Data analytics for social media growth with Dun & Bradstreet

On Top of PR with Jason Mudd podcast: Data analytics for organic social media growth with Nicole Scarbrough and show host Jason Mudd episode graphic

In this episode, Nicole Scarbrough joins host Jason Mudd to discuss data analytics for social media growth.

Tune in to learn more!

Our guest

Our episode guest is Nicole Scarbrough, a social media analyst at Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics. Nicole produces and manages organic social media content across platforms including LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. From writing copy and crafting impactful campaigns to reporting and graphic design, she continuously works to optimize content and processes.

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5 things you’ll learn during the full episode:

Social media marketing trends
The importance of analytics, content management, and keyword analysis
How certification can lead to career advancement
Strategies for communicating social media value to leadership
Ways to combat burnout and imposter syndrome

About Nicole Scarbrough

Born and raised in Northeast Florida, Nicole attended the University of North Florida, graduating with a B.A. in political science and a B.S. in communication. When she’s not at the office or spending time with friends and family, Nicole is an avid distance runner, mountain biker, and gym goer. She also loves to take advantage of the plethora of scenic trails and parks in the area.

Quotables

"LinkedIn Lives are a fantastic tool to grow your audience, and they really play off name recognition." — @NicoleScarbrough
"From channel to channel, we have different strategies. LinkedIn is going to be more business-focused." — @NicoleScarbrough
"I can't imagine not being in a role or a position with a company where you're not learning and getting opportunities to grow and do new things every day." — @JasonMudd9

Resources

Additional Episode Resources from Axia Public Relations:

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Find out more about Axia Public Relations.

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Episode Highlights

[00:34] Introduction and Role Jason Mudd

"Today we're joined by Nicole Scarbrough with Dun and Bradstreet. Nicole is a social media analyst at Dun and Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning, data and analytics. She produces and manages organic social media content across all major social platforms."

[02:11] Leveraging Data for Social Growth Nicole Scarbrough

"First and foremost, the best part of organic social media is that it's free. Kind of a given by organic. So we just used organic as a way to stand out. So we use it to kind of touch on our people aspect in our company. We use it to communicate our data. So we have a lot of really impactful data sets that I can leverage day in and day out."

[13:17] Learning & Growth Perspective Jason Mudd

"I can't imagine not being in a role or a position with a company where you're learning and getting opportunities to grow and do new things every day. I know at our agency there's never, you know, no two days are alike. And we're always learning."

[18:14] LinkedIn Lives Strategy Nicole Scarbrough

"LinkedIn lives are a fantastic tool to really grow your audience. And they really play off name recognition. So you're bringing someone else onto your page, whether that's whether they have credibility, whether they're a strategic partner."

[31:45] Work-Life Balance Reality Nicole Scarbrough

"There are days where we have to be all hands on deck. And that's the reality of social media. Just because you're not actively working or in the office doesn't mean the world stops spinning."

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:29

Announcer

Welcome to On Top of PR with Jason Mudd, presented by ReviewMaxer.

00:00:09:29 - 00:00:34:25

Jason

Hello and welcome to On Top of PR, I’m your host, Jason Mudd with Axia Public Relations. Today we're joined by Nicole Scarbrough with Dun and Bradstreet. Nicole is a social media analyst at Dun and Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning, data and analytics. She produces and manages organic social media content across all major social platforms. She crafts and impactful campaigns through copywriting, graphic design, and social reporting.

00:00:34:27 - 00:00:43:27

Jason

She attended the University of North Florida and earned a BA in Political Science and a B.S. in communication. Nicole, welcome to On Top of PR.

00:00:44:00 - 00:00:46:21

Nicole

Thanks, Jason. Thanks for having me.

00:00:46:23 - 00:00:59:18

Jason

Yeah, thanks for being here. We're really glad to have you with us today. And I'm excited about our topic. How does one become a, social media analyst? What's the career path to find that position?

00:00:59:24 - 00:01:30:06

Nicole

Yeah, we are all about data here at DMV. I work with data in and out. Whether it's social media data or our own data that I'm communicating to our audience. So I have an agency background. I did a little bit with data there, whether it was reporting or communicating data on that end as well. But in my educational background, I have a background in obviously communication, but in public policy as well, and did a good bit of qualitative and quantitative of research there that translated really well into this role.

00:01:30:09 - 00:01:45:26

Nicole

So kind of all across the board, I've got some data exposure and really translates well into this role. A big part of what I do is communicating our data, communicating our findings, and kind of giving our audience a good glimpse in of what we do here at DMV.

00:01:45:28 - 00:02:11:27

Jason

Love that. Awesome. So today we're talking about how to leverage data analytics for organic social growth. And I haven't met many companies who are disinterest in organic social growth. So no pressure for our topic today. But we're really glad to jump in on this. And so I guess the first natural question is, you know, how does, DDB leverage its world renowned data for organic social growth?

