Marketing Happy Hour - Content Marketing 101: Creating an Effective Social Media Presence | Elyse Estrella of Wine Enthusiast

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

In this episode, Erica talks with Elyse Estrella, Director of Social Media for Wine Enthusiast, a product and media company bringing wine to life.  Elyse shares the inside scoop on her 6-plus year tenure with Wine Enthusiast, the importance of improving your writing skills for a role in social, how to develop brand voice and positioning through your content, what “sticky” content is and how to know if your brand is creating just that, tips on managing a team, and so much more. Grab a drink and listen in to this week's Marketing Happy Hour conversation! ----- Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Elyse's episode: Social Strategy 101: What You Need to Succeed | Lauren Freund of Shutterfly Chatting Sustainability, Marketing Career, Hard Kombucha, and...Diplo?! | Annie Atwell of JuneShine Audience Insights 101: Sliding in the DMs | Sara Arbelaez of Heelys ____ Say hi! DM us on Instagram and share your favorite moments from this episode - we can't wait to hear from you!  Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. NEW: Check out our website! NEW: Join our email list! Follow Elyse on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elyseestrella Follow Wine Enthusiast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wineenthusiast/  Follow MHH on Instagram: https://instagram.com/marketinghappyhr Follow MHH on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-happy-hour/ Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing Happy Hour Weekly: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/marketing-happy-hour-weekly-6950530577867427840/ Join our Marketing Happy Hour Insiders LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9238088/

Hey there, welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where each week we're learning career-defining advice, powerful social media strategies, unique creative tips, groundbreaking influencer marketing tactics, and more from marketing experts that represent some of the world's leading brands. Let's dive in. Grab a drink and join your your hosts Cassie and Erica for this week's episode. We are really living up to the Marketing Happy Hour name with another beverage industry guest, Elise, Director of Social Media at Wine Enthusiast. Wine Enthusiast is one of Erica and I's favorite magazines to

comb through, but as you'll hear on this week's episode, it's much more than a magazine. In her discussion with Erica, Elise shares the inside scoop on her six-plus-year tenure with Wine Enthusiast, Plus the importance of improving your writing skills for a role in social, what sticky content is, and how to know if your brand is creating just that. Tips on managing a team and so much more. Normally I'd encourage you to grab your favorite beverage and listen in, but today I encourage you to stay on theme here with us and grab a glass of your favorite wine. Trust me, it'll get you inspired throughout this episode. Hey, Lise, how are you? Hi, how are you, Erica? I'm doing well. I'm so excited to be speaking

with you and to hear your perspective on the social media landscape. But before we jump in, I have an important question for you that we do ask all of our guests. And that is, what is in your glass tonight? It is marketing happy hour after all. Yeah. You know, lately I think with the seasons changing and getting a little warmer, I've actually been drinking a lot of Aperol spritzes. I got all the accoutrements and brought them home. And that's kind of been my evening drink lately. Oh my gosh. Big fan of Aperol spritzes over here as well. I am just sipping on it. Ora Bora. It's a sparkling water, herbal sparkling water. And it's

the flavor is basil berry. It's really good. I would definitely recommend. Yeah, absolutely. So I would love to hear a little bit about your background. Could you just tell us how your journey led you to Wine Enthusiast? And have you always been interested in wine or was that, you know, more developed once you joined Wine Enthusiast? Yeah. You know, my path, like like many others, has been pretty windy, to be honest. So when I was in school and college, social media really was just emerging. It was, you had to have, you know, a college email address to join Facebook. It was totally new. No one really knew what was going to be used for, just a way to connect. And I think it still is a way to connect, but it really wasn't something that I could have envisioned for my career to be in social media or in wine, really. So that was sort of the beginning of the end, I think, for me. My career path was super windy. I moved out to California and it sort of started to where, where I got introduced into wine a little bit more. I moved

