Marketing Talks: Companies & Communities

More brands are realizing the benefits of leveraging community right from the start rather than trying to create or grow that mindset later on in the company's lifespan. Willa Tellekson-Flash is the Director of Community at Public.com, an investing platform helping people be better investors. It's also a brand that has incorporated community into its DNA in a masterful way. In this interview, Willa sheds light on how Public.com has become a leading example in growing through a community-centric model and marketing.

In this interview, Yac co-founder Jordan Walker talks about how his startup benefitted tremendously from his activity on Twitter, which led to unexpected opportunities for funding and user growth. He also talks about the shift to remote work and why meetings often suck. Learn more about Yac at https://www.yac.com/.

Every brand ultimately wants to create desire and aspiration within buyers. But the way to do that changes depending on social, cultural and generational trends. It's the difference between Rihanna's Savage X Fenty and Victoria's Secret marketing. In this interview, tech founder Caroline Spiegel talks about these topics, but also how customer data can help provide key insights into building a more resilient, desirable brand. 

A strong community is a key element of every successful business. However, building one can be a complex and challenging process that requires a thoughtful plan from the start. That's where community expert David Spinks comes in. He literally wrote the book on community building - The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage. In this interview, he discusses the framework he developed for successful brand community building and operationalizing your community efforts. Learn more about David at his website: https://davidspinks.com/book/

Most companies form communities with the hope of being able to eventually gain revenue and prove ROI. But it can prove to be challenging to balance authentic engagement with revenue goals. Community building expert Rosie Sherry discusses the best strategy for monetization of brand communities and why community building doesn't always have to live under the umbrella of marketing.

Marketing leader Amanda Goetz built an incredible audience through personal branding on social media before she launched her company, House of Wise. And it was, in part, the strength of this personal brand that enabled her to gain tremendous traction with her business without any initial funding or huge investment in marketing. In this interview, Amanda talks about the benefits of personal branding, creating a network of brand ambassadors, and how executives can better use social media. Plus we dive into the challenges of being both a woman entrepreneur and single mother.

Today, we're talking about Wattpad, a global writing and reading platform with a catchy slogan that says it all. Wattpad - Where stories live. Over 90M+ people worldwide use the platform, which has played a role in the success of book-to-movie titles like 50 Shades of Grey, After, and The Kissing Booth. In this interview, Wattpad Head of Marketing Emma Brooks talks about what it takes to create a successful brand community for Gen-Z and Millennial customers, as well as the role of marketing in growing an engaged, safe community for all.

BlackPlanet. MySpace. Livejournal. Neopets. Before the rise of Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, social media was a much different landscape. Tech founder Omar Wasow was at the center of the social networking scene in the late '90s and early '00s. He created the BlackPlanet platform (along with MiGente and AsianAvenue) that boasted over 20M+ users at peak. In this interview, he discusses what it was like, how social media has evolved over the years to where we're at now, and advice for today's successful social media marketing.

Before serving as the head of Social Lab at Google, Santi Pochat worked at Starbucks, Adobe, and Facebook. Over the years, Santi has established expertise in marketing and building community.

In this episode, Santi and host Chantelle Marcelle discuss the importance of storytelling and how connecting with people personally and emotionally leads to the success of a community. 

The two touch upon search trends and discuss how Google remains at the forefront of information available on the web. During the conversation, they also pinpoint the importance of trust and identify ways Google maintains its reputation as a trustworthy company. 

Spoiler alert: Santi shares what it was like working on a project with Rihanna and Jay-Z. 

What’s really needed to grow a community of fans for your brand? In this episode of the Companies & Communities podcast, host Chantelle Marcelle and Arielle Nissenblatt, the Community Manager at SquadCast, discuss the essentials of growing a healthy community.

Arielle is an experienced community manager, and she believes community must be nurtured, listened to, and respected if your goal is getting ahead of the competition.

She explains how every community manager should ask the important questions, use adequate software, gather information about community members, and then forward that info to the marketing department in order to grow the business.

Arielle talks about her personal history and explains how a simple family dinner helped her become who she is today as a community builder. She discusses how community is something you shouldn't neglect since that's the place where you harvest the best ideas.