00:02:11:29 - 00:02:38:13

Nicole

Yeah, that's a great question. First and foremost, the best part of organic social is that it's free. Kind of a given by organic. So we just used organic as a way to stand out. So we use it to kind of touch on our people aspect in our company. We use it to communicate our data. So we have a lot of really impactful data sets that I can leverage day in and day out, and some really great tools that I'll discuss a little bit later.

00:02:38:15 - 00:02:59:13

Nicole

That play into that as well. So we have things like storm impacts or storm insights that we can leverage. We did a couple really great posts about that. We have accounts receivables reports that we put out that we leverage and global business optimism insights. That's a pretty strong out ongoing report that we have that I communicate as well.

00:02:59:15 - 00:03:21:23

Nicole

So a big part about what's driving growth for our channel is the results that we're able to convey through data. So wherever we show these statistics, these findings, these results that our data is pointing us to, it's my job to translate that and communicate that to our audiences in a way that really shows that impact. And balancing that out with the more people friendly aspects of any company as well.

00:03:21:27 - 00:03:47:08

Nicole

So what our teams are doing, the impact that they're having, our C-suite activity, all of these different things really play a really big role in our channel strategy, and all of those things can really help propel growth and are a great way to balance between, just product announcements, kind of the typical activity that you'd expect from companies and really lends to the credibility that makes paid social work as well as it does.

00:03:47:10 - 00:03:51:21

Jason

Gotcha. What is your what is your team look like there at Done in Bradstreet?

00:03:51:23 - 00:04:14:27

Nicole

Yep. So we're small but mighty. So I on my end, I'm managing all of our organic social. I work kind of tangentially with our paid teams. We've got a little bit of PR in-house work with an agency as well. And then we've got an internal communicate team, and a fantastic, chief communications officer as well. So we're a small but mighty, but make a great impact.

00:04:15:00 - 00:04:18:18

Jason

So when it comes to your social media team, what does that look like?

00:04:18:21 - 00:04:47:00

Nicole

Yeah. So from an organic social perspective, it is just me. Okay. So I work with I do a lot of graphic design in-house. So a lot of the graphics that you see on our page, I had a hand in making those. We have a really strong creative team as well. So I work with them too. But for the most part, we're working really collaboratively, collaboratively with our team and with other kind of segments in our company to get content produced, said I manage it, and put it through our channels.

00:04:47:03 - 00:04:49:19

Jason

Okay. So you're kind of a one man band.

00:04:49:21 - 00:04:53:00

Nicole

One man band. Yes, ma'am.

00:04:53:03 - 00:04:56:21

Jason

Is that usual for a company of your size and in your industry?

00:04:56:24 - 00:05:17:21

Nicole

I think it varies. So it can depend. I think some some companies have a little more power behind them and bigger teams. Some are a little bit smaller, like mine. So I think it varies on what your objectives are, the resources that you have on your disposal. We find since our environment is as collaborative as it is, the workload is, we've got a team that's supporting us.

00:05:17:21 - 00:05:38:00

Nicole

Our creative team, like I said, is fantastic. We have other bands that really help us push content out. So I work extensively with our talent acquisition team, our small business team, public sector, all of these different units across the company that help me push out content because my job is to communicate what they're doing in addition to what our company is doing.

00:05:38:00 - 00:05:47:19

Nicole

And they're a really great translation of the company. So really, it's really very, very collaborative. So one man, so on my end, but I've got plenty of support.

00:05:47:22 - 00:05:54:19

Jason

All right. Excellent, excellent. So you're more than a social media analyst. You're also the social media manager.

00:05:54:21 - 00:06:05:10

Nicole

Yep. At least on the organic side. So our paint team is fantastic. They handle that. But from an organic front producing, managing, creating that's on my shoulders.

00:06:05:13 - 00:06:07:29

Jason

And how big is your paid social team?

00:06:08:01 - 00:06:27:21

Nicole

They are pretty large. So I would say they're they're a team of maybe 3 or 4, maybe a little bit bigger. We're spread out all over the place. We're a very large company, which is actually based in Jacksonville, but we are all over the place. So I work with, team members in the UK, team members located across the country.

00:06:27:21 - 00:06:37:03

Nicole

So we're we're pretty large. So team size is definitely vary. But I would say paid is a little bit definitely larger than me, but not too crazy.

00:06:37:05 - 00:06:44:18

Jason

So the paid social team is is three people full time and they're not doing other paid activities for the organization.

00:06:44:21 - 00:07:03:21

Nicole

Yep. So and from a paid front they are they're managing obviously our paid social. So LinkedIn is a pretty big outlet for us. I work, like I said tangentially with them, but we're a little bit more isolated on that front. So we amplify, we support each other. But for the most part, they do what they do.