out there after college. And, you know, I lived really close to Temecula, really when my parents would come visit me, we would plan little trips out to Sonoma, Napa, and, you know, had friends that we, you know, we would just go out and do little wine tours for birthdays and things like that. So I think that's slowly how I really started to get interested in wine. College, we were definitely drinking boxed wine, which is much sense, you know, but it's always been a part of my life in small ways. My family, we didn't usually have wine at the table, but my holidays, my grandmother would always have two different wines. There was a sweet red, which she called the girly wine and then it was a

dry red wine which didn't really have a name but you know you kind of knew what not girly apparently what it was meant for um and so that was kind of really the only wine that was around um when I was growing up and holidays and stuff like that. So we weren't necessarily our, our, our holidays or our gatherings were really around that. But, but as I got older and as that became more of something of an interest for me, that sort of started to come out in the interest of my, my parents and my family. And we are all sort of beverage people and food people and that sort of emerged and grew over time. So that's kind of fun. And so once I moved back East, I started working for a wine bar and my undergrad was in English and I had, while I was out in California, I'd gotten an associate's degree in graphic design. And so when I came back East,

I was starting to freelance in design and kind of figure out what, what it was I wanted to do. Again, I said, this was very windy and I started working for, for a wine bar, local wine bar. And they knew that I was working on graphic design. And so they started to ask, you know, if I could help them with menu design and, and other things. And a lot of, at that time, it was sort of like, Oh, you know how to do graphic design. Can, do you know how to use Facebook? And it was sort of like this idea that it was the same thing to some. And so obviously we know now it's not quite the same, but there's a lot of similar skills. So, you know, I have background photography and graphic design and creative and creative writing for my undergrad. And so there was all of these little things that made me the right fit to start to help them with Facebook and help smaller businesses with their social media. And that's

sort of how I sort of got my start in working in this local wine bar, helping local businesses and the wine bar I was working for, help them grow on social media and connect with, you know, local consumers. And then I got the opportunity to move to New York. I was in Massachusetts at the time. And I also worked for a wine bar when I first started out here, sort of did the same thing. And that is what led me to Wine Enthusiast. So it's very windy. I never, never imagined myself here, but I'm really grateful to be here and to be with this company and to work with the Wine Enth enthusiast and really applying all of my background and skills and experience. It all really came together eventually. Yeah, absolutely. That's amazing. I feel like you've, like you said,

every path is so windy these days that, you know, it's no longer the old days where you would stick with a company for 30, 40 years. And that's the only place you ever worked. And, you know, you work up that corporate ladder. Now it's, you know, all sorts of different paths are out there that you can take. And I think that's a valuable takeaway for sure. My undergrad was also in English. So I'm just wondering off the cuff here, how do you think skills that you acquired with

your English degree translated to social media and the marketing world? Yeah, it was a little different. I think that, you know, communications at the communications degree and English degree were sort of looked at as like a similar degree, but really in the end, they really weren't. English was sort of something you went into if you wanted to be a writer or a teacher. And I wasn't really looking to do either at the time. And so, but I do think I was really interested in creative writing and poetry and I really do think that that in the end has really helped me in caption writing and social media and marketing. It's really helped me to be a little bit more creative with my

verbiage and my words and to really understand that, you know, language and all the different ways you can say the same thing. And so I am, I really value that, that that is the degree that I chose. And in the end, there was time where I was like, where am I going with this? But I, you know, it really, it really did work out. And I think it really helps to give me that foundation and that support in, in working with language and working with creative, you know, with headlines and social media copy and, you know, ads and all those different areas. Yeah, I definitely identify with that. I chose English because it was the fastest path to graduation for me. I was just like, how do I get there? I want to get out and get some real world experience. So, and I definitely have seen how the skills that I did develop

in my program have really translated really well to what I do now with caption writing and email writing and all the writing that I do on a daily basis that you don't really think about when you're thinking about social. I mean, you see pretty pictures and like, you know, strategy, but, but with those pretty pictures, we do have to have some great copies. So it definitely has helped a lot. Yes, exactly. I think it's a really great foundation for, for social media. Definitely. And it actually kind of leads us into our next question here about brand voice. So how have you developed brand voice for wine enthusiasts and, and brand positioning utilizing social media?

