Social Pros Podcast

Canva has opened the doors for just about anyone trying their hand at creating visual content, whether you’re a pro graphic designer or brand new to it all. So, it’s no surprise that it’s an incredibly popular tool for marketers, brands, and social pros alike. We decided to revisit this episode from last year with Jacky Barker, formerly the Social Lead at Canva, to remind ourselves of how Canva’s social strategy brings the brand to life. Full Episode Details  Canva is a marketer’s best friend! The smart visual communications platform helps social pros with marketing, building presentations, graphic design, branding, and has even expanded into video editing and website building. As Jacky likes to say in this episode, it offers “the full shebang”! But how has their social media strategy contributed to Canva’s success? Jacky explains in this episode how community and culture are cornerstones of Canva’s ability to stay in the spotlight.   We hear about the day-to-day responsibilities of a Social Lead, how Canva identifies target audiences, and how its social team leverages creators, UGC, plus Pinterest and TikTok to reach more people. In This Episode: 1:50 - An introduction to Canva 2:52 - Jacky’s day-to-day responsibilities as a Social Lead 5:12 - Where Canva takes its cultural cues 6:44 - How Canva stays on top of trends in the “creator world” 8:04 - How Canva engages with its super fans 10:57 - How Canva determines its target audience 13:13 - How Canva has changed its messaging around features 16:23 - Canva’s approach to expanding into a global brand 19:35 - Why Pinterest is a big focus for Canva 24:44 - How Canva determines its next steps for the product 29:11 - Jacky’s parting advice for social pros Resources  Canva Canva on Pinterest Follow Canva on X Connect with Jacky on LinkedIn Follow Jacky on X Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers. 

Sunny Hunt, a strategist at Convince & Convert, Jennifer Harmon, an expert strategist, and Jason Keath, also a strategist, dive into the evolving social media landscape. They discuss frustrations around misinformation and the need for better community guideline enforcement. The rise of internal creators within brands is highlighted as a key trend for authentic engagement. The trio shares insights on where social media leaders should focus their efforts, along with strategies to build trust and authenticity in an AI-driven world.

Can AI help us to become better storytellers? Your immediate thought might be no, of course not! But while an AI tool won’t craft a compelling narrative out of nowhere, it can help us to become better at our jobs by saving time and acting as an advisor and assistant. For this episode, Mike Allton, the Chief Storyteller at Agorapulse, drops a masterclass on using AI to craft intriguing stories that all marketers and social pros can learn from. Full Episode Details  As Chief Storyteller, Mike has fully embraced the new age of AI and shares his experience of learning how AI tools can play a role in storytelling. He shares examples of how AI can streamline research and content preparation and save time on the nitty-gritty work that bogs down creatives. For those new to social media with AI worries, Mike shares advice (and reassurance) and explains the common mistakes even seasoned marketers make when using AI. He makes it clear that it is no magic wand, but it’s powerful – if you use it right. Mike weighs up AI’s strengths and limitations, offering practical advice on when to utilize it in content creation. One example he recommends is using AI to identify gaps in your content strategy, freeing up time for humans while highlighting opportunities for great content in the future.  In This Episode: 1:45 - What does Mike’s role as Chief Storyteller involve?  2:31 - What makes a good story?  5:45 - How AI and marketers can work together to tell stories   8:31 - The top thing marketers get wrong with AI  10:57 - How AI can help you find gaps in your content    13:00 - Mike’s advice for overcoming AI wariness and using it to improve your work  19:02 - How humans can differentiate themselves from AI  22:11 - How Agorapulse is integrating AI into the platform    27:06 - The best places to connect with Mike, including his website and podcast   27:32 - Mike’s top tip for aspiring social pros  Resources  Connect with Mike on LinkedIn Follow Mike on X Follow Mike on Instagram Mike’s Blog - The Social Media Hat AI in Marketing: Unpacked Podcast Agorapulse Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers. 

