Social Pros Podcast

MacKenzie McCarver and Hunter Wuensche from Sam’s Club join this episode of the Social Pros podcast in part three of a five-part Social Pros Deep Dive series. 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 Upfluence Supermetrics Full Episode Details The five-part Sam’s Club Deep Dive series looks closely at how big businesses manage social media, covering all the strategies, methods, and team dynamics over not one but five episodes. The series kicks off with Sam’s Club, the beloved wholesale membership club. Social media has a way of bringing people together, and that’s what Sam’s Club is all about. The social media team at Sam’s Club has ballooned in size over the past few years, and it’s transformed the way it approaches social media. In part three of five episodes in the Sam’s Club Deep Dive series, Social Pros talks to MacKenzie McCarver and Hunter Wuensche about creating community through social media. MacKenzie is the Director of Social Media, and Hunter is the Social Media Manager at Sam’s Club. They share how Sam’s Club creates a community, both within its own team and its members, through social care, user-generated content, and influencer marketing. You’ll also hear how MacKenzie and Hunter’s roles fit into the team and how they impact the day-to-day social strategies at Sam’s Club. In This Episode: 5:00 – What the day-to-day social media strategies look like at Sam’s Club 6:44 – Reaching different types of Sam’s Club customers on social 7:52 – The ‘Happy Host’ segment that Sam’s Club focuses on 8:46 – Collaboration between the social team and different departments 10:06 – How influencer marketing fits in with the rest of the social strategy 13:45 – Sam’s Club’s methods for finding influencers to work with 16:35 – How Sam’s Club manages an editorial calendar across the states 18:57 – The process behind creating organic social posts 21:26 – The best type of visual content for Sam’s Club 23:34 – How Sam’s Club encourages employee-generated content (EGC) 24:54 – The tool that Sam’s Club uses to manage EGC for Facebook posts 27:10 – Why the social team works closely with operations, HR, and legal for EGC 28:40 – Sam’s Club’s approach to brand-to-brand interactions 30:43 – How the team uses trends and hashtags as part of its campaigns 34:27 – MacKenzie’s tip for those wanting to become a social pro 37:09 – Who Hunter would love to have a video call with Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Download the Social Media Metrics template from Supermetrics Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Natalie Hite, Associate Director of Brand Marketing at Sam’s Club, joins the Social Pros Podcast in part two of a five-part Social Pros Deep Dive series. 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 Upfluence Supermetrics Full Episode Details In this five-part Deep Dive into Sam’s Club, we look at how their busy team executes its social media strategy. For an insider look at how Sam’s Club’s social media team operates, each episode features a different social team member. They speak a bit about their role and how they fit into the now-huge social media team at Sam’s Club. What makes the Sam’s Club brand so unique? In the previous episode of the Social Pros Deep Dive series, Sabrina Callahan spoke about how she focused on getting the brand right before anything else. In this episode, part two of the Deep Dive series, Natalie Hite, shares more details about what makes the Sam’s Club brand so special – and how social media fits into that. She talks about why “brand storytelling has been our primary objective.” Natalie discusses how vital connection, communication, and brand storytelling are to Sam’s Club and how her role as Associate Director of Brand Marketing helps drive results. All episodes of this series are out now, ready to binge! As this is a brand-new series, we’d love to hear some feedback on what you think of the Social Pros Deep Dive. Please share any thoughts you have by emailing Jay directly at jay@convinceandconvert.com. In This Episode: 5:38 – Where Natalie’s role fits into the Sam’s Club team 6:55 – Natalie’s experience of watching the social team grow so quickly 8:43 – What Sam’s Club’s brand promise is and what it means 10:02 – How Natalie adapted from traditional media to social 13:02 – How social media became the quickest way to communicate with members 13:36 – Why Sam’s Club takes a “social-first approach” 15:50 – How the Sam’s Club social media team collaborates with other departments 18:15 – Natalie’s take on traditional vs. social media 19:39 – How Sam’s Club targets many different customer types with its content 22:43 – How Sam’s Club taps into the ethos of different audiences by asking for feedback 25:47 – Why Sephora and Ben & Jerry’s are “north stars” for Sam’s Club 28:00 – How Sam’s Club uses storytelling to resonate with audiences 31:34 – How the Sam’s Club vendors get involved with Sam’s Club’s social pushes 34:30 – Natalie’s top tips for becoming a social pro 37:43 – Natalie shares who she’d love to have a video call with Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Download the Social Media Metrics template from Supermetrics Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Sabrina Callahan, Senior Director of Brand and Social Marketing at Sam’s Club, joins the Social Pros Podcast as the first guest in a brand-new series called Social Pros Deep Dive. This series takes a closer look at businesses’ social strategies, explored over several episodes. Social media has become so important and complex that trying to summarize it in just one episode means leaving out a lot of detail. To kick things off, series one focuses on Sam’s Club, the much-loved wholesale membership club. The Sam’s Club Deep