Sure. So when I first started with Wine Enthusiast about six years ago, I came in and I think my main focuses at the time were just consistency, volume, and diversifying content. We had so much content that we were sitting on, that the editors and the writers were working on, and figuring out the best possible scheduling and the types of content that worked for us was a really important part of my initial role. And diversifying content, which could be anywhere from engagement style posts, question posts, to link preview posts where we're driving traffic and then also covering events we're out and about we have we have reviewers wine reviewers and editors that live all over the world so being able to connect our audience with them and whatever they were doing was really important as well so those were my first major pushes to help one person speak and define their voice and position on social media. And something that I also instilled and tried to apply was this concept of write like you talk. If you wouldn't describe a product, so we also have an e-commerce

side to our company. And if you wouldn't describe a product or an article topic to a friend like that, why would you put it in a caption? Sure. I think it's really important to write like you talk. We are an authority in our space, one of the reasons we're an authority in our space, but it's important to us that we're approachable too. So how can we be casual and inviting while also sharing expertise in a thoughtful and scholarly manner? And so we try to avoid it, especially in social captioning, at least, you know, we try to avoid using esoteric verbiage when it when it isn't needed. You know, obviously, there's a lot of scientific words that we do need to use,

because wine is very, you know, scientific based. So we do. We do try to just make it a little bit more approachable when we speak about the content. And we also write from the reader's perspective. We try to make it relatable. Ask yourself why someone might be interested in this topic or this product and how would they apply it and use it in their everyday life. And then pull descriptors and language together that would resonate with those scenarios in that in real life scenario for them. Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's so great. That's a great way to go about that.

And just to backtrack a little bit for maybe our audience members who don't know exactly what Wine Enthusiast has to offer and what they do. Sure. Yeah. I was, I was just thinking that I was saying that, that, that might be, you know, we're e-commerce business too. That's something that we probably definitely want to, want to mention. Yeah. So Wine Enthusiast is a media and a commerce company. We are co-founder, co-founders are Adam and Sybil Strum and they

started selling wine from door to door and get back in the 70s and they've always had a really a love for wine but the industry was so exclusive back at that time that they couldn't really even find a corkscrew to open bottles so they created their own business selling corkscrews out of their attic which is like a really cool story and Wine Enthusiast is still family owned and And that's just sort of how it was born. So it was actually born as a commerce. And we have two divisions. So one is commerce, which is our direct to consumer brand that sells everything from customers need

to enrich their wine experiences at home. So glassware, wine coolers, wine fridges and corkscrews, all those fun things. And then the second is our media side, which is an award-winning print magazine and website that rates hundreds of thousands of wines on the 100-point scale with editors all over the globe. Like I mentioned, we have writers and editors from all over. And so our goal is to just make wine accessible to everyone. We provide both wine content and wine products to consumers. And the brand is built around that wine lifestyle. And that's what the social media team and I strive to support in our strategy. That is so cool. I knew that personally,

but I'm excited that everyone else gets to hear that because I also had wine enthusiast magazine, the print magazine delivered to me for about a year and a half while I was still living at home and my parents, and I think it might be delivering to that address and I just changed it. So, and they don't live there anymore. So who knows? Yeah. Someone out there is getting magazines, who knows, and learning a lot about wine, which is amazing. You should go on there and change your address. I should, I should, I will. I'll look into it. I just always forget. It's okay. But you can still find us online. Yes, absolutely. And I just wanted to hear a little bit, I know this isn't on the question sheet that we sent prior to our recording, but how does your content differ a little bit, whether you're talking

about the commerce side or the media magazine side, what does that look like? Sure. Um, I think that we try, we really try, especially on social media, which is one of the one places that commerce and media really connect. Since we have one social media channel for all the brands, we don't have separate channels for commerce versus media. So when we're promoting content, it's kind of the same rules. And product is like a really good example of that. Sometimes when you start to talk about product,

you want to describe product and write captions to promote something for sale, you start automatically talking about it in a different way in this sort of like salesy tone. And it's really, for some reason, it can be a block between editorial style of speak and then, and sales style of speak. So, um, I think that it's, it's kind of walking a fine line. You want to promote the product. You want them to know your audience to know that it's for sale. You want them to shop it. That CTA is really important, but there's a, there's a way to do that. That is still approachable and relatable and isn't like a sale. Right. And so on social media, at least we do try to apply, you know, that same, like, if you were to describe this wine glass that you love to your friend, how would you describe it and think about that when you're writing your captioning?

