Social Pros Podcast Convince & Convert

This episode with Fractional VP of Social Media at Social Proof Agency, Robyn Nissim, is a masterclass in social media. Hear about her journey from in-house roles to fractional work, the importance of investing in social media, and much more. 
Full Episode Details
This episode welcomes Robyn Nissim, who shares her journey from Head of Social at big brands such as Alo Yoga and Anastasia Beverly Hills to her current role as Fractional VP of Social Media for a variety of brands. Robyn reflects on the pivotal shift towards a digital-first approach and emphasizes the importance of adapting in the dynamic social landscape.
Host Leanna Pham and guest co-host Sunny Hunt talk to Robyn about how vital it is to invest properly in social, and she highlights the percentage of online users that are influenced by brand social media—a compelling stat that shows just how important it is for brands to be engaging effectively. They talk about the value of tracking impressions, click-through rates, and cultural impact, emphasizing the need for brands to align their strategies with the digital behaviors of their target audience.
The conversation also explores Robyn’s thoughts and advice on innovative influencer marketing strategies and the role of social media teams within organizations. Robyn shares her favorite structure for her social teams, advocating for cross-functional collaborations and strategic content planning. They also discuss finding the balance between leveraging trends for brand visibility and maintaining a robust content strategy grounded in brand authenticity. 
In This Episode:
0:40 - Robyn expands on her current role 2:14 - What she loves about building teams 3:54 - How she approaches brands that aren’t investing in social 6:13 - Why brands need to invest in roles and responsibilities within the social team 8:42 - Robyn’s ideal social team breakdown 11:32 - How social teams can share their insights with the whole organization 13:06 - Ways small teams can get a seat at the table 15:03 - Trends Robyn is seeing in social currently 21:17 - Advice for starting an influencer program 23:35 - Robyn’s favorite activation and why 26:04 - In-house roles vs fractional roles Resources
Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle Connect with Robyn on LinkedIn Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

How does an Ivy League school manage its social media with a small team? We asked Maya Wesby, Social Media Manager at Harvard Graduate School of Education, for some insider insights into her role on this week’s Social Pros.
Full Episode Details
With a small social media team consisting of Maya Wesby (Social Media Manager) and a student intern, a key part of Maya’s role is wearing many different hats. While challenging, Maya’s realm of responsibility includes creating social-first content for multiple platforms, videos, editorial content for the website, and even a podcast on top of it all.
Maya joins this episode of Social Pros to share her secrets to balancing it all and creating engaging content for students, alumni, faculty members, and anyone else interested in learning about the school.
In this episode, we hear how Maya has become a master at prioritizing the best content to work on, how she jumps on opportunities to create new content, and where she gets inspiration from. We also hear a bit about her personal branding on LinkedIn and why she’s a big fan of the platform.
In This Episode:
1:38 - Maya gives us an introduction to her role 4:13 - Who Maya’s audience is on different platforms 5:11 - The challenge of managing different brand voices across social media channels 7:07 - Balancing social-first content to build a community with the institution’s needs 8:18 - How Maya prioritizes what content to work on in a small team 10:08 - Maya’s experience with generative AI 13:06 - How Maya seeks out student events that make great social content 14:50 - The types of engagement Maya seeks out and how she manages reporting 16:45 - Maya shares some of her favorite content projects 20:26 - How to review last year’s content and take it up a notch 23:29 - Why Maya uses LinkedIn for her personal brand 27:54 - Maya’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro Resources
Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle Connect with Maya on LinkedIn Follow Harvard Graduate School of Education on X Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

HeyOrca, the uniquely named social media scheduler, is one to keep an eye on for some community-driven content inspiration. Their CEO, Joe Teo joins this episode of Social Pros to share his vision behind collaborative work, building a community, and the story behind the name HeyOrca.
Full Episode Details
Joe Teo is the CEO, aka “Chief Executive Orca,” at HeyOrca, a social media scheduler built to make collaboration between social teams simpler. He joins the Social Pros podcast to share his philosophy on a community-first approach to social media and advice for social pros to lean into the communities they want to build.
Joe explains where the idea behind HeyOrca came from and how important it was to build a tool that makes collaboration easier within social and marketing teams. He talks about customer feedback and how that’s helped HeyOrca to evolve, optimizing video content for social, and the important question you should ask yourself before you post something.
In This Episode:
2:04 - A little background on HeyOrca 4:07 - How Joe pivoted his focus to community building 8:00 - Why Joe works closely with users and uses audience feedback to evolve the platform 10:42 - How Joe stays on top of all the evolving changes in social media 14:54 - Joe shares details of his new project, the HeyOrca Podcast 18:13 - Joe explains what it’s like to work with non-profits and faith-based organizations 21:58 - Why Joe has invested more time in his personal brand  27:20 - The important question to ask yourself while building your personal brand 29:00 - Where the name HeyOrca came from 34:07 - Joe’s tip for social pros  Resources
Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle Follow HeyOrca on LinkedIn Follow HeyOrca on Instagram Follow HeyOrca on X The HeyOrca Community on Facebook Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Social media for brands has evolved and a big driver of the shift has been the emergence of the creator economy. Audiences resonate with organic, user-generated content on a level rarely seen with other strategies. To talk more about how creators can evolve on social, we welcomed Katelyn Sorensen, the CEO of Planoly.