Dive is a five-part series that puts social media at Sam’s Club under the microscope. Tune in as Social Pros interviews different team members over five episodes to find out how the busy team operates their 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 Upfluence Supermetrics Full Episode Details When done right, social media can have a remarkable effect on company growth. A great example of this is Sam’s Club, the popular wholesale membership club. Sam’s Club dramatically expanded its social media team from just two to 50 employees and has seen growth and engagement skyrocket. In part one of five episodes in the Sam’s Club Deep Dive series, Social Pros speaks to Sabrina Callahan, Senior Director of Brand and Social Marketing. Sabrina discusses what it takes to run a growing social media team and how she handles all the moving pieces. She describes how Sam’s Club structures its social team and campaigns, plus its future plans. Sabrina also introduces us to some of the other cast and characters in the Sam’s Club social team, who will join the podcast over the next few episodes. All five episodes are out now, so get ready to binge! As this is a brand-new series, we’d love to hear some feedback on what you think of the Social Pros Deep Dive. Please share any thoughts you have by emailing Jay directly at jay@convinceandconvert.com. In This Episode: 7:00 – Why Sam’s Club expanded the social team so rapidly 9:48 – The importance of having an advocate in your company for social media 11:25 – How the Sam’s Club social team is structured 19:10 – Sabrina shares what qualities she looked for when hiring the social team 24:25 – Why Sabrina focused on building the brand identity, then the social channels 27:54 – How a member’s experience differs between digital and brick-and-mortar shopping 30:15 – What Sam’s Club got right with its COVID-19 approach and messaging 35:54 – Sam’s Club’s primary goal with social media 39:15 – How the pandemic affected Sabrina as a social pro 43:09 – Sabrina’s top tip for social pros 44:50 – Who Sabrina would love to have a video call with Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Download the Social Media Metrics template from Supermetrics Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Jay Maldonado, Director of Social Media at SurveyMonkey, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how brands can create an agile social media plan that is also socially conscious. 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 Upfluence Supermetrics Full Episode Details The very nature of social media is flexible and can change at any moment. That’s why it’s so important to have many tricks up your sleeve when creating a social media strategy. Jay Maldonado, Director of Social Media at SurveyMonkey, says that flexibility and wearing many hats are the keys to becoming a top social pro. In this episode of Social Pros, Jay discusses why all social media teams should have a “living doc” for their strategy that you can change when needed. He talks about why it’s important to have great leadership and a team that really believes in the power of social media. Jay also discusses why you need to be sensitive and open to learning to have genuine and authentic conversations over social media. In This Episode: 7:52 – How sometimes social pros don’t leverage social media for themselves 9:14 – How Jay manages marketing to a broad SurveyMonkey audience 11:47 – How social comes to life at SurveyMonkey 13:15 – Why all social media strategies should have a “living doc” 15:28 – How to create an agile social strategy 20:38 – How to ask the right questions in social media 22:45 – Jay’s advice for social pros to navigate important social issues 26:15 – Jay’s tips for social pros to use data better 30:33 – SurveyMonkey’s recent study into mental wellness in the workplace 33:25 – Choosing the best social media channels to market your brand 35:54 – The importance of leadership and a great team 38:32 – Jay’s one tip for becoming a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Download the Social Media Metrics template from Supermetrics Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Anthony Yepez, Associate Director of Social Strategy at Digitas North America, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss why current customers should be the center of your 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 Upfluence accessiBe Full Episode Details What should you focus on most of all in social media? Is it the metrics, posting schedule, viral content…or is it the people themselves? Anthony Yepez says you should focus not just on potential customers and follower count but also on your current customers. He says that “your current customers are the gateway to prospective new customers,” and yet many businesses overlook that. Anthony, Associate Director of Social Strategy at Digitas, shares his tips for connecting with your audience and how he gets brands to succeed on social media. In this episode, he shares what he believes are common mistakes in social and why it’s so important to listen to your audience. Anthony believes you should always “have a human element to your social media” and focus on real connections above all. In This Episode: 4:12 – How working remotely has affected social media agencies 4:54 – The core elements of a successful social strategy 6:10 – How far out you can realistically plan a social strategy 7:31 – Why communication and processes are key to working remotely with clients 9:07 – Which remote communication tools Anthony and his team use 9:47 – Why you should join the Social Media Marketers (SMM) Slack group 13:41 – Anthony’s take on Clubhouse 15:54 – Which success metrics clients pay too much attention to 18:02 – When to encourage clients to join a new social media channel 23:53 – How social pros experience social media burnout 28:23 – The importance of listening to your audience 30:51 – Why Anthony thinks brands that focus on current customers do better 31:53 – The challenge of explaining social media strategies to customers 36:14 – Anthony’s tip for becoming a social pro Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe Digitas’ website Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Mark Schaefer, Chief Operating Officer of B Squared Media, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss his latest book, Cumulative Advantage, and why it’s important to try new things and seek new opportunities. 