy at least once a year 37:14 – Brad’s top tip for anyone looking to become a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Double your campaign spending with a Snapchat special offer   Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.