Because for the most part, you wouldn't be talking about scientific ways or like that this wine glass was made or in the kiln or all these different things or if it was handmade or glass blown or all these different things. You wouldn't necessarily talk about that. There are important details in the quality of your purchase. But, you know, how can you're using wine, a wine glass in your everyday setting. So there's probably elements and pieces that you would share that are more valuable to someone in the buying process. Yeah, absolutely.

Like I look for glasses that aren't going to break easily. Or I look for glasses that are going to fit in my cupboards and my, you know, my small New York apartment. So, you know, there's, there's always that, those elements that are really important. I want to know that my money is going to a product that I love and that is a luxury product and it's well-made. And I also want it to fit in my everyday, in my everyday life. And I think your, your captioning and your language applies in the same way. Yeah, definitely. I definitely agree with that. And I think it's all about balance too, because you do want to have that

element of, Hey, the whole point of this is to make you aware about our brand and have you purchase things, but we also want to relate to you and make, and make it an experience that you want to keep coming back to and you want to keep absorbing our content. So I totally agree with that. That's awesome. Yeah. And we know that social media has a lot of use cases. So how does wine enthusiasts utilize social to increase brand awareness and drive website traffic, increase sales and improve marketing efforts overall? Yeah. Few part question there. Yes. So something that I learned really young in one of my first jobs, which was often customer facing was you're always on stage. Everyone is watching. And I think that really dictates, you know, how you promote your brand, who you work with, the platforms that you use,

you know, voice tone, everything kind of goes into that theme. And it's especially true on social media. And I think that one of the main things I think that we utilize is like to know your platforms and know what kind of content belongs there. I think prioritizing platforms that perform is really important and being selective about the content that you put there. I think prioritizing platforms that perform is really important and being selective about the content that you put there. If there are small tweaks that can be made to content that would help it to perform on Twitter versus Instagram, for example, make that small change. Take that time because it makes it feel deliberate and it makes it feel more focused for that audience and that person, that platform user is going to feel like, oh,

this content was made for me and with me in mind and the kind of content that I want to consume and what I'm looking for on this platform. And so visual content obviously is going to be really important. How does that, you know, what value or takeaways are connected to that content? You know, being really purposeful with your design, purposeful with your language, really is all the kind of those basic marketing and design rules that you would apply. How is that going to resonate with your audience? How are they going to visualize it? How are they going to read it?

Take a step outside of what you're doing and look at it from a consumer's perspective and an audience perspective. Does this resonate with me? Would I share this? Would I apply this in my own life? And just continue to kind of try to make those purposeful decisions when you're signing visual content. And, you know, obviously keeping up with trends, I feel like, you know, I'm probably spitting

out things that everyone's like, yes, we know, you know, keeping up with the trends. It's really difficult, especially this day and age and the days of TikTok when trends change every minute. But you know, that's always been a common theme. Keep up with trends, stay relevant in your space. It doesn't have to mean you are learning dances, but stay relevant in your space. If there is a new emerging platform, where does your brand belong and does it belong and it's okay to say that it doesn't belong there or doesn't belong there yet um but you can keep looking at things and how they're emerging and and um kind of pushing yourself forward um and then leveraging those social trends once you find them is really important as well um and

then also something that i think is really important, part of the reason that I got into social media was just this idea of really connecting people and connecting people with your brand. So this out and about idea, it sort of mimics our out and we have an out and about section in our magazine, which just kind of shows where we are at the touch points. Like if we're going to Provine, which is going on right now, the trade fair, you know, if we're hosting an event here, or if our media conference is gonna be held up in Sonoma, things like that,

we wanna show that we're out there in the field and this expertise is coming from somewhere. And so I try to mimic that on our social channels too. You know, we encourage everyone to post about what they're doing so that we can reshare so that we can show off where everyone is. And I think that overall helps to increase brand awareness. You know, that share, share, share feature still exists and it's still a really important part of strategy. And we want our audience to remember that we have incredibly diverse talent behind the scenes in both, you know, in all backgrounds.