Full Episode Details
Planoly is the first social media management tool built by creators, for creators, and CEO Katelyn Sorensen shares her story on the podcast. In this episode, we hear how Planoly helps creators manage their content more effectively and how it partners with many creators to promote the tool.
Katelyn is a big fan of the supportive nature of the creator economy, and Planoly’s partnership program makes it easier to connect with creators who want to tell the world how much they love Planoly.
We discuss the realities of being a creator and how consistency can pay off in a field with a low barrier to entry but a huge mountain to climb to reach success. Katelyn talks a bit about the evolution of Instagram, and we swap stories on our very first Instagram posts. Thankfully, we’ve all learned a lot since those days…
Katelyn also talks about why it’s a good thing that the creator community is less focused on follower counts and more on engagement – which is the real key to success on social.

In This Episode:
1:33 - What is Planoly and how do creators use it? 3:23 - How the creator economy has evolved in recent years 6:20 – Katelyn talks about how earlier creators she’s worked with have evolved 8:40 – How Planoly finds great creator stories and works with the community 11:43 – Planoly AI features to help with creator burnout 16:23 - Why creators are less focused on follower counts these days 18:19 - Our very first Instagram posts and what we’ve learned since 20:07 – Katelyn’s favorite moments at Planoly 22:08 - What’s next for Planoly? 25:13 - How Katelyn balances the “always on” world with real life 28:52 - Katelyn’s advice for those looking to become a social pro  Resources
Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle Planoly Follow Katelyn on X Connect with Katelyn on LinkedIn Follow Planoly on LinkedIn Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

Are you ready to build a brand and become a creator? Then this episode of Social Pros is for you. We revisited one of our favorite episodes from 2023 with DoctorJonPaul. They are the Executive Producer of the BFF: Black, Fat, Femme Podcast, a writer, media critic, speaker, educator…and the list goes on. Hear their secrets to balancing it all while staying grounded. 

Full Episode Details 

It’s hard to explain everything DoctorJonPaul, Executive Producer of the BFF: Black, Fat, Femme Podcast, achieves with their content, but it’s an inspirational feat. DoctorJonPaul somehow manages to balance writing, creating, podcasting, public speaking, educating, and everything in between and has built a brand that people stop and take notice of. 

We hear how they got their start on X originally but expanded to create a web of content and a strong personal brand that goes beyond just one platform. DoctorJonPaul explains why they decided to experiment with different platforms, and we hear about the origin story behind the podcast. 

Creating so much content requires focus, and DoctorJonPaul shares their method for balancing it all and staying focused on what matters most. They also impart some words of wisdom on the nature of social media and why it’s important to stay true to your own brand and priorities.  

In This Episode: 

1:58 - How DoctorJonPaul became a creator 
6:31 - Finding balance as a business owner and creator 
8:05 - How to decide what to create each day 
12:00 – Being intentional with self-promotion 
16:09 - DoctorJonPaul’s take on the changes to Twitter/X 
19:08 - The importance of branching out into different platforms 
23:07 - The origin story of the BFF: Black, Fat, Femme podcast 
32:58 - DoctorJonPaul’s advice for creators  


Resources 

Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle 
DoctorJonPaul’s website  
Follow DoctorJonPaul on Twitter  
Follow DoctorJonPaul on LinkedIn  
Follow DoctorJonPaul on Facebook  
Follow DoctorJonPaul on Instagram  
Tune in to BFF: Black, Fat, Femme  

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers. 

Higher education may have been slower to adopt modern marketing practices and technology like AI, but higher ed marketer Bart Caylor is on a mission to change that. As President and Founder of Caylor Solutions and The Higher Ed Marketer, Bart joins the Social Pros podcast to share his lessons on the best marketing practices for higher ed.  

Full Episode Details 

Bart Caylor, President and Founder of Caylor Solutions and The Higher Ed Marketer, predicts a declining demand for higher ed in the future, meaning schools will face greater competition for a smaller pool of potential students. So, it’s more important than ever that higher ed invests in great marketing practices. 

In this episode, Bart shares his predictions for the future of higher ed marketing, what he tries to teach institutions that have been slower to adapt to modern marketing practices, and how schools can utilize AI effectively. Bart believes that AI is often underused, but the trick is learning how to train the AI to give you the results you need.   

He shares his thoughts on the importance of content creation, managing marketing budgets, and how to become an authority in the higher ed space. We also hear about his journey to create The Higher Ed Marketer podcast and his book, Chasing Mission Fit: A Marketing Guide to Fill Your Institution with Students Who Will Succeed. 

In This Episode: 

1:42 - Bart explains how he first entered the higher ed marketing space 
3:08 - How higher ed marketing has evolved 
5:12 - Bart’s predictions on its future 
7:38 - How higher ed marketers can adopt AI and get better at prompting 
12:11 – Bart’s favorite use cases for AI 
16:28 – Why the “early adopters” are only a few months ahead of everyone else 
18:23 - Bart’s thoughts on younger people getting into higher ed marketing 
22:16 - Using the necessary skills to succeed in modern marketing 
24:10 - Why you don’t have to market to everyone 
25:34 - Where Bart finds inspiration 
28:57 - Emerging trends that marketers should pay attention to 
31:40 - Insights and themes in Bart’s podcast 
34:09 - How marketers are making mistakes 
38:00 - Bart’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro 

Resources 

Grab your free Social Media Audit Bundle 
Connect with Bart on LinkedIn 
Listen to The Higher Ed Marketer podcast 
Follow Bart on Twitter 

Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.