00:07:03:21 - 00:07:07:03

Nicole

And I'm, I'm in my zone doing what I do.

00:07:07:05 - 00:07:13:01

Jason

Okay, that makes sense. So what are some of your favorite parts of your role there at the company?

00:07:13:03 - 00:07:36:22

Nicole

Yeah. Great question. We have so many incredible, talented people at this company. We've got executives from incredibly large, prominent companies with those great backgrounds that are bringing their expertise here. From the day to day, we have, bylines coming out from different executives that I get to promote. We've got new data, findings, so many different things that I get to leverage.

00:07:36:22 - 00:07:56:00

Nicole

Like I said, every single day it looks different. I would say one of my favorite parts is just communicating data. We have access to so many great data sets that we can leverage. And from a social media perspective with how our field is changing so much, it really gives me an opportunity to change the way that I'm communicating data.

00:07:56:03 - 00:08:11:18

Nicole

So whether that's by static posts or infographics or videos or pulling an executive in front of the camera to get them to kind of remark about some of these findings. There are so many different ways that we can communicate data. And I would say the versatility of this role is what I love so much.

00:08:11:20 - 00:08:18:00

Jason

Nice. Those are great answers. How is the profession changing or the industry changing.

00:08:18:03 - 00:08:36:09

Nicole

So much and so many different ways every single day. It looks incredibly different. These platforms are constantly rolling out new features, and I know there are plenty of social media managers out there that are trying to stay on top of them the best they can. I myself, sometimes it can feel like you're you're falling behind like you're the turtle in that race.

00:08:36:09 - 00:08:56:22

Nicole

But at stand on top of it, that's challenging. And I think I has presented both challenges and opportunities. So I in terms and at least in my opinion, in terms of content development, isn't quite there. When you see AI generated content, for the most part, anyone with an eye for it is going to be able to say that was AI generated.

00:08:56:24 - 00:09:18:09

Nicole

Which in my opinion, it's a good and a bad thing. It's a blessing and a curse. But there are so many applications that I use on the day to day that have really been enhanced by AI, which is me in my life. So much easier in some regards. But I would say in terms of challenges, these platforms changing as much as they do, can be hard to keep up with.

00:09:18:12 - 00:09:37:20

Nicole

Like when LinkedIn went from those full size kind of image images for links to those tiny little banners that we know and love. These platforms just they change so, so much. So keeping up on that keeps roles like mine very dynamic. It keeps you on your toes. But it's always something to look out for.

00:09:37:22 - 00:09:58:10

Jason

Yeah. Yeah, I get that. You know, it's funny, I've heard a lot of people say recently that they can tell the difference between AI and what's not AI, and I would argue they can tell the just mean, untrained eye and, versus trained AI because they're true. There's there's a lot of good content that I'm seeing that you can't tell if it's AI or not.

00:09:58:12 - 00:10:16:03

Jason

And, so, you know, it's funny when people say, oh, I can tell when something's AI and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I can tell when something's not done right. But, you know, one of the things we talk about a lot on this show is AI is a good beginning, but certainly not a very good ending. It's not the final draft by any means.

00:10:16:06 - 00:10:23:24

Jason

For sure. So what parts do you find frustrating about your role as far as just, you know, mine is trying to keep up with it at all. Yeah.

00:10:24:01 - 00:10:49:21

Nicole

What's challenging that I would mimic you in that regard? Trying to keep up with, like I said, we're doing so much great things on the day to day. We've got people spread out all over the place, whether it's attending different events, speaking, getting promoted in different bylines. We're winning awards. We're doing so many amazing things and our audience, of course, they want to see it, but they don't want to see all of it at one time.

00:10:49:23 - 00:11:06:27

Nicole

So I would say the hard thing is, is doing what any social media manager does and taking what you need to communicate and spreading it out so it's more consumable to your audience. And even bigger than that, it's adapting it to your different channel strategies. At least in our case, every single channel has a different purpose for it.

00:11:06:27 - 00:11:25:11

Nicole

We're using it for different things. Content that's going up on LinkedIn may not be the best fit for Instagram, and that's just how it is. So there may be some kind of missed opportunities from platform to platform. We don't want any outliers or something that clearly doesn't belong on one platform or another, but there are so many great things that we're doing here that I want to communicate.

00:11:25:13 - 00:11:35:23

Nicole

And our audience. I know while some may want to see 5 or 6 posts a day from us, some may not. So I think keeping that balance in mind is important.

00:11:35:25 - 00:11:50:09

Jason

Yeah for sure. I completely agree with that. So were you always, a big, data person or maybe some would call data nerd when you like, did you see yourself in college, being, working for a data company?

00:11:50:12 - 00:12:12:18

Nicole

I did not. I a big part of my coursework when I was in school was public policy. So I was using, like, IBM's SPSS program, some similar analytics programs, and really digging into the data. I did some surveying work as well. I worked with, a government affairs firm for an internship, and so I was working with data on that front as well.

