• Delmarva Native• Milford, DE• 20 Years in E-

commerce and Digital Marketing

It’s Great To Be Home

After 17 years away

I’m here to tell my story

Today’s audience spans a wide range.

400+ Attendees!

This can’t be one size fits all• Not a list of silver bullets• Personal lessons• Foundational experiences

Set the tone for a rewarding day of discussions!

An Age of Disruption: By The Numbers

Forrester’s social media ad forecast

If it feels like everyone is on Facebook, it’s because they practically are

Source: 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer

Source: 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer

13 years ago 11 years ago

Google “Collaborative Economy Honeycomb”

“The Uber/Airbnb of…”EducationWellness/BeautyMunicipalMoneyGoodsHealth CareSpaceFoodWorkforce

LogisticsServicesUtilitiesMobilityVehicle SharingPlatformsSupply ChainAnalyticsStorage

“WE’LL DO IT OURSELVES”

Companies have to work harder than ever to earn trust.

*There is still faith in the possibility

© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 19

Social Stars

Demand social interaction with companies. Stars consider social media one of their first choices for interactions with companies

Social SavviesExpect social interactions with companies. Savvies consider social tools to be an everyday part of their lives

Social Snackers

Appreciate social interactions with companies. Snackers don’t shy away from branded social interactions, but they don’t seek them out.

Social Skippers

Spurn social interactions with companies. Skippers prefer to interact with companies through established channels.

31%

27%

20%

22%

Customers want you to connect with themon social media

78%

© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 22© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 22

Social networks are the preferred place for all customer social activity

Not your properties.

Now for some real disruption.

“ALL GROWTH FROM MOBILE”

Real mobile impact: People are talking with photos

Evan Spiegal

Google his video “What Is Snapchat”

• Film was expensive • Important moments• Identity = curation• “Everything I’ve ever done”• …That’s Facebook.

Photos were about saving memories

• Mobile photos are free. Instant. Disposable.

• We can take pictures constantly

• Identity has become “Who I am right now”

• …That’s SnapChat.

Now, photos are for… talking.

It’s happening with videos

Lesson #1: It’s Only The Beginning

Lessons over 20 years

Early Lesson: Small brands can innovate faster

• Director of E-commerce ‘98-’06• 125-year old catalog company• Innovative culture - plant breeder

Burpee Seeds - 1998

Online catalog archive Gets national attention

Easy win… 17 years ago…

• Customers sent us family photos.

• Built an online gallery, “Burpee Neighbors”

Instant and genuine community

• Embraced new social media –RSS product feeds

• NY Times• Relationship with

Dick Costello…

Burpee Seeds - RSS

The network you build now, pays off later.

• Launched product reviews • Client #4• Changed the worst to best-selling

product by LISTENING to reviews• BazaarVoice now has 5,000 clients• Burpee became known as launch partner

Burpee Seeds – 2006

Small brands are great launch partners and

innovators.

Be yourself…tell your story… your audience will find you

• Sr. Marketing Manager ‘06-’08

• Home shopping network

• Brand lagged behind the culture

• Gem experts

Jewelry Television - 2006

• Launched a blog• Office culture drove social media• Product reviews (again) • Social drove a brand that was more

than television could show.• High-end gem collectors LOVE JTV

Jewelry Television - 2008

Telling your brand story, like Burpee and JTV... Still

matters.

• Sr. Director of Marketing• 13M Facebook fans• 3M Instagram followers• 900k Twitter followers• 1000 stores• 39,000 employees• $3.5B public company

Frequent launch partner and beta-tester.

American Eagle Outfitters: 2009-2014

Social media companies fail

…a lot.

• Proud accomplishment in 2009

• We built national campaigns around it

…#cricketschirping

1st Retailer on Foursquare

Facebook Gift Cards

• Beta opportunity• One week’s notice• Launched…

…no more Facebook Gift Cards

Facebook Check-In Deals - 2011

• Secret project• 6 months• 1000 stores• Full integration• That’s MARK

…no more check-in deals

• Facebook Tabs• Facebook Contests

• Facebook Fan-gating• Shoppable YouTube

Beyond specific tricks… properties disappear!

Social platforms operate on their own time

Google Wallet - 2011

• Launch Partner• Anyone’s guess• Drove store traffic• Word of mouth

“Top 10 Apps of 2010” – WSJ

“The most widely used shopping app in the real world in 2012” – Neilsen

ShopKick - 2010

• Few adults knew it• High touch effort• Fit the brands• Behind the scenes• Still going strong• Cemented our reputation of

innovation

SnapChat - 2013

Experience pays off.Relationships matter.

