I love Brand Twitter.
You may be asking – what is Brand Twitter? This means when official brand accounts engage with each other in humorous ways that resonate with key audiences in some some fashion. Some discussions are funny, and others are more engaged on various topics.
However, what I try to tell my students all the time is the fact that there are humans behind each of these brand accounts – and this is important to know every time you engage with them. Whether it is a designated person in marketing, or a team working at an agency. Each of these brands have human beings who feel, see, and listen to every tweet, update, and mention you share with them.
With that being said, have you always wondered who are the talented professionals who are behind some of our favorite brands? Well, I have over the years been interested in learning the stories, experiences, and perspectives these individuals have and how they got where they are now. I have made friends over the years with some brand managers, and it’s been great to converse with them on all things social media, but also what they are seeing as key trends and issues students need to be aware of in the industry.
Thanks to Julian Gamboa, we are now able to see who are some of the brilliant minds behind some of our favorite brands thanks to his article on AdWeek. It has been fun to see friends listed here and get their praise for the amazing work they are doing for their brands. Thank you Julian for writing this piece – this is so important to share especially for students who are entering the field.
However, I think we need to do more to make sure the great minds and talent behind these brands on social media get more praise and acknowledgements for their work on more stages and places.
Unfortunately, you do not see these individuals speak at social media conferences like Social Media Marketing World because 1) SMMW has been known to bring in professional speakers only for their major talks, 2) SMMW brings in the same speakers (some have been going and speaking at the event for 7+ years in a row on the SAME subject), and 3) the brand social media mangers are busy doing the actual work that the speakers highlight in their keynote talks at SMMW.
I will admit, I have never been to SMMW, but I do not plan to go until they change a few things.
One big thing for me is the fact the conference needs to be more receptive to educators and students who would want to attend. SMMW to my knowledge is the *only* industry level social media event that does not have educator/student pricing for their event. I was told these audiences are not a priority for them, which is surprising. I am not sure if SMMW knows how many classes, programs, or students/educators are now teaching, studying, and working in social media? This would be a huge market and strategic initiative they could take advantage of. But – what do I know?
Adobe, Cannes Lions, and INBOUND for example do – and for an event like SMMW to NOT have this option available to a growing group of audience members is very surprising. I could not justify a student to pay $1700 dollars when they could get a student ticket to Cannes Lions for HALF of this amount – and get more experience and opportunities to network. Perhaps this is something the SMMW team will address for 2021.
To summarize the main point of this post is simple. We need to do more to support the individuals behind these brands. The brand managers for these brands are the professionals who I would pay to go and see speak to hear their stories, insights, and best practices.
This AdAge is just the beginning – we need to do more to give praise and thanks to those who are driving the change, creating these amazing experiences, and moving the field forward.
My call to action is simple. Recommend these professionals for conferences. Connect with them to learn more about their experiences and how they got to where they are. Formulate relationships and see what you can do to help them. Invite them to your classes to speak to your students. Host an event where you bring these individuals in to talk about their experience. Showcase their work in your research.
Without these individuals, our field would still do the same thing over and over again. Or, we will continue having keynote speakers tell us to be like a rapper who was relevant five years ago on Snapchat as being current social media practices.
I will do my part in advocating and sharing the work not only for these brands, but for the individuals behind the brands to my fellow professors and students.
To the stars of this AdWeek article: Thank you for your creativity, hard work, and commitment in moving our industry forward. Thank you for inspiring the next generation of professionals entering the field with your work. Thank you again for allowing us to be part of this journey. You all are always welcome to come and speak to my classes.
Hope you all are having a great day so far!
Best Wishes,