And we also just want to try things. No idea is a bad idea. It's just one we haven't tried yet. Yeah. Social media is like a really good opportunity for brands to do that. You know, once you kind of establish your tone, your voice, your expertise, and what kind of value you're driving to your audience, there's a lot of room to play. And I definitely encourage people to do that. That's the only way you're going to jump on trends and maybe even be ahead of a trend is if you're confident enough to try new things, as long as it sort of stays within your wheelhouse, you know, or if not, but I think that overall, all of those, you know, small little tweaks in that strategy

helps brand awareness overall, that kind of top of funnel, getting, getting eyes on content and eyes on brand. And that overall will trickle down to driving website traffic and increasing sales and improving market efforts overall. And that, and you know, there's small little tweaks and, but they're purposeful and they have larger gains over time. Yes, absolutely. Are you guys on TikTok by any chance? We are, yeah. Oh my gosh. How does your content on TikTok differ

from the other platforms? It's definitely, we're still sort of trying to find our niche there. I think it's, we're trying new things there every day. We are seeing a lot of success with our product videos there. You know, it's still emerging platform for us. So we're not getting necessarily the reach and the views that we have, say on Instagram or Facebook or other platforms, but it's really fun.

And we have a lot of people that are interested in doing content for us there. And we have a pretty large influencer program around TikTok video and short form video as well. So I think that's helping us to grow there as well. Yeah, that's so cool. And I think it's such, it's a different world because it's even a more personal feeling touch point with your audience. Like you can reach so many more people on TikTok, I feel like, than you even can on Instagram and some of these other platforms. And it's a lot more personalized experience and you can reach, you know, with the algorithm and however that works behind the scenes, um, it's showing your content to people who are already interested in what you're doing. So I think that's really, really cool. Over, over the years too. And, and being in this industry, um, in social media and both in the wine world, you've seen, you see

that change too. I think, you know, at one point you're, it was so important to curate content. It needed to look so fresh and so clean and well shot and high quality. And TikTok is like, just the, couldn't be more opposite, right? Like anything and everything works there. And, you know, it's really is an opportunity if you want to try something new for your brand, if you want to break into a different audience group or scene or, you know, develop new content, it's a really great place to try things there. Yeah, definitely. And we had, I don't know if you're familiar with the Duolingo TikTok, but that one is

just blowing up. And we had Zaria who runs that on one of our earlier seasons this past year. And she just gave some incredible insight around TikTok. So if you're out there and you're listening and you haven't listened to that one, go back because it's really, really good. And she talks all about how they grew their following, like to whatever it is. I think it was like, I don't even know. I don't want to estimate it off the top of my head, but millions in only a

few short months. And it's really comes down to the whole authenticity thing and, you know, being somewhat absurd on different platforms and trying new things and figuring it out. And that's so cool. So check that out. Yeah, for sure. So going back to the question of, you know, how you drive sales and website traffic and all those things via social, what are some KPIs that you would consider essential that you measure to be sure that you're reaching your goals? Yeah, so it's changed a little bit, but our number one KPI has always been traffic for the most part. That's kind of that one place that we want to get you over to the site so you can experience more content, you can experience the products that

we have available. So I would say traffic number one, and then engagement and reach are our two major KPIs also that help us to know that we're hitting that top funnel. We're engaging our audience and we're continuing to reach more more people. We still look a bit to some follower growth especially on new platforms but we focus mostly on nurturing our current audience and finding strategies that play to the algorithm which in turn helps you know reach more people and bring eyes on content. Yes, that's awesome. Yeah, I, you mentioned nurturing your current audience. I think that's so important to do and not just focus on, on getting more and more people over and, you know,

getting more people's eyes on your content. I think that's really important to still engage your current following. That's a great point. What are some unique ways to increase brand awareness aside from a consistent posting schedule and things like that? Yeah, I would say just get people talking about your brand. Is it a video trend you're hopping on? Expertise you're bringing to the table? Unique tone voice that gets noticed? Are you providing