00:12:12:21 - 00:12:33:22

Nicole

So data is always been a big part of my life academically. And I knew in whatever role I would end up with whether that was public policy or communications. Whatever role, I knew that data was going to have to play some kind of foundation. Did not see myself here, but I'm so glad that I am where this company is fantastic.

00:12:33:22 - 00:12:53:15

Nicole

My team is fantastic. The people that I get to speak to on the day to day are amazing. We have so many incredibly talented data scientists that can speak on these things and really just give me more insight. I can very confidently say that I'm learning something new every single day here. And I think that's that's the most rewarding thing to me personally.

00:12:53:15 - 00:12:57:02

Nicole

It's what I was looking for in a role.

00:12:57:04 - 00:13:17:09

Jason

Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. I can't imagine not being in a role or a position with a company where you're learning and getting opportunities to grow and do new things every day. I know at our agency there's never, you know, no two days are like. And we're always learning. So, I think part of that is my own, what I call principal passion, you know, is the principal of the agency.

00:13:17:15 - 00:13:41:10

Jason

I want to instill that, throughout our organization. Before we take a break, I'm going to. And I want to ask you about, you know, I know we want to talk about, LinkedIn series and lives with strategic partners to build organic reach. But we might hold that for the break. Because I want to ask you just kind of, you know, what guidelines do you have on how you split up your content based on the platform?

00:13:41:13 - 00:13:51:24

Jason

And, you know, do you sometimes post identically to the different platforms and kind of what's your thought process and or, either policy or our best practices?

00:13:51:26 - 00:14:14:15

Nicole

Yeah, I would say this aligns more on best practices. So from channel to channel, like I said we have different strict like channel strategies. So LinkedIn, it's going to be a little more business focused. We're going to communicate business news report findings, C-suite activity, that kind of thing. And some of that more people focus content. We can carry over to other platforms.

00:14:14:17 - 00:14:35:07

Nicole

So Instagram and this is something that we kind of keep, keep in mind internally that we analyze based on performance. We see what our audience is engaging with and adapt accordingly. So our engagement on LinkedIn, how our audience is engaging to different posts is how we know where to kind of fine tune and tweak our channel strategy. And it's the same with all of these other platforms.

00:14:35:09 - 00:14:54:07

Nicole

So for Instagram, for example, we know that people focus content is going to perform better. People like to see kind of putting a face in front of the name. That's why we're not carrying over more product specific content there unless it's really groundbreaking. If it's something that we really kind of want to shove in our audience's faces and say, hey, look at what we're doing.

00:14:54:10 - 00:15:15:15

Nicole

Everyone smile will carry that over. If we have some really well performing campaigns on LinkedIn, we'll carry it over, kind of test the waters a little bit. One, for example, I would say our Duns number, it's a huge it's our, business identifier. It's a big core of our business. It's something that we consistently communicate across platforms, but it was mainly focused on LinkedIn.

00:15:15:15 - 00:15:34:17

Nicole

So we rolled out it's what's up with Duns? We have two phases of this campaign. That's one out over the past year, both have performed exceptionally well. They leverage very unique, creative, very enticing creative that stands out from our feed, which is what made our audience originally engage as well as they did with it. So we took this campaign.

00:15:34:17 - 00:15:57:00

Nicole

We said, this is a great it's a core priority for us. Our Gunns number or something. It's fantastic. This is something that we want more small businesses to see. So let's test the waters here and we'll roll that over to Instagram. So we did. Engagement wise I would say it still did. Well, definitely not as well as it did on LinkedIn, but that's to be expected with the shift in our focus and then TikTok as well.

00:15:57:01 - 00:16:11:19

Nicole

When we finally kind of launched our TikTok account earlier this year, we did that same thing, and we just translated that from static content to more dynamic video content, to kind of test the waters there in that content's performing fantastic.

00:16:11:21 - 00:16:21:19

Jason

Oh that's great. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. All right. Well, for our audience, we're going to take a quick break and be right back on the other side. More with Nicole Scarbrough of Don and Bradstreet.

00:16:21:19 - 00:16:46:07

Announcer

You're listening to on top of PR with your host, Jason Mudd. Jason is a trusted advisor to some of America's most admired and fastest growing brands. He is the managing partner at Axia Public Relations, a PR agency that guides news, social and web strategies for national companies. And now, back to the show.

00:16:46:07 - 00:16:51:25

Jason

Hello and welcome back to On Top of PR. I'm Jason Mudd with Axia Public Relations, joined by Nicole Scarbrough with Dun and Bradstreet.

00:16:51:27 - 00:17:12:02

Jason

We're talking about her role as the social media manager and social media, analyst, with a data company, one that, if you haven't heard of, is pretty big company and certainly very involved in the, credit and financial services spaces. Nicole, what else does, Dun and Bradstreet do?

