How did you get into social intelligence? What was your career path to your current position?
Upon graduating college with a marketing degree, I worked for a small sports marketing company where my focus was to enhance organic/paid social media efforts and lead generation through website traffic. It was at this job I found that I really enjoyed being in the social space which I wanted to explore more.
Following my time there, I decided it was time to chase my excitement for the social media space and took a contract where I would be immersed in global social media analysis as well as RFP’s and global vendor management.
Throughout my career I have been very blessed with the ability to be able to touch on several different portions of marketing from; website development, website strategy, SEO, email marketing, branding, mobile app development and social customer care management.
But throughout all those experiences one thing remained the same. I really enjoyed analyzing social data and tying back to business outcomes which has led me to where I am now, leading Amway’s Social Intelligence efforts.
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
There are a few pillars of my career that I believe have contributed to success in my work; loving to win, doing whatever it takes and having a “we could if versus we can’t because” mentality.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
Curiosity is key. During the course of my career, genuine curiosity has led me to a wide breadth of marketing experience such as website development, website strategy, SEO, email marketing, branding, mobile app development and social customer care management.
Collaboration and organization are also key components to my success. Both of these are required in all of my projects, whether it be developing a specific report for global partners or working with stakeholders during major contract renewals.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
The two things that I find most motivating in my work are success as well as a healthy working environment. What really makes me want to keep working in social intelligence are the numerous global stakeholders and committed team members I have the pleasure of working with. For me it is very rewarding when I am able to help create success within our organization for our corporate and global team members as they look to utilize social insights.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
One thing that makes social data so special and unique compared to other data sources is the vast number of touch points it can positively impact and inform across a global organization. When formulating a social listening framework and structure, we have to plan for the data to touch unique needs of global markets, corporate marketing & PR, customer journey, customer care, product and brand managers as well as various marketing research teams.
When partnering with teams and integrating listening into their reporting structure, we start to learn so quickly that social data is continuously evolving. We never know what kind of data or alerts may come across our email inbox or other platforms at any given moment, so it consistently keeps us on our toes.
What does being a social intelligence evangelist mean in the context of your work?
Being a social intelligence evangelist means focusing on not just the technical “how” but just as, if not more critically, the “why” this should matter to anyone. For many people and institutions, there exists a lack of awareness and understanding into the depth of impact that social listening is capable of covering.
As with any new technology and capability we as leaders are responsible for forging a path to make sure that our work is reflective of that.
So in the context of my work, it means ensuring that this combination of the technical as well as cross team engagement brings light to what is unknown to most organizations, which is a really compelling and a worthwhile challenge for me.
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