Social Pros Podcast

A marketing strategy can be full of great, inventive ideas but unless it's targeted at the right people, you could be flying blind. But how do you narrow down and identify your target market? Katie Robbert, CEO of Trust Insights, works with clients to identify their Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and refine their marketing messages to speak directly to customers. She joins Social Pros to let us in on her strategy for using data insights, AI and targeting messaging.

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The best marketing is targeted and specific. It speaks directly to customers who are likely to buy and find value in the solution you provide. It's marketing that's elevated by a thorough understanding of a customer's pain points, needs, and wants, and offers a much-needed solution.

But without a clear idea of who those customers are, it's easy for your marketing to become unfocused and less effective as a result. Enter the ICP, a strategy that helps you align all your marketing efforts to target exactly who you want.

Katie Robbert has plenty of experience digging into the details and data of her clients' best customers to help marketers speak directly to them. In this episode, she explains the value of building an ICP and how using AI tools can help you uncover insights into customers more efficiently.

In This Episode:

• 2:06 - Katie explains her role as CEO and Co-Founder of Trust Insights
• 5:19 - How ICPs differ from customer personas or archetypes
• 9:17 - The type of data you need on customers to help you create the best content
• 10:56 - How the Trust Insights team identifies customer needs
• 14:34 - How to define or redefine your ICP
• 17:14 - How to use your ICP for creating targeted information
• 19:21 - Why you need to decide on a measurement method whenever you implement a new strategy
• 20:53 - Katie explains how specific an ICP can be
• 23:19 - How AI tools can help with processing data and finding patterns
• 25:46 - The next steps after you've defined your ICP
• 28:11 - Where to find more information about Trust Insights
• 28:34 - Katie's top tip for aspiring social pros

Resources

• Join the Trust Insights Slack Community
• Connect with Katie on LinkedIn
• Follow Trust Insights on LinkedIn
• Follow Trust Insights on Instagram
• Follow Trust Insights on X
• Follow Trust Insights on TikTok
• Subscribe to Trust Insights' YouTube Channel
• Visit Trust Insights' Website

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

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.

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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.

What is exciting about social right now, and what are the things that bug you the most? This special episode of Social Pros gathers together Convince & Convert experts to talk about their shared frustrations with social, the future trends they have their eye on, and the potential out there for brands right now...

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In this unique, collaborative episode, hosts Daniel Lemin and Hannah Tooker come together with Convince & Convert strategists Sunny Hunt, Jennifer Harmon, and Jason Keath to explore the challenges and opportunities facing social pros today. They talk about their shared belief in the need for platforms to improve moderation systems and the rise of internal creators within brands that are engaging authentically with their audiences.

They also discuss the question they hear most frequently from social media leaders – 'where should I focus my time, energy and budget?' Plus they share strategies for overcoming analysis paralysis and how to build authenticity and trust in the age of AI.

In This Episode:

• 1:21 - This episode's guests introduce themselves
• 4:53 - The inconsistent enforcement of community guidelines and the spread of misinformation
• 8:00 - Jason highlights the lack of trust in social media and the need to prioritize user experience over profit
• 9:42 - The rise of inadequately disclosed sponsored partnerships
• 11:04 - The growing trend of brands hiring internal creators
• 12:36 - Some of the most common questions from social media leaders
• 14:17 - The challenge of selling the value of social media to leadership
• 16:13 - The importance of connecting organic and paid social teams to improve quality and performance of content
• 22:11 - Things happening in social that marketing teams need to be paying attention to
• 28:19 - Why you need to be participating in short-form video, especially in B2B
• 35:44 - How to build authenticity in the age of AI
• 41:40 - Daniel's pro tip for aspiring social pros

Resources

• Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle
• Convince & Convert Website
• Follow Convince & Convert on X
• Follow Convince & Convert on Instagram
• Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn
• Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn
• Connect with Sunny on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jason on LinkedIn

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

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.

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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.

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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.

When people head to social media, usually the last thing on their minds is studying. But Quizlet, the widely popular learning platform, has managed to build an impressive social media presence that engages learners around the world. Tori Mueller, Senior Social Media Manager, joins Social Pros to clue us into their strategies.