00:17:12:05 - 00:17:33:25

Nicole

Yeah. So big small business solutions. Anything with data. We've got some really great ESG data sets. That's a big emphasis for us. Public sectors. Huge. So we're we're kind of spread out all over the place. We're renowned for our data cloud and our data quality. That's our biggest emphasis. The quality of our data kind of the reach of our insights.

00:17:33:25 - 00:17:35:22

Nicole

That's what we're most known for.

00:17:35:25 - 00:17:52:28

Jason

Okay. Yeah, I can remember, you know, 20 something years ago when I started this agency getting registered for my Duns number and yeah, that's when I first kind of became aware of your organization. And then certainly as a business owner, you know, looking at, credit reports and things like that, you know, we, use your organization for that.

00:17:52:28 - 00:18:12:16

Jason

So, but we, we want to talk about, LinkedIn series and lives with strategic partners, to build organic reach. And we know that that's what our audience is very interested in, is how do I leverage organic, how do I build more organic reach? And it sounds like you're going to share about a collaboration and ideally other any other techniques you have.

00:18:12:16 - 00:18:14:22

Jason

So go ahead, Nicole, tell us more about that.

00:18:14:25 - 00:18:35:13

Nicole

Yeah, LinkedIn lives are a fantastic tool to really grow your audience. And they really play off name recognition. So you're bringing someone else onto your page, whether that's whether they have credibility, whether they're a strategic partner or. There are so many different reasons that you can have for bringing someone on with us and speaking to our partners and partnerships.

00:18:35:16 - 00:18:56:14

Nicole

So we've done as of now, as of this year, we've done three LinkedIn lives. We did one with bottom Line. They're a really big partner for us for that was a fantastic session. We worked really closely with their team. We did another one with office Depot and that team promoting Power Up. It's our kind of suite of small business solutions.

00:18:56:17 - 00:19:16:16

Nicole

And then we did one more with Dell speaking to Data Quality and our database partnership with them. So we did those three sessions and really use that as an opportunity to not only talk about our partnership, but to how we're working together to really strengthen our solutions and highlight the quality of our data and those things that we really want to emphasize.

00:19:16:19 - 00:19:38:14

Nicole

And on top of that, we're bringing in that name credibility. So if you're trying to grow your audience and you're kind of looking into the viability of a LinkedIn live or something similar, and these can be live, they can be prerecorded. If you need to submit them for league or give them a second look and edit them. Whatever reason you may have, I think these are incredibly adaptable from business to business, regardless of business size.

00:19:38:17 - 00:19:52:10

Nicole

And they're just a really great way to grow your audience. The cost is low. You can use a streaming platform. You can do things natively. So there are so many different ways that you can do it. And it's just a great way to to really grow your audience.

00:19:52:13 - 00:20:06:01

Jason

So could this be described as maybe collaborative, almost like webinar type experience or an educational content like. And how did you get started doing it?

00:20:06:04 - 00:20:25:21

Nicole

Yeah, I would say really both. So we, we do a mix of things. We're talking about LinkedIn lives. I would say these are going to be more business and strategic oriented. So they're going to be highlighting products and solutions in our data. So when we talk about LinkedIn live they're going to be focused on that. But in addition to that we also do webinars with our partners as well.

00:20:25:21 - 00:20:44:27

Nicole

We have one that we did a couple months ago with the FDA. And those are all house on our YouTube channel. We don't push those through LinkedIn normally. We'll do maybe one initial call out on LinkedIn. Just saying, hey, check out our YouTube. This is here. But for the most part, these are more strategic minded. They're what we're talking about is very intentional.

00:20:44:27 - 00:21:07:09

Nicole

The conversation is very intentional. And we're bringing this partner in for a reason. We're bringing them in for their name. We're bringing them in to really share their insights, to talk about the products, talk about our collaboration. All around, they're just a great way to kind of grow your reach, enhance your credibility. And a low cost way to do so, which I know is incredibly important, especially for some smaller businesses.

00:21:07:12 - 00:21:13:20

Jason

Yeah. So if somebody were to say, gosh, I like this idea, I want to get started. What advice would you give to them?

00:21:13:22 - 00:21:33:07

Nicole

Yeah, very easy to do. So the left it's more of it definitely depends on what your restraints are from a legal perspective if you need to submit things through. But I would say getting started. Identify what your goal is. So what do you want to communicate with your audience? What do you want to share? Do you want to touch on a product?

00:21:33:07 - 00:21:53:05

Nicole

Do you want to highlight a partnership? Think of that first and then think of maybe who you want to do this with if someone stands out, if you don't want to do it from a business perspective, you can also do it kind of from a thought leadership perspective. You can pull maybe an expert in that you're aware with, or aware of that maybe knows your business.