shareable content that provides value? How sticky is that content? Would you want to share it with your network? I think that, you know, I am kind of of the mindset that the way social started was to connect people and it's still at the core of that. And so making sure that the content that you're putting out and the conversations that you're starting in your engagement style posts, they resonate with your audience. Because that is, you know, it's just going to help you continue to bring in that brand awareness. You know, obviously volume, yes, and schedule is very important. But the content that you're placing into that schedule is definitely even more important. And I would say leveraging influencers, you know, creator content is becoming a lot more,

you know, a lot more mainstream now. And we've seen a lot of success with infographics, quote cards, text-based creatives as well, which I think is pretty common now. But, you know, that was really a big game changer for us when we started to capitalize on that kind of content. Yeah, absolutely. Do you find that people are engaging more with that content? They're commenting on it and all that? Yeah, you know, we talk about traffic as being one of our main KPIs, but we found that, I keep talking about that top of funnel. We're realizing that, you know, those engagement plays, especially with the algorithm, you know, it really helps the overall health of our platform and sort of helps to continue to prioritize posts and bring people in. You know, we now on some of our posts, we have more comments than likes, which used to be totally unheard of.

And it's really exciting to see. I mean, everyone who's on social media has a voice or wants a voice. And so engagement plays and asking the right questions and giving them an opportunity to comment and be a part of the conversation, I think is incredibly important. And, you know, people in the wine space, you know, that they have opinions about wine. So it's sort of like, what, you know, what, what question can we ask that's really going to get people talking? You know, everyone's answer is so diverse. Everyone drinks wine is so diverse. So all that background is really important for how we, like I said, nurture our audience and nurture our content. Absolutely. Do you guys use any like social listening tools to kind of see what people are interested in hearing more about or what questions that you could be posing that would

inspire the best engagement? Yeah, strategies change a little bit over the years, but we did use a social listening tool that would just sort of help us to see what's out there and what kind of conversations are around certain topics that might help influence articles that we want to write or develop content for social media, or it helps us to just prioritize content. We probably have already covered maybe this topic, but we haven't shared it on social media for a long time, shared it on our channels. So we do use social listening tools to sort of see what conversation is going on out there. If there's any trends, drink trends, wine trends, or general industry trends that either we have a gap in content that we need to fill or that we

have and we just haven't been you know you know pushing out and we want to reprioritize. Yeah definitely that's awesome. We've talked a lot about your current you know social media strategies and things like that but I would love to hear your perspective on the future of social media. We know that video is king right now, like we discussed with TikTok and all of that, but they do, they also recently on Instagram announced that they are bringing NFTs to the platform and there's all sorts of releases every day, new news about social media. So I would just love to hear, you know, what, how do you see social evolving in the future? Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's infinite. Social media has just changed so much. Um, even in the short, you know,

seven or eight years that I've been really focusing on it. Um, and even in the last, you know, two years, um, it's, it's really changed tenfold, but especially when I started to really dip my toe into it professionally, um, it's changed so much. I remember originally designing and producing video with the intention that it would be watched with the sound off. Everything needs to make sense with no sound. Um, and you know, the rhythm of your editing of the clips and the rhythm of when your text comes in and how your eyes follow, follow that story,

always a story about follow that video needed to work without sound. And that was so important. No one turned their sound on and like, look at how different that is now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, now TikTok and reels have come onto the scene and everything is sound on and short form. And I think one thing that hasn't changed though, is you still need to get their attention within those first couple of seconds. But I think that's even changed from like three seconds now. I think it's like 1.7 seconds. Yeah. And probably even less than that. Who knows? So yeah. So jumping off, I think that another trend that I think we're going to continue to see is social commerce. I think we're going to see brands investing in more social commerce and live stream shopping.

