In this ongoing Q&A series, Social Media Week Chicago introduces Social Media Week advisory board members to share, in their own words, the role social media plays in their lives, personally and professionally. Next in this ongoing series: Director of Marketing for Experian Marketing Services, Pamela Robertson.
Q: What was your “ah-ha moment” with social media?
Experian Marketing Services is a B2B firm that helps companies like Neiman Marcus, Starbucks, William-Sonoma and American Express connect with their customers. In a nutshell, Experian needs to market to marketers who want to reach and engage with consumers. I think it’s challenging for B2B firms to figure out how to best use social media, Twitter in particular.
We recently developed a Twitter strategy that was very content driven and targeted and increased our followers from 900+ to nearly 4,000 in the space of a few months. Now the trick is to continue to engage these folks and also build the following – though the ability to amass interest so quickly was encouraging to us.
Q: How do you measure success in social media?
By numbers of followers and fans – who they are and how much are they sharing. For a company like ours it’s all about creating content that is consumable, sharable and engaging in the eyes of fellow marketers. We market that content through a number of channels with a heavy emphasis on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. We measure as much as possible and tweak our content strategy based on what’s resonating.
Q: What does “transparency” mean to you?
It means sharing everything with everyone fully and openly and without hesitation. I think that applies in both the B2B and B2C worlds. Obviously it needs to be within reason, but I think that the more your share the more goodwill you build and get back.
Pamela Robertson is Director of Marketing for Experian Marketing Services, a targeting and customer engagement company that helps leading brands through email and social media marketing, addressable advertising, data enrichment, data management, and consumer and competitive insight. She helps to position Experian and enhance its brand through digital, social and traditional marketing programs that drive awareness, reputation and revenue. Previously Pamela led marketing for technology consulting firms Inforte Corp. and Kanbay, and also worked as a marketing consultant, helping brands around the country maximize their digital and social media marketing efforts.
