How did you get into social intelligence? What was your career path to your current position?
I started my career in a traditional PR entry level agency role, where I quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. The agency was global and luckily, clients were beginning to ask for social research and analytics. I had experience doing research from grad school, and figured it would be a good way to merge my skills in data & research with my passion for trends.
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
I always think of myself as the consumer – regardless of who or what I’m researching. I write Boolean queries as if I’m wholly interested in the topic myself, and attempt to anticipate how users are speaking and what they care about.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
Does “being chronically online count”? Jokes aside, being a deep social user myself allows me to think and act like my target demos. Additionally, I love to look for ways to uplevel an ask – I love partnering with UX teams, other Insights teams, Merchandising teams, etc. so that I am impacting not only social or marketing strategies once an insight is uncovered.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
Truthfully, I love working in a niche area of a field that people think they know so much about. When I share what my role entails, folks are usually stumped and shocked that something like this exists. I also love the community, and learning from other professionals in the space. It’s truly a field made up of very, very smart people.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
We get to know it ALL! The good, the bad, and the poorly written. I love to think of social data as the best open-ended data source, where we’re not limited by yes/no answers to survey questions, the awareness of being watched in a focus group, etc.
What does being a social intelligence evangelist mean in the context of your work?
Personally, it furthers my mission to make my current work and the work of those around me more purposeful, data-driven, and pointed. It means that social is not just a space for trends, dance moves, and funny sound clips – but it’s actually a deep research space that deserves consideration and action from. I’m so excited to continue to share insights and learnings from social data, both with folks comfortable with it and those that have yet to dip their toes in.
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