#ExpertsWithInsights

Would you rather watch a webinar or get 1:1 time with an expert in your field?We think we know the answer. 👇 Our highly-anticipated Experts Exchange virtual meetups are back and you won’t want to miss the next one! In October, we have the privilege to host two distinguished experts from Code Red: CEO Robin Campbell-Burt and SEO Content Executive Mohammad Shahidulla 🙌Code Red is a leading cybersecurity marketing and PR specialist agency with over 25 years of experience in the security sector. Robin and Shahid share a passion for AI, and for early adoption with a practical and ethical grounding 👾 Learn more about Shahid, Robin, and Code Red in their #Experts blog intro here. The conversation will cover:1️⃣ Balancing AI with Human Resources: Uncover how AI can complement, not replace, your team’s efforts.2️⃣ Facing the FUD: Let's talk about the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt you may have about integrating AI into your business, and learn proactive strategies to manage these concerns thro

Now that your strategy, tone of voice, and visual identity are in place, it's time to implement them. This step requires careful attention and diligence. In my experience, many organizations lose momentum after completing the strategy work. This is partly due to the lengthy and strenuous process but also because there's often an assumption that everyone now understands the strategy and it's simply a matter of execution. However, successful implementation requires more than that. It's crucial to create a detailed plan and consistently communicate it with your organization. Let's explore some key learnings from the implementation process that can help you achieve your goals effectively: Set up measurements and KPIs for your strategy.  Before implementing, define your baseline for all the KPIs identified in the previous step. This allows you to continuously measure the impact of the implementation and assess whether the new strategy is propelling the company in the right direction. For in

So, you've successfully defined your brand personality and created your tone-of-voice. Now, it's time to take your brand to the next level by creating a captivating visual identity. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you bring your brand to life through visually engaging assets, such as photos, videos, graphics, and fonts: Gain inspiration from similar brands: Take a look at other brands that share a similar ethos to yours and analyze their visual identities. This will help you understand what works well in your industry and provide inspiration for your own unique approach.   Utilize your tone-of-voice guide: Leverage the words and descriptors that define your brand persona to guide your visual choices. For example, if your brand is warm and personal, ensure the visual elements evoke these qualities. Other examples include personal/professional, formal/info, etc.    Define your color scheme: Select a color scheme that aligns with your brand's personality and resonates with your target

Defining your brand's persona and tone of voice is essential for creating a strong and consistent brand identity. It helps you connect with your target audience, differentiate from competitors and, ultimately, build brand loyalty. The goal is to create a position so strong that customers see no other satisfactory alternative. So, where to begin? At Cryos, we launched our communication strategy project in order to streamline our fragmented approach. At the time, we were communicating differently to each target group.  For example, for a B2C client, our tone would be softer; B2B customers would see a more formal communication, whilst donors were targeted with a more youthful language. This meant our communication was overly complex, impacting efficiency and reporting. In addition, when we took a critical look at our website, we found that it gave a confusing impression. We realized that customers, donors and clients were all browsing sections of our website that were written in a range o

Meet Theresa Faerch Hello! I'm Theresa Faerch, EVP of Sales and Marketing at Cryos International. With over a decade of experience in marketing and management, I am passionate about creating exceptional customer experiences and driving growth for organizations. Previously, I was the CMO and have worked in several global organizations. I've recently relocated to Orlando, Florida, USA, to be Executive Vice President, leading a team of marketing, sales, and operational professionals to develop and implement innovative strategies to reach and engage with our customers. Building a solid brand and delivering exceptional customer experiences are critical drivers of success for any organization, and I work tirelessly to achieve these goals. One of the things that excite me about my role is the opportunity to work with a team of highly skilled and motivated professionals. A happy team leads to happy customers, and I'm dedicated to creating a positive work environment where my team can thrive. I

Thank you for joining today’s Expert Exchange with @Sara Ajemian, Expert in Data-Driven Communications and Corporate Marketing. Some of the topics that were discussed were: How can you better analyze social data to drive PR strategy? Which KPIs are good metrics to measure results? How do you develop external PR campaigns that incorporate social media elements on owned channels? What is your experience with the convergence of Comms and Marketing?  Should leaders expands their abilities to have both skills? How does this impact team structure? With the current climate,  short staffing and turnover found in local media,  how do we now maintain relationships with them? What are your thoughts on PR and AI? Sara answered a lot of your questions in the meetup, but let’s keep the conversation going!  Please add any additional questions you have below as Sara will be around throughout the week to answer them. 👐

Expert Exchange Meetup crew - we want to hear from you! Answer the poll below: 