We take a look back at one of our favorite episodes from last year this week. When Joél Leon, Creative Director, T Brand Studio at New York Times Advertising, joined us in episode 601, he brought plenty of wisdom and some mic drop moments. Full Episode Details  If you want your creative team to make magic, then you’ve got to foster a healthy environment for them to thrive in. As Creative Director, Joél believes there needs to be more “harmony” within the creative process. And part of that is by building the right environment and leadership. In this episode, we hear Joél’s take on what it means to be a great creative director and why it’s important to trust your team and give them safe spaces to flourish creatively. Joél takes us through some examples of his favorite campaigns he’s worked on and how his team defines success. He explores why it’s necessary to practice what you preach, especially when joining conversations about social issues. In This Episode: 1:39 - Joél explains his role within T Brand Studio 4:54 - How Joél’s team works alongside the newsroom and editorial teams 6:35 - Joél shares some details of campaigns his team has worked on 7:51 - How Joél leads his team to deliver the very best content 12:00 - Joél’s methods for managing expectations and working with brands 15:07 - How leaders can create a healthy work environment 16:50 - How to protect the interests of your team while keeping clients happy 20:07 - Joél shares some of his favorite campaigns to work on 23:42 - How Joél prefers to think about failure and success 26:45 - Finding a harmony between creativity and social issues 30:50 - Why listening is the most active form of communication 31:20 - Joél announces his publishing deal and book 33:03 - Joél’s top tip for those wanting to become a social pro Resources  Connect with Joél on LinkedIn Follow Joél on X Follow Joél on Instagram Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers. 

Tori Mueller, Senior Social Media Manager at Quizlet, shares insights on how the learning platform engages Gen Z with its fresh approach to social media. She discusses the winning formula of ‘edutainment’ that blends educational content with pop culture. Tori highlights an innovative April Fools' campaign called 'Rizzlet,' sparked by user stories, that showcases their strategy of social listening and community involvement. Collaborations with influencers, like @maxnotbeer, further boost engagement, proving authenticity trumps polish in connecting with today's learners.

