How did you get into social intelligence? What was your career path to your current position?
I began my career working in Advertising with a focus on Ad Sales Research. While working at a global media company, I worked across print, digital, video, social media, and event research. In this position, I was first exposed to social intelligence. Our team worked with social listening tools to learn about query-building and to understand online conversations about the company’s brands. This piqued my interest in social data and I became the team’s go-to for social media research. This led to accepting a position as a Social Intelligence Manager at a global media agency, where I strengthened my social intelligence skills while working for numerous clients across industries. I then accepted my current position at Uber where I lead Social Reporting & Intelligence. In my current role, I work cross-functionally with internal teams to understand campaign performance, manage crisis events, and monitor brand health. I have worked on the publisher, agency, and brand side of the business throughout my career, which has helped me gain a complete view of the social intelligence landscape.
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
I believe there are several factors that have led to my success in social intelligence. I’m extremely lucky to work with an incredibly supportive team that allows me to grow my knowledge and expand my impact while also providing regular guidance and feedback. Having a strong partnership with our social intelligence tool is also key as our team continually works with us to utilize their tool in new ways to benefit the company and lends support for our key projects & initiatives. Additionally, being a part of the global social intelligence community and learning from others in the industry through events & networking has greatly impacted my professional development. I am so thankful to work for a company and in an industry that consistently challenges me and allows me to evolve as a researcher.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
Above all else, being innately curious and having a strong attention to detail are two key characteristics that have contributed to my success in social intelligence. I am eager to understand more about the world around me and enjoy deep diving into specific topics to grow my knowledge. Professionally, this has helped me to always have an open mind when faced with a question and has taught me not to enter into projects with a predetermined idea of outcomes. Additionally, there is so much data available through social intelligence that it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Seeing the bigger picture while also being able to pull out specific details to form concrete insights is something that has aided me in my work. Lastly, I believe that patience is a key skill needed for social intelligence. When exploring a topic or theme online, insights will not always be immediate and obvious. It takes time to go through social listening data to form a complete opinion and to provide the most robust response possible.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
Each day is different, which is a key motivation for me in my work. I am constantly working on new projects, exploring different themes and topics, and looking for new, inspiring ways to present the data. Working in social intelligence is exciting as social data is ever-changing and there is always a new metric or platform to learn. Despite the everyday challenges faced, such as data availability and platform limitations, I am always motivated to dig deeper to find the answers to the questions I am asked. I know that the social intelligence landscape will look different in 1 year, will look very different in 5 years, and so on. This is what keeps working in social intelligence exhilarating and motivates me to evolve along with the industry.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
Social data is special because it is real-time information coming directly from the source and is spread across so many different types of platforms and content. There are endless possibilities in how to filter and analyze social data, which allows a researcher to dig deeper into the insights. Additionally, social data is always changing. New social networks are regularly created while older platforms consistently evolve. There is always something new to learn with social data, which is what makes it so special to me compared to other data sources I’ve worked with in the past.
What does being a social intelligence evangelist mean in the context of your work?
To me, being a social intelligence evangelist means finding new ways to explore and share social data within the company that hasn’t been done before. This involves not sticking to the status quo and continually developing new strategies, practices, and reports to better benefit the company and its initiatives. It also means being an internal advocate for social intelligence data to different teams and demonstrating the data’s value. Beyond the work done within a company, I think being a social intelligence evangelist also means being an active contributor to the social intelligence community and sharing your learnings, tricks, and insights to help other researchers within the field.
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