If the key to building community on social media is in facilitating truly meaningful relationships with my followers, then how do I cultivate the kind of trust that results in valuable and authentic interactions?  Here’s the thing: it all comes back to authenticity and being a voice that is deemed trustworthy. From testimonials to reviews, so much of online branding is rooted in the assurance that the brand, company, and/or product is worthy of gaining and keeping your followers’ trust. And what better way to build that than from the inside out? It turns out that one of your greatest assets for building out a meaningful engagement circuit on social media is your own team! Leveraging the very people who know your brand and product best of all is powerful for several reasons. Key areas in which employee social media advocacy can positively impact your brand include: It’s a smart brand move. Your employees have their own networks that often reach far beyond your brand’s core community. Em

Did you know that recent social media trends show we’re moving back toward a major focus on community and away from platform and API-driven content? This is really exciting for me because, simply put: I’m an extrovert. I’m at my best when surrounded by others, sharing ideas and learning from differing insights and opinions. Asking questions, celebrating moments, and working through challenges together. Engagement and conversation fuel my everyday life, my workplace initiatives, and my creative soul.  Looking back, that’s probably why a career in social media landed in my lap.  I’m currently the Assistant Director of Social Media at Harvard Business School. I’m the head of the team responsible for the School’s primary handles across all the major platforms. We get to discuss #LifeAtHBS, the Case Method of teaching, cutting-edge faculty research, our in-house podcasts, and other exciting events across and beyond campus. But my favorite part of my role here is driving initiatives that boo

This month, we’ve discussed building community among your social media followers and encouraging engagement and interactions with your brand’s online presence. We’ve looked at ways to leverage your internal community (your own team members) to boost engagement and trust in your brand.That’s a lot of great, meaningful work. But…how do you know if it’s making an impact? Evaluating Impact I like to look at this at a couple of levels. On the social front, you can track a few key performance indicators. Vanity metrics (likes, impressions, etc.) can give you a high-level view of how your channels are perceived across the platforms. You can get granular about the numbers, sure. It’s important to track these channel metrics and understand why they fluctuate. But where engagement is concerned, you want to look at things like comments, shares, and reposts.One of the biggest ways I’ve been able to tell that our strategy is having an impact is by the increase in what I call humanized engagement mo

Would you rather watch a webinar or get 1:1 time with an expert in your field?We think we know the answer. 👇Announcing our next mCommunity Experts Exchange! This monthly virtual meetup connects you with knowledgeable Meltwater customers, giving you the opportunity to connect directly and ask them questions in a laid-back, conversational setting.This time, we welcome back resident Expert and lead of the Community-Led User Group, Soaring Professionals, Sara Ajemian. She will be running a much-requested "part two" of her session in March on the evolution and modernization of PR!Sara, an experienced Communications and Corporate Marketing Executive, will facilitate discussions based on the topics and questions you submit when registering. In addition, she will be sharing her expertise on the following:• How social media has affected the industry• The convergence of Communications and Marketing• Data-driven story-telling• Planning for the future of Communications By popular demand, we will

Thank you for joining today’s Expert Exchange with Ashley Jakubcyk, Assistant Director of Social Media at Harvard Business School.@aejaku  answered a lot of your questions in the meetup.  Please add any additional questions you have below as Ashley will be on throughout the week to answer them. 

As part of this month’s Expert Exchange, led by Ashley Jakubcyk, Assistant Director of Social Media at Harvard Business School (HBS), we want to hear from you:

I know many community folks who made their way into this role because they enjoy working with people or making connections. It’s a great way to start the path, but it can leave room for skill gaps. Take me, for example. As I mentioned in my intro, community started as a hobby and morphed into a career. When managing a company community for the first time, I was happy to answer questions, help connect members to resources, and write content. It didn’t take long to realize I needed to develop additional business skills if I wanted to continue along any sort of career path.Prior to my foray into a community career, I spent many years in higher education. And while I worked in one of the business offices—and even in an IT group until I left—creating a business case, tracking metrics, creating KPIs and justifying ROI was very different from an enterprise company. I had to relearn a lot. You may want to focus on your community members to the exclusion of almost everything else, because you s

Would you rather watch a webinar or get 1:1 time with an expert in your field?We think we know the answer. 👇Announcing our next mCommunity Experts Exchange! This monthly virtual meetup connects you with knowledgeable Meltwater customers giving you the opportunity to ask them questions and network in smaller, more in-depth breakout rooms.On March 28th at 11 am ET / 8 am PT, we will be speaking with Ashley Jakubczyk, Head of Social Media at Harvard Business School, for our Experts Exchange virtual meet-up.In this session, we will be focusing on understanding your brand’s community on social media platforms, specifically how to enhance community engagement. Ashley will facilitate discussions based on the topics and questions you submit when you register.In addition, she will be sharing her expertise on:• Using social data to understand your audience• Building a strategy around social media brand presence• Creating content that encourages engagement• Developing a deeper understanding of y

