“Employees are trusted more than the organizations they work for.” Citing this simple stat from the Edelman Trust Barometer, Adobe’s Lauren Friedman described her job in a nutshell. As the head of Global Social Business Enablement, Friedman spends her time doing just that. Social engagement, activation, and advocacy across Adobe. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

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About Lauren Friedman

Lauren Friedman is the head of Global Social Business Enablement at Adobe. She’s a social marketing authority, with extensive experience working with brands such as Safeway, Levi’s, Hyatt and Disney, to create their social personas, nurture their Facebook and Twitter communities and curate their social conversations. She is currently working across Adobe functions to enable all employees to be successful using social for marketing and community building.

Episode Highlights

So, what is Global Social Business Enablement? “It’s a mouthful! I infuse social into every aspect of how Adobe does business. I help employees stay true to the Adobe brand and also help them build their personal brand.”

Why does personal branding matter? “We believe that people trust people. People buy from people. Relationships fuel our overall success.” While Lauren works to engage employees via social media through one-on-one coaching, they don’t want to brainwash people. “We don’t want to create an army of Adobe-bots!”

“I’m product agnostic,” said Friedman. “I can work with the sales team, HR, or product teams. My favorite part of my job is finding a-ha moments.” When employees are able to see how social media engagement impacts their job.

What does brand advocacy mean at Adobe? “It’s both internal and external. It started with the employees taking what they’d learned in our Social Shift program. From there, we started thinking — how can we get influencers and customers involved?” Ultimately, Adobe wants everyone to be a part of their brand experience. This was at the forefront during their recent Adobe Remix campaign, where they encouraged creatives to reimagine their logo. Talk about trust!

What brand has made Lauren smile recently? “I love brands that do cool, innovative things that step outside of their corporate box.” Examples that have made her smile recently include Baileys for their Instagram soap opera (below) and IHOP’s use of Facebook Live.

To learn more, you can follow Lauren on Twitter and Instagram.

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