What does it take to manage social media for a global brand like Uber? We hear the secrets to their social success in this episode with N'Yaisha Aziz, the Global Social Media Lead at Uber, who takes us through Uber’s strategy and approach to building winning campaigns that resonate. Full Episode Details How can we make our social media content resonate and create a real impact online? N'Yaisha Aziz joins the podcast to share Uber’s approach to community, adapting to cultural trends, and creating viral campaigns that people talk about at the dinner table. Heading up both sides of the business, Uber and Uber Eats, N'Yaisha operates across the brand team, product marketing, and social impact to deliver campaigns, initiatives, and messaging through engaging campaigns and organic content.  We hear some behind-the-scenes stories of Uber’s successful campaigns, including a holiday campaign with the “Queen of Christmas,” Mariah Carey, and how she got to work on content in real-time for the Super Bowl. N'Yaisha explores the impact of community-driven content, the challenges of balancing campaign work with organic social media, and why Uber prioritizes shareability and comments as key metrics for success. In This Episode: 2:12 - What N'Yaisha’s role involves and a typical day in the life at Uber 4:00 - How N'Yaisha balances the campaign side and the organic side  6:12 - How Uber makes space for content that works on both a local and global level  9:15 - How Uber manages its content calendar while keeping the community engaged  11:17 - Why Uber prioritizes shareability and comments as key metrics 14:02 - N'Yaisha’s take on pushing boundaries in social  16:11 - N'Yaisha takes us through Uber’s holiday campaign with Mariah Carey 20:19 - Drafting a creative brief for Mariah Carey  24:00 - Working on campaigns that tap into sentimental moments  27:58 - What it was like working on real-time content at the Super Bowl 30:05 - Where N'Yaisha goes for inspiration 35:05 - N'Yaisha’s top tips for aspiring social pros  Resources Join the Social Pros LinkedIn community Connect with N'Yaisha on LinkedIn Follow Uber on LinkedIn Follow Uber on Instagram Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Data-Driven Decisions is a new limited-series marketing podcast presented by Convince & Convert and shared with our Social Pros listeners. What happens when marketing truly takes the driver's seat with data and insights? In this episode, we hear from Jenn Chase, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President at SAS, a company that operates with a data-first culture. Translating Data into Meaningful Insights Jenn explains what insights SAS focuses on from a marketing perspective and how that helps her team and other departments work together to drive results. She talks about the different types of surveys and brand studies that SAS conducts to collect data both internally and externally, plus the impact that has on working toward business goals. For SAS, it’s clear that data is embedded in its culture, but for that data to be useful, it needs context. Jenn’s team makes an effort to translate that data into insights that matter for different departments, including sales and finance.  Jenn also shares some examples of clients SAS works with and how they have transformed how they use data to enhance the customer experience with personalization. In a cookie-less world, brands need to think outside the box when it comes to collecting data, but Jenn shares some top tips for companies to get started. In This Episode: 1:30 - The vision that Jenn adopted when taking on her role at SAS 2:45 - The insights that SAS’s marketing team provides the rest of the company 5:42 - How Jenn encourages her team to drive value of marketing across the organization 7:44 - The art to connecting the dots across the organization on ROI 9:36 - How Jen builds strong relationships with other teams 11:43 - The importance of marketing, sales, and finance learning each other’s languages 13:48 - How SAS uses data to help clients better serve customers 16:08 - Jenn shares an example of a beauty retailer who transformed their data strategy 19:05 - Why we’ll see the evolution of commercial industries thanks to better data management 19:56 - How SAS is helping sports organizations with data   21:32 - Helping clients take a customer-driven approach with data 22:48 - How brands can get ahead in a cookie-less future 24:50 - Why brand personas are crucial 28:02 - Advice for organizations who are beginning to use data   31:19 - Why we need to democratize data 35:45 - How SAS strikes the balance between being data-driven and human-centric decision-making   Quotes: “From a B2B perspective, we understand that we need to meet our buyer, not just as their work persona, but recognize that they live in a broader world, and you can reach them in a more personal way.” “Start with the end in mind. What are the questions that you want to be able to answer about your customers that you can't today? Really paint a vision for what the end state could look like and how it can have business impact." “It’s imperative we know not only the demographics but also the psychographics of those personas so that you understand what's motivating them and then making sure that that information is fed into a creative brief so that all of the content that you create downstream as part of an integrated campaign is based on what that persona wants.” Resources: Connect with Jenn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennchase/ SAS: https://www.sas.com/en_gb/home.html Purchase the book at koganpage.com/datadrivenpersonalization (use code CCData20 for 20% off and free shipping in the UK and US) and sign up for more content at convinceandconvert.com.

Byron Stewart, Associate Director of Social Media at Team Epiphany, shares his insights on leveraging social-first content to connect with audience trends. He recounts a viral moment at Foot Locker involving Machine Gun Kelly, showcasing how brands can jump on organic trends. Byron stresses the importance of continuous learning and managing social media consumption to avoid burnout. He also discusses building authentic partnerships with creators and the role of employee advocacy in enhancing brand representation.