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 Upfluence accessiBe Full Episode Details What makes someone successful? Is it money, education, connections? Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint the turning point in someone’s life. Mark Schaefer, Chief Operating Officer of B Squared Media, says that it’s not necessarily one thing that acts as an advantage. The initial advantage that people experience can be as simple as a singular conversation. He says that whatever this one initial advantage is can lead you down an entirely different path in your life. “If you have this original advantage…you can build unstoppable momentum.” Mark’s book, Cumulative Advantage, is based on the work of sociologist Dr. Robert Merton. It follows the idea that those who have some advantage can continue to benefit from it at a much faster rate than those who don’t. Mark talks about his own experiences and advantages and how they led him to where he is today. He shares why it’s so important to try new things and find your “seam” in the status quo. In This Episode: 6:00 – What is cumulative advantage? 13:45 – How internal narratives can hold people back 16:50 – Why it’s so important to try new things 18:05 – Mark reveals why loving your own ideas too much can be a problem 19:51 – How sometimes our marketing strategy is dictated to us 20:31 – Why marketing strategy is about finding a fracture in the status quo 22:53 – Mark shares why great marketing is about nonconformity 25:34 – Why following your passion isn’t the only thing you should do 28:45 – Mark shares the idea behind a “sonic boom” 31:15 – How to build your own brand with a sonic boom 34:31 – The important balance between maintaining consistency and excellence 40:28 – How Mark defines mentorship 44:40 – Mark’s top tip for social pros Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe Cumulative Advantage by Mark Schaefer Marketing Companion podcast Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Alisa Meredith, Pinterest Product Specialist & Marketing Manager at Tailwind, joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about how brands can use Pinterest to reach new audiences, drive traffic, and scale their businesses. 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 Upfluence accessiBe Full Episode Details Have you thought about using Pinterest for business? If not, it’s time to step up and supercharge your presence on Pinterest. 459 million people use Pinterest each month, that’s a huge audience and Pinterest’s growth isn’t slowing down any time soon. Alisa Meredith, Pinterest Product Specialist & Marketing Manager, at Tailwind, states that 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. This means that 97% of referring traffic from Pinterest is new traffic, which is a massive opportunity for brands to reach new people, increase traffic and drive conversions. Pinterest is a powerful platform for reaching traditional demographics and new audiences as the platform continues to grow. Alisa is a Pinterest expert. In this episode, she reveals how social media practitioners can leverage the platform to create and share incredible pins that speak to their audience. In This Episode: 05:06 – How Alisa would describe Pinterest to beginners 06:20 – Why it’s so important to get your pin on as many boards as possible 07:18 – Whether success on Pinterest is based on what industry you’re in 08:53 – How Pinterest can drive a new audience to your business 11:01 – Why Pinterest lacks data insights and analytics 13:52 – How the demographics of the average Pinterest user is changing 16:40 – What Tailwind Create is and how it works 18:59 – How to find the sweet spot when it comes to uploading new pins 22:00 – How brands can use Pinterest Paid Ads 23:48 – What works and what doesn’t work on Pinterest 28:20 – How B2B brands are leveraging Pinterest 30:03 – Key mistakes to avoid when using Pinterest for business 34:18 – The importance of production value 37:43 – Whether brands really need a content philosophy that includes everything (images, videos, stories, etc.) Resources: Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe Learn more about Tailwind Check out Alisa Meredith’s website Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Jason Keath, the Founder and CEO of Social Fresh, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss the Social Fresh Conference and tips to keep your social media fresh and innovative. 