#10000hours

Social mirror is a mirror of your culture.#1 LESSON

• Clearly defined brands soar on social.• Campaigns must align with culture

• Unretouched models• Positive and heartfelt• Models loved it• In our employee DNA• In our customers’ DNA

Aerie Real Campaign - 2014

• Social media led the effort at all times

• Transformed the role of social media internally

• Withstood critics because it was real

• Continues to this day…

Aerie Real Campaign - 2014

User-generated content on Twitter and Instagram can

drive business

Sadly, not all love is real

• Social talent agencies• Instagram posts• Tweets• Pinterest boards

Influencer Marketing Is An Industry

Nothing beats earned media

Years ago with a national agency, talking Twitter…

Not everyone “likes” what they like…

• Facebook Numbers • Very few likes• Very few comments

• Tracking Link• Most clicked post

Justin Bieber Candid

Listen more

• I created an account to listen• Customer service complaints• Started fixing them• Never marketed to it…• 10k followers, 30k, 100k…

@AEO Twitter - 2009

• Employee driven account• Stories from the field…• Still there: 5,932 followers• 26k Tweets!• Instagram: 6300 followers• “No photos rule”• Did not shut it down

We did the right thing… felt great.

@AEOProblems - 2012

• AEO has 39,000 • Right demographic• Know and love the brand• “Talking with photos and videos”

Biggest win – we let them enter our model contestsNo precedent!

Remember this?

Silence Is Golden

Real Time Marketing – 2013

• Celebrity deaths• Movie premieres• Cupcake Day• Pizza Day• Donut Day• Sibling Day

Brands are not obligated to post about:

With rare exception, no one misses a brand…

Lesson: Monetization is coming

• #1 Site on internet• Charging brands a lot

A familiar story…. 2009

• Fastest growing site• FREE

Brands pack up and head to Facebook

Brands look and act like people

• Brands start bugging the property…• We need reporting• CRM and systems integration• “Evolve for marketers”

Phase 1: Product Built for Consumers

Early years on calls (across brands) reporters discuss the # of Facebook fans as a measurement of brand strength

Wall Street Starts Talking “Likes” - 2010

• Brands start to buy fans to boost their numbers…

• A race to have the most fans• Quantity over quality• Facebook likes become “table

stakes”…

Phase 2: Ads - Buy Facebook Likes

• Facebook starts to charge to reach fans

• Paid already to get the fans• Paying again to reach the fans

Part of the “innovation curve”

Phase 3: Maturity - Ad Units For Reach

Start-ups go for market share, then they monetize…

Downside = no free lunch on Facebook

We have to work harder for “earned” media… Fans decide quality, relevance, sharing.

Upside = World-class marketing platform

Phase 4 (unicorn): Mature advertising

• Email lists• Segmentation• Lookalikes• Location• Demo, etc.

Social = Direct Response

Social Audience Targeting WORKS

Forrester’s social media ad forecast

Remember this?

It’s all intertwined… social, display, data

Social media is more than cat videos. It is Ad Tech.

https://adexchanger.com/

Social has changed the way people reach websites

Source: Business Insider/Parse.ly

Facebook Driving More Site Traffic Than ALL Google Combined

Waterskiing squirrels are the enemy.

• Banner ad models depend on page views

• Publishers cave to pressure- don’t!

• “You’ll never believe what happens…”

Social referral dependency = clickbait

Native advertising is disrupting social media.

This is an ad for Goldman

Sachs

Source: Contently

This is an ad for Firehouse Subs

Sometimes, there IS no playbook.

Which brings us to social and legacy convergence.

• News and content• Technology platforms• Sales and revenue

WBOC – Digital Director 2014- Present

• TV = “We need 30 minutes at 6:00 PM

• Social Media = “How do we best tell each separate story?”

“TV builds shows. The web tells stories.”

• Pony swim is smack dab between AM and noon show

• Live streamed coverage to social media

• Air, land, and sea• Used the Newsplex

2016 Chincoteague Pony Swim – A First for WBOC

Lean into your strengths

WBOC Fully Integrated Facebook Live - 2016

The Full Power of WBOCStreaming LIVE on Facebook and YouTube:Control room Newsplex (six shows per day) Studio D (DelmarvaLife)Chopper 16Microwave/SAT truckTVU (mobile broadcast units)TSL 1-4 (live feeds and remotes)

Serves our community

• Tornado warnings and weather• Breaking news from Chopper 16• Sports coverage• Political convention coverage• Events and parades

The power of social media:

Dover Downs race coverage with an iPhone:Reached 560,000 people…we only have 160k fans.

Recent breaking news cut-in:178,378 minutes viewed…that’s 123 days!

Facebook Live Viewers are Locals • 90% of viewers are in Delaware, Maryland, and

Virginia• Watching from work• Across the world, at airports, and on vacation• Some are out of state second-home owners

“Thank You WBOC for going Live, being in the Army and away from home is not easy. Hands down the

Best News Team on the East Coast!!”

Express yourself in a way that fits each social media

channel

Instagram

WBOC Outdoors Delmarva Chopper 16

The news is serious business… we can’t break character on air.

Social media can help internal communications.

workplace.fb.com

• Less than six months old• An alternative to email• Great for sharing links and ideas• Threaded conversations• Exactly like Facebook but only for

your employees

Two more lessons

People are mostly positive…

No one believes this until they see it.

16 years of reviews data 5000 clients

“People are more likely to share praise”

Good ideas grow out of networks

• Ideas move one step at a time• Ideas evolve as they move across

people• Idea need a fertile network to

flourish

You are sitting in a giant network of smart people - just like you

“The Adjacent Possible”

• Don’t forget the most important network... All of us here on Delmarva.

• The people we meet on our journey lead to our success.