00:21:53:08 - 00:22:11:04

Nicole

That ties into your business. So there are a couple different outlets that you can do. And then from there you have that discussion about what you want to talk about, what you want to highlight, what you want the session to look like, how long you want it to be there are so many different questions that play into that, and there's so many great resources online to really get started.

00:22:11:07 - 00:22:28:19

Nicole

And then you find your streaming platform, you determine if you want to prerecorded, if you want to do it live, maybe what the post-editing process will look like. So this process looks so different from person in person and company to company. But getting started really and really, it's very, very easy.

00:22:28:22 - 00:22:47:04

Jason

Perfect. Okay. Nicole, I know we talked earlier about, you know, C-suite, and new product launch content performs well, for you and in your organization. And in your experience, why do you think that is? And how do you make sure that the content performs well?

00:22:47:06 - 00:23:09:29

Nicole

Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, credibility. When people are seeing our C-suite, they're very visible. And they're that way for a reason. It's because they have so much experience. And they've been I've been around the block per se, worked for some really great companies before joining us here, bringing their expertise with them. And the opportunities that they're constantly exposed to and participating in.

00:23:10:05 - 00:23:29:18

Nicole

I think that's a really big call out. Our chief revenue officer, Isabel Gomez Vidal, has participated in some really, really, really great events lately with some great partners. She's done some talks with Google Cloud that we've highlighted and put together a video on. We got a really great sound bite of her talking about AI, which was fantastic for our audience.

00:23:29:18 - 00:23:53:06

Nicole

That did really well. And we find dynamic content as a whole as well, whether this is an infographic or a video or maybe a carousel, something that your audience can engage with that still conveys your message. We also have interviews they're constantly participating in interviews. She did one with the press, or with Bloomberg, rather talking about AI, talking about our solutions.

00:23:53:09 - 00:24:11:29

Nicole

So we're constantly leveraging those opportunities that our executives are participating in and then finding a way to really communicate that. And we do this from my end on social, from a public relations perspective with our PR side. So there are so many different ways that you can communicate that. But really, it's really these people are experts in their field.

00:24:11:29 - 00:24:24:22

Nicole

They're in their positions for a reason, and they deliver some really great insights on not only our products and our company, but also kind of bringing in their prior experience to kind of capitalize on that a little bit more.

00:24:24:25 - 00:24:32:10

Jason

Okay. Awesome. Yeah. So how do you get an executive who is a little camera shy or social media shy to participate?

00:24:32:12 - 00:24:57:02

Nicole

It's all about training and pepper our preparation. So I will say from my end, I work with our PR team very, very closely. And even our internal communication side, we're all very well rounded working with our executives. So there are a couple different ways that you can approach things. But preparedness, I find it's at its core, the most important part, because it really plays into confidence in front of a camera.

00:24:57:02 - 00:25:22:05

Nicole

It's definitely it's very easy to get in front of, in front of a camera and feel a little camera shy. We've all been there, done that. I know I have myself, so it's getting those talking points ready, reviewing what they're supposed to be discussing, answering any questions. But really, internally, our entire C-suite, from my experience and and my time with them has been they're very comfortable in front of cameras that come across really, really well.

00:25:22:05 - 00:25:43:02

Nicole

They're very well spoken. So really not much training on my end, but I know our PR side takes a little bit of a stronger hand on that. So from a social perspective, I'm leveraging things that they've already done, working with partners to get assets, whether photos or videos, etc.. So from a PR perspective, they're going to do a little bit more of that coaching.

00:25:43:02 - 00:25:46:17

Nicole

But preparedness at its core is is the most imperative.

00:25:46:20 - 00:26:07:06

Jason

Nice. Okay. I know we want to talk about maximizing employee advocacy stories. And so I and what is the intent of that. So are you doing that to create, you know, employee retention and attract new employees, or are you doing that to advance your brand's public image? So would love to hear more about that.

00:26:07:06 - 00:26:07:26

Jason

Nicole.

00:26:07:29 - 00:26:29:14

Nicole

Yeah, there is a little bit of a two pronged approach to employee advocacy. So first and foremost, employee advocacy is a platform from Sprout Social. It's a channel management platform that we use as well. It's absolutely fantastic. It connects our employees to a stream of vetted and approved content. And managing this platform, and the content that goes on is a big part of what I do as well.

00:26:29:17 - 00:26:49:19

Nicole

I will say. So we geared this platform towards our sales teams. And we do this because it helps them grow their reach on social, make connections and generate leads. So this is a great platform regardless when it comes to kind of expanding brand awareness. Really getting your employees excited about what you're doing as a company.

00:26:49:23 - 00:27:15:27

Nicole

But from a sales perspective, there's incredible opportunity with advocacy, and it really helps our employees grow their own social audience is feel a little bit more comfortable on social and examine it to find new outlets to make and generate leads. There are so many different benefits of the program. And I first and foremost, I incredibly enjoy working with our team members as I'm doing the onboarding, because there are some and I think it's humbling.