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Quizlet has perfected the formula for "edutainment" content with its unique blend of educational content, pop culture references, and community building on social. Tori heads up the social media department and joins this episode to take us through Quizlet's strategy for appealing to an audience of learners, particularly Gen Z.

We hear about Quizlet's three-pillar approach to content creation: edutainment, building the brand, and tapping into culture. As serious study content isn't what people usually want to see on their social media feeds, Quizlet combines educational content with cultural commentary on the trends that appeal most to its audience. She explains why this strategy is so successful in keeping the brand top of mind for learners.

Tori also shares a great example of how Quizlet engages in social listening by building a fully-fledged April Fools' campaign, "Rizzlet," based on a real user story on social. Quizlet also partners with influencers, and Tori shares how a partnership with @maxnotbeer led to high community engagement and new Korean language lessons added to the platform.

Authenticity over polished content is a common theme in social at the moment, and Tori agrees that authentic content is performing much better for her team. To tap into that authenticity, she explains how part of their strategy is to show the real people behind the brand.

In This Episode:

• 2:42 - An introduction to Tori and Quizlet
• 4:12 - How Quizlet engages an existing user base with its three content pillars
• 8:56 - How Tori determines what pieces of culture/trends to capitalize on
• 11:10 - How Quizlet's April Fools' prank came from UGC
• 16:15 - The challenge of getting employees to be on camera
• 19:02 - Why Quizlet leads with "dessert-first" content
• 20:32 - Tori tells us about an influencer collaboration and Instagram quiz campaigns
• 24:43 - Unusual use cases for Quizlet
• 25:51 - How Quizlet measures success and avoids vanity metrics
• 29:13 - Why Tori is most excited about the move toward authentic content
• 31:05 - Where Tori goes for inspiration
• 32:30 - The platforms Tori would choose to focus on if starting again from scratch
• 34:27 - Tori's top tip for aspiring social pros

Resources

• Quizlet
• Follow Quizlet on TikTok
• Follow Quizlet on X
• Follow Quizlet on Instagram
• Subscribe to Quizlet on YouTube

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

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.

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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.

Leaning into social-first content can help you connect to the trends that your audience is already engaged with. The key to great social-first content? Being a content consumer yourself, says our guest this week, Byron Stewart, Associate Director of Social Media at Team Epiphany.

Full Episode Details

By tapping into the current online culture and trends, you're in the perfect position to jump onto new opportunities to expand your brand's reach. That's what Bryon found when he worked at Foot Locker. As he was scrolling on Twitter at the gym, he spotted an opportunity to jump on a meme about Machine Gun Kelly being a Foot Locker employee. Not long after he posted, the Tweet went viral. This is a perfect example of how you can build social-first content (sometimes with minimal work) with a consumer mindset – a key theme running through this episode with Byron.

Byron shares his advice for social pros who want to leverage trends the right way, take risks, get leadership buy-in for campaigns, and how to work effectively with creators.

We also hear his thoughts on tackling burnout in the era of being "chronically online" and why his top tip for social pros is to commit to continuous learning. The episode leaves us with Byron's thoughts on the creator economy and his approach to identifying and leveraging emerging trends for different brands.

In This Episode:

• 2:48 - Byron explains his new role at Team Epiphany
• 3:38 - How Foot Locker went viral with a Machine Gun Kelly post
• 8:40 - Advice for social pros to do something similar while protecting their brand
• 10:36 - How Byron stays informed about current culture with a consumer mindset
• 12:46 - How Byron identifies important trends, tracks them, and applies them
• 14:51 - Byron's take on brand relationships with creators
• 17:35 - The biggest changes in the platforms affecting the creator economy
• 20:02 - Ways he'd like to see Instagram and TikTok evolve
• 22:30 - Byron's favorite types of content
• 23:59 - How to avoid burnout as a social pro
• 25:45 - How Byron kickstarted the employee advocacy program at Foot Locker
• 29:45 - Advice on getting buy-in to start making employee-generated content
• 31:20 - Why Byron loves being a social media advocate
• 33:00 - Byron's top tip for social pros

Resources

• Join the Social Pros LinkedIn Community
• Connect with Byron on LinkedIn
• Team Epiphany

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.

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.