Hello mCommunity! If we haven’t met, I am Sara Ajemian - a corporate communications executive with over 16 years of experience working across the technology sector. I’ve spent half of my career working in-house for both communications and marketing teams and half of my career growing B2B Tech PR agencies. Because of this, I’ve become a passionate advocate of data-driven communications. I’ve been so happy to share some of my thoughts with you over the last few weeks (you can find my February Experts with Insights series  I’ve also become a huge proponent of mentorship and community. I credit a lot of my success to leaders I had the privilege of being mentored by when I was just starting out, and the myriad young professional programs such as She Runs It (formerly AWNY) that I took advantage of when I was under 30. But once I aged out and hit that 10-year mark, I struggled to find the right community to help me navigate the “changing tides” of communications and figure out how to adapt p

There’s more to a community than just building it and hoping people will come. It takes time, effort, and nurturing. Instead of waiting for people to come pouring in - you must make it worth their while. Remember the adage, “what’s in it for me”? Your audience is likely to ask themselves that question.Since the pandemic, the time we spend online has been increasing. Some signs show many of us are a little tired of it. Initially, it was called “Zoom fatigue” because many people were stuck in Zoom meetings all day long. But when we couldn’t socialize outside of our homes, we also talked to family and friends online, got our entertainment online…and I started calling this digital fatigue. This is important for community folks because it adds a hurdle you will have to overcome to encourage visits to your site. The ecosystem you’re building must be compelling enough to justify the time spent in it. Start with Content Often, when we imagine our ideal community, we think about people connecti

When you’re tasked with starting a community, it can be intimidating to know where to begin. Take a look at the big picture first—there are a few things you’ll want to know before you get started, like planning your strategy before tackling software. Step 1 - Establish Goals and Objectives Before you do anything, ask yourself why I am starting a community. Who is it for, and what type of community will it be? Once you have the answers, talk to the people you’re planning to engage to make sure you’re on the right path. Without their insight and the right data, you’ll have a much harder trek to success. Done that? Go back and talk to more people. I mean it—this is the most important part of what you’re doing. Internal and external stakeholders—talk to all of them. What are the common themes emerging? Is it what you thought? Are the wants of your external users aligned with your internal stakeholders? How will you reconcile them if they aren’t? Once you determine what your external users

Meet Becky I realized recently that I’ve been in community a lot longer than I thought, starting with a small dialup in the 90s called CyberVille that we built from the ground up. It was meant to be a hyper-local version of AOL or CompuServe, and I was the guide who helped members find what they needed. It didn’t last a long time (I think less than a year), but that was probably what fueled my love of things online, community, and building connections. I sure wish I’d kept the t-shirt from that!Currently, I’m the Head of Total Community at JumpCloud, which includes community, meetups, organic social, and influencer outreach. At my core, I am a builder (community), connector (people and resources), and an enabler (networking, awareness, outreach, insights, and yes, connections). Our team sits in marketing, and our goal is to build brand awareness for the company. We do this by building relationships with IT admins, regardless of whether they use our products. We focus on being a communi

Expert Exchange Meetup- We want to hear from you, answer the poll below? 

Thank you for joining the Expert Exchange. We received a lot of questions about Social & PR; below is a link; the below report has all the data and insights you need to make sense of the latest trends.Digital 2023 Global Overview Report We also have a free report on how PR has changed in the age of social influencers. PR in the Age of Influence Meetup SlidesHow Social Media has Changed PR We had a huge interest in this topic and will have a part 2 meetup in April; we will also offer a time for our APAC members. Let us know in the comments what questions you still have about Social Media’s impact on PR.   

I spent my last semester of college working part-time for an architecture firm and was incredibly thankful when the company offered me a full-time job upon graduation. As the communications coordinator, I worked on the marketing team, reporting into the CMO. It kickstarted a trend over the next 16 years where my career has taken me in and out of marketing teams.  I’ve held marketing titles, where I’ve still overseen communications, but also website management, social media, new business, and many other jobs outside the realm of a more “traditional” communications role. I’ve worked at companies with no marketing teams and then I recently wrapped a year-long engagement back in an in-house role overseeing all things communications for a data-driven marketing team, frequently collaborating with revenue marketing and product marketing. Because of my career bounces, I have always thought of myself as a marketing-leaning communicator. And I know that I excel as a communications executive beca

If you’ve been following my posts here over the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about data—how it humanizes communications strategies and also connects comms functions (the brand side) with marketing initiatives (the business side).  To me, data is really the backbone that the future of our practice is built upon and while it’s heavily impacting the evolution of our industry, it isn’t the only thing that’s going to enable more opportunities for communicators in 2023.  Here’s what I’m hoping will play out this year: 1. The current tech “downturn” will be a boon for communications.  It feels brash to say, and right now, it might be hard to feel optimistic about the opportunities that may come this year (especially if you’re recently laid off like I am). I feel confident that the tide will turn—especially across the technology corridor where by mid-year (or sooner), we’re going to see the market flooded with comms roles.  Layoffs are impacting many of us, and for th