00:27:15:27 - 00:27:36:24

Nicole

As someone who works with social media, what seems like 24 over seven, three, 65 and most likely is, people who are coming into the program with not as much of a knowledge of social media and what it is. So a big part of what I do as well is kind of talking them through not only how to use the program, but how to use it to their advantage and really maximize its benefits.

00:27:36:26 - 00:27:54:29

Nicole

So it's got some great features. They can schedule their posts, they can scroll through a live feed of content that we're pushing out across our platforms. I can put in some suggested messaging as well for those who aren't as comfortable writing their own social copy. So there are so many different benefits of this program, and the use has been exponential.

00:27:55:02 - 00:28:15:04

Nicole

And we're really able to also highlight core posts and core objectives that we want them to share on their own. So whether this is product launches, resources, or so many different ways that we can highlight things that I really want to maybe boost the region. And this has led to and credible in terms of the results that we're seeing from our posts.

00:28:15:07 - 00:28:39:11

Nicole

I've got a post from a product launch that had about 200 reposts and that's from this platform. And from people really saying, hey, get on board this platform. See what you can do. See what you can see. I have employees that are scheduling out post months in advance, weeks in advance. So really it's adaptability from lifestyle to lifestyle and gives people that chance to kind of test the waters with social media.

00:28:39:14 - 00:28:57:29

Jason

Nice. We want to talk about your recommended social media tools, especially anything that you think our audience might not have heard of or might not be using, that you're using and really passionate about. And then I want to circle back to a little bit of how to keep work life balance in our social media role.

00:28:58:02 - 00:29:27:28

Nicole

Yeah, yeah. So in terms of tools, this looks incredibly different from company to company. As you may guess, especially given budgets and different constraints there. So in terms of productivity channel management tools are fantastic. Like I mentioned, we use Sprout Social here at Dunham Bradstreet. But you can use kind of those native tools on the platform like LinkedIn business Manager Amita Business Suite, those tools as well, I've used in the past and past roles that have really helped manage content.

00:29:28:01 - 00:29:51:00

Nicole

And even still, I'll alcohol. I like to cross match my analytics and my insights from different platforms. So while Sprout Social is incredible when it comes to pulling reports, sometimes I'll say I want to verify that this figure is accurate. So I'll look natively on the platforms just to kind of double check my work per se. So that's a great platform in terms of productivity.

00:29:51:02 - 00:30:12:26

Nicole

Project management tools are great personas, a good one? Base camp is a good one. Pen and paper planners are fantastic. Really just getting everything in one place. Excel, the whole Microsoft suite when it comes to, I think, managing content, if you're not doing it strictly on your channel management platform, I always like to have kind of a backup on Excel.

00:30:12:26 - 00:30:28:13

Nicole

I feel I can play with that a little bit more and see what my calendar looks like at a glance. So that's a great one. And then creative. There are so many outlets that you can do with creative, especially with AI and all of the AI enhancements that these platforms are coming out with. So this can look like the Adobe Suite.

00:30:28:13 - 00:31:01:22

Nicole

So I've used InDesign, Adobe Premiere Pro in the past, but Canva, in my opinion, and I'm sure so many other social media managers will kind of echo this sentiment about Canva. It's fantastic. It's a lifesaver. The product advancements that they've come out with and the enhancements within the past couple, couple of years even have really lended to that productivity aspect of her role as dynamic as social media, when things are constantly changing, when you're constantly having to kind of look at and revise your content and come up with new content, these platforms make it very easy to do so.

00:31:01:22 - 00:31:16:25

Nicole

The tools that they've come out with makes it very easy to do so. And really, it's really it's very adaptable from the day to day. So those tools I would definitely spotlight as being essential to my role and my productivity and helping me manage my workload.

00:31:16:27 - 00:31:45:25

Jason

Okay. Awesome. Awesome. And then I was going to ask you about, work life balance. You know, you're describing working at a global corporation and, you know, being, a one man band for social media, organic social media. So, what are your, you know, what are your parameters? Or as far as, you know, your, you know, how do you protect yourself from, you know, checking in at 2:00 Am or responding to comments at, you know, 8 p.m. at night and things like that?

00:31:45:27 - 00:32:06:14

Nicole

Yeah, there are there are days where we have to be all hands on deck. And that's the reality of social media. Just because you're not actively working or in the office doesn't mean the world stop spinning. And and everyone else is inactive on social media, so monitoring is essential. I have I've got my work phone, I've got my personal phone checking out every once in a while.

00:32:06:14 - 00:32:28:09

Nicole

I'll just make sure things are going on. Okay. We've got a pretty tight knit team, so we're all kind of collaborative in that sense. We've got each other's phone numbers. If something pops up, it's just the reality of it. Sometimes you've got to check in off hours when you may want to be relaxing or doing something else that is definitely not frequent, but it's it does happen.