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 Upfluence accessiBe Full Episode Details If you’re a social media professional, you’re probably familiar with the pressure from superiors to increase followers on multiple social media platforms. But how important is a brand’s follower count? Jason Keath, the Founder and CEO of Social Fresh, claims that it’s not about numbers, it’s about quality – “what we try to pay more attention to these days is not necessarily the number of followers or engagement that we’re getting with content, but the quality and relevance of it.” It’s time for brands and social media professionals to go after the true north star, which isn’t how many followers you have, but the quality & engagement of those followers. Social Fresh is a social media training and analysis company with the goal to inspire and support the social media industry. The Social Fresh Conference is the longest running conference in the social marketing industry and if you thought a global pandemic would get in its way, think again! The Social Fresh Conference is virtual this year and if you want tickets, listen in closely for a special discount code to attend the conference! In This Episode: 05:15 – Jason reveals everything you need to know about the upcoming Social Fresh Conference 06:22 – How Jason got into this business and why he’s still doing it 10:11 – How moving to virtual has changed things like speaker selection, creating content experiences, and marketing the event 12:36 – What today’s participants at Social Fresh expect to learn or gain from attending the event 15:06 – How recruiting speakers has changed 18:42 – Tips for anyone trying to bring people together via virtual events 23:49 – Jason talks about the Instagram Templates Project 27:48 – How marketing agencies have adjusted to the new normal 29:58 – Jason shares the tale of two tweets 33:37 – What frustrates Jason about the current state of social 36:26 – Jason shares his prediction for the future of Clubhouse Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe Learn more about the upcoming Social Fresh Conference Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Carmen Collins, Employee/Employer Brand & Social Media Lead at Cisco (#WeAreCisco team), joins the Social Pros Podcast to talk about the power of employee social content and how it can help brands build engagement and impact their audience. 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 Upfluence accessiBe Full Episode Details Using social media for employer and employee branding and recruitment is something that nobody does better than Employee/Employer Brand & Social Media Lead at Cisco (#WeAreCisco team), Carmen Collins. Carmen is a leading force in employee and employer communications and actively gives employees a voice on social media. Brands want to use social media to engage with their audience and promote what’s going on with their business, but how should they determine what to promote? And, how can brands be sure that what they share on social media will be representative of the brand and impactful to their audience? Carmen emphasizes the importance of having empathy, which is something that many brands confuse with authenticity. To have empathy, brands must be empathetic. It seems obvious, but many brands miss the mark here. Carmen’s solution is to seek help from employees. In her opinion, “employee-generated content adds empathy.” In This Episode: 05:46 – The difference between employee-generated content and brand-generated content 08:39 – How to triangulate new channel opportunities 11:02 – How Cisco has adjusted their content creation process in light of the shift to remote work 13:11 – How to ensure employee content represents your brand 17:01 – Whether Cisco’s core audience is existing or potential team members 19:17 – How to amplify employee content on social media 24:10 – How Cisco approaches paid amplification and targeted ads 27:48 – What to consider when selecting a specific audience to market employment messages 30:25 – How Cisco decides what to publish 35:23 – Whether Cisco carries out studies to measure employee retention, communication, and their overall impact Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe Learn more about Empathy In Tech Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Brian Fanzo, Digital Futurist at iSocialFanz, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss the new social media platform that everyone’s talking about – Clubhouse. We discuss how this voice-only app is making waves in the social media world and how you can use it as part of your own 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 Tailwind aCe Full Episode Details Is Clubhouse the only social media platform that prioritizes conversation over content? Brian Fanzo, Digital Futurist at iSocialFanz, says that Clubhouse is a unique platform that could create a type of dialogue never seen before on social media. As an invite-only, audio-only platform, Clubhouse focuses on real conversations and a new style of networking. Unlike other social media platforms, it’s not all about creating consistent content. Instead, Clubhouse provides intimate spaces to connect and share ideas. As Brian says in this podcast episode, Clubhouse is all about authenticity, which is much harder to fake than on other platforms. After this episode, we’re continuing the Clubhouse discussion – on Clubhouse itself! Join us on March 1st at 10 am ET for the Social Pros Podcast After Party: Clubhouse for Brands with Jay Baer & Brian Fanzo. In This Episode: 5:23 – What is Clubhouse, and how does it work? 9:14 – The power of audio and the authenticity of Clubhouse 12:21 – How conversations on Clubhouse are organized by rooms and clubs 17:40 – The different types of content and conversations available on Clubhouse 18:49 – How 2020 events influenced Clubhouse’s rise in popularity 24:42 – Brian predicts where the growth within Clubhouse will go and how to leverage it as a social pro 30:54 – How brands can use Clubhouse 37:00 – How to multitask with Clubhouse 43:23 – How Clubhouse approaches monetization and moderation 45:07 – The pros and cons of Clubhouse. Resources Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from aCe Get $30 off of your Tailwind Subscription! Join Clubhouse iSocialFanz website Brian’s website Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.