Data-Driven Decisions is a new limited-series marketing podcast presented by Convince & Convert and shared with our Social Pros listeners. Data is being used more and more to help businesses make the best decisions, in part thanks to the greater selection of tools available to capture it. But what if you struggle to access that first-party data? And what can you do with data once you do have it?  A Balanced Approach to Data-Driven Decisions In this episode of Data-Driven Decisions, we sit down with Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder and CEO of SparkToro, an audience research tool that helps organizations understand their audiences better. Rand explains how SparkToro helps businesses learn about and target their audiences, and shares examples of users who have seen success with the platform.  We hear his thoughts on common mistakes marketing teams make, such as relying too much on Google and Meta ads, and why sometimes more unconventional marketing can achieve better results. Rand also shares his balanced take on the use of data to drive decision-making. While data can be a great guide, there are certain blind spots that the data can’t tell you about. Rand recommends a more balanced approach to data usage and supplementing data-driven insights with experimentation, intuition, and direct customer conversations to really get to know your customers.  In This Episode: 0:27 - How SparkToro works 3:11 - Why marketing is too focused on Google and Meta ads 4:20 - What companies typically underinvest in 6:57 - Examples of how clients use SparkToro 12:49 - The problem with focusing on channels and tactics rather than the audience 14:46 - How uncommon tactics are inexpensive (and sometimes more effective) compared to ads 16:31 - How a brand used Reddit in a unique way 19:15 - Zero click marketing tactics that help customers know, like, and trust you 20:45 - Are pre/post-purchase surveys misleading? 25:54 - Why Rand prefers to look at correlation not causation 27:05 - How Rand’s relationship with data evolved from Moz to SparkToro 29:17 - Why it’s harder to prove the value of tactics today 31:23 - The problem with attributing value to search engines 34:07 - Advice for organizations embarking on their data-driven journey 35:47 - Rand’s take on why data doesn’t tell the full story 39:18 - How to recognize what data can and can’t solve  Quotes: “One of the big frustrations that I have is that marketing has gotten more and more Google and Facebook advertising shaped... SparkToro is trying to show you where your audience actually spends time.” “I think it pays to be responsible in your recognition of what problems data can solve and what it can't solve. It's not always the case, in my opinion, that every culture needs to be more data-driven." “I'm always shocked at how much I learn when I spend a bunch of time talking to customers or watching interviews.” Resources: Connect with Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/ SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/ Purchase the book at koganpage.com/datadrivenpersonalization (use code CCData20 for 20% off and free shipping in the UK and US) and sign up for more content at convinceandconvert.com.

It’s time to put aside those rigid, long-term social media strategies. Social is changing, and flexibility is the new superpower. In this episode of Social Pros, Jayde Powell, Founder and Head of Creative of Em Dash, shares her tips for brands and creators to achieve success in today’s social era. Full Episode Details  As a true “creatorpreneur,” Jayde isn’t just the Founder and Head of Creative at Em Dash, a content and creative development agency. She has a ton of other projects, including hosting the LinkedIn series #CreatorTeaTalk, being the Co-Founder of Weed For Black Women, a media hub and online community, plus managing her own personal brand. She joins this episode to share her strategies for creating brilliant content for brands and collaborating with creators, plus how she developed her own personal brand on LinkedIn, aka “the Briefcase App.” We hear why she favors flexibility and adaptability in social media strategies over rigid, long-term plans that often fall short in the fast-paced social media world. She suggests that brands should focus on developing teams who live and breathe social and can create high-quality content with a more flexible approach. We also talk about the creator economy, and Jayde shares some invaluable tips for creators on negotiating pay and developing business savviness. She suggests that brands look beyond partnering with creators for one-off campaigns and instead work on more sustained collaborations. The episode also explores Jayde's journey from corporate life to becoming a successful creator on LinkedIn, where she found success by staying true to her authentic voice and personality. In This Episode: 2:08 - Jayde takes us through all the different projects she manages to balance at once 3:54 - Why Jayde first got into the creator space 5:34 - How Jayde turned away from Twitter/X to find success on LinkedIn 7:55 - Advice on finding your footing on LinkedIn 11:20 - What are brands getting right in the creator economy? 14:47 - Jayde explains some of her brand partnerships 15:53 - Why creators need to be business savvy 17:44 - Negotiating pay as a creator and getting paid what you’re worth 19:37 - Jayde explains how the Weed For Black Women community began 23:32 - What she’s learned about running a community 25:48 - How Jayde evaluates success 27:10 - Where brands are doing their communities injustice 29:07 - Advice for brands starting from scratch 31:04 - Why planning social media content too far in advance isn’t worth it anymore 34:29 - How creators can set boundaries to avoid burnout 38:24 - Jayde’s top tips for aspiring social pros  Resources  The Em Dash Co. Connect with Jayde on LinkedIn Follow Jayde on Instagram WFBW Ventures #CreatorTeaTalk Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.