00:32:28:12 - 00:32:47:24

Nicole

But it's really about in that sense, I think, preparation. So if I can manage content and getting spreads or schedule out kind of far in advance, I feel like that helps the workload a good bit, really kind of ironing down and sitting down for a few days at the beginning of the month or end of the year for planning and getting things done ahead of time.

00:32:47:24 - 00:33:07:27

Nicole

This really gives you time to focus on being more strategic. Looking at your protocols and your strategies that are in place. So that's a really great opportunity to do so wherever you can get ahead, get ahead. And that's what I'm trying to implement in my role and what I do from the day to day. So strategy being prepared, I think that's important, finding that balance wherever you can.

00:33:07:27 - 00:33:14:27

Nicole

But knowing in a field as dynamic as this, you might still have to be a little on top of that, when you may not want to be.

00:33:14:29 - 00:33:17:28

Jason

How does that impact your friends and family?

00:33:18:00 - 00:33:38:03

Nicole

Not too much. We there are definitely putting down lines where lines need to be, put down. But like I said, those situations where we're checking very rare, and we know to be proactively checking if we need to be. So I still lead. I'm very close with my friends and family, still have plenty of time to do all the things that I love to do.

00:33:38:03 - 00:33:56:21

Nicole

Like everyone else who's working, 9 to 5, that kind of thing. So there's there's always going to be balance. There's going to be those exceptions where you need to stay a little bit more on top of things, outside of the office. But my role has been fantastic. This is a really great company, really cares about its employees.

00:33:56:21 - 00:34:14:23

Nicole

I can say that from my heart. My, I know my boss is fantastic. My team is fantastic. So there's plenty of balance there for me to enjoy the things that I love to do, whether that's like working out at the gym or going for a run, or meeting friends after work or before work, or going out with my coworkers.

00:34:14:23 - 00:34:22:01

Nicole

There's so much opportunity for me to do the things that I love, and even more because I've made connections here. So, yeah.

00:34:22:04 - 00:34:28:05

Jason

So what's your favorite social media platform when you're, in a in your personal, capacity?

00:34:28:07 - 00:34:55:25

Nicole

Yeah. Personal capacity. I have to say I'm stuck on, Instagram Reels. I hate saying it, given how TikTok has picked up so much. And how that's a platform that we're obviously continuously expressing Ng or examining the viability of. But big fan of Instagram, big fan of reels. And then from professional capacity I love LinkedIn. It's great to connect with coworkers and see what they're sharing on their own socials.

00:34:55:28 - 00:35:15:19

Nicole

So we have people really finding their niche on that platform. So it's great to kind of scroll through my feed on the day to day and see what they're doing, what they're sharing. So this can be company related. We have coworkers that are, or employees that are really kind of participating in their own little niches, maybe talking about remote work or so many different things.

00:35:15:22 - 00:35:23:25

Nicole

So it's just great to see everyone's personalities come out. But I would say from a personal perspective, entertainment wise. Instagram, it's it's got my heart.

00:35:23:28 - 00:35:29:20

Jason

Okay. Nice. If one of our audience members wants to connect with you, is LinkedIn the best way to reach you?

00:35:29:22 - 00:35:31:20

Nicole

Yep. LinkedIn is the best way.

00:35:31:22 - 00:35:35:13

Jason

Perfect. All right. Any tips on how you want them to reach out to you on LinkedIn?

00:35:35:16 - 00:35:44:14

Nicole

I'd say just look my name up. Connect with me, send me a message. Happy to chat. Yeah, that LinkedIn works best.

00:35:44:17 - 00:35:58:27

Jason

Awesome. Be sure to tell them that you heard about you, met her or saw her on on top of PR and, Nicole, with that, we really appreciate you being here today and sharing your smarts with our audience. And I know I benefited from the conversation, and I trust our audience did, too.

00:35:59:00 - 00:36:04:02

Nicole

Awesome. Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. And thanks everyone for watching.

00:36:04:04 - 00:36:16:17

Jason

Yeah, absolutely. All right. Excellent. So yes, as I said, I got something out of this episode. I hope you did too. And so much so, I hope you take a moment to share this episode with a friend or colleague and, and hopefully they will thank you for the opportunity. And again, so this is Jason Mudd. Appreciate you tubing in and hope something great happens to you today.

00:36:16:17 - 00:37:12:08

Announcer

This has been on top of PR with Jason Mudd presented by ReviewMaxer. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and check out past shows at ontopofpr.com.

About your host Jason Mudd

On Top of PR host, Jason Mudd, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fastest-growing companies. Since 1994, he’s worked with American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon. He founded Axia Public Relations in July 2002. Forbes named Axia as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.

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