Just recently went to a conference and that was a lot of what was being talked about. If you're not on there, get on there, figure out a way to be a part of it. I think we're already starting to see that consumers are more confident in making in-app purchases and brands and technologies are, in technology are getting better at creating a more seamless in-app buying journey and experience. I think at one time, you don't really trust if you're buying something through Instagram. I think that aspect is definitely changing and improving every day and very quickly. And I think that another thing that we're definitely seeing is the creator economy

it's it's maturing faster by the day and you know brands working with more micro influencers to garner higher engagement rates even smaller smaller influencers like those micro influencers are launching their own apparel brand which goes back to the social commerce bit of it so everyone's doing it as they say, but it is a great way to expand your reach and connect with your audience as well. And I also think that, you know, especially in the last couple of years, but I think it's been an undertone going on, but attitudes towards brands and company behavior is changing and brand transparency is more important to consumers than ever. So I won't go far too far down that rabbit hole, but I think that social

media is a gathering place after all, and people talk and incidents can arise quickly and they can be difficult to prepare for. So updating your strategy to include effective community guidelines and communication action plans to mitigate those situations is going to be really important as you grow your brand on social media or as you begin your brand's journey. Yeah, absolutely. That is so true. And I think, you know, a lot of companies don't realize that at this time. So they are leaning heavily, you know, on their social media managers or social teams to figure that piece out for them. But, you know, it really starts at the top and it's a whole company

outlook that, that needs to be addressed. And I think we'll start to see that as well and see more transparency around that coming to light. So definitely agree with you there. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So just switching gears a little bit, I wanted to talk a little more about your career side of things. I know that in your role, you've had the opportunity to lead other people on a team. So what have you learned as a manager? And what are some essential tips that you have around leadership or management? Yeah, absolutely. So I think my main tip is that no one management style works for everyone.

And I think we say that, but we don't try to fit everyone into the same box. I make a point to sit back and to learn how someone organizes themselves, how they apply their skills, and then try to offer opportunities to either grow those skills or make suggestions for areas they can improve in an organization or workflow that does work for the larger team, but that also works for them. I think that it can be really stressful trying to work in someone else's style and work in someone else's workflow. And I don't think that's necessarily needed. You know, I think there's a top down organization that is always really helpful so that everyone sort of knows their place and knows what they're working towards.

You know, creating goal sheets is really important to me. So, you know, it can be flexible, but at least, you know, step by step what you're working towards in the end. So, you know, it can be flexible, but at least, you know, step-by-step what you're working towards in the end. So, you know, making sure there's clear goals there. But it's not always easy either. Sometimes it will take more time for someone to get up to speed or to reveal that they're really skilled in one area and maybe not in another, but not everyone is going to be able to jump in and just go and get all aspects of what's going on right away, especially in social media, social media. I mean, just runs the gamut of skills and things and the areas that it touches.

So remembering that you hired them for a reason and, and how can you best draw that skill and confidence out of them or sometimes redirect that store confidence to, to help your, you know, your bottom line or your, your end goals. Yeah, absolutely. We recently had an episode last season where Cassie and I sat down and we talked about, you know, it's some tough career situations that, you know, we've run into or other people have run into. And we talked a little bit about, you know, how to ask your manager for something that you need, whether that's a raise or, you know,

more time to complete a project or things along those lines. I'd love to hear your perspective on that, how to have a, you know, maybe it's what you think is a tough or intimidating conversation with your manager. How do you, how do you approach that or how should one approach that? Yeah. I mean, I think that if you're able to, to kind of put down, maybe this is my English background, but I'd say put it in writing. I think sometimes, you know, especially that sounds like a difficult scenario for maybe everyone. And it can be uncomfortable, and there could be some emotion there. And so I think writing down, you know, your sort of a summary or a task list of like what you're working on and kind of keeping keeping track of the project you're working on,

the skills that you're applying, the things, the new things that you're learning, and being able to sort of have a library to say, I'm working on this new initiative. These are the challenges that I've run into. This is why, and these are the skills that I've learned and those skills and, you know, things that I've picked up along the way are showing me that we need some improvement here, I won't be able to achieve this without this.

I think that putting it in writing for yourself is really important. You can organize your thoughts. You can really look at what you've done. And I think that gives you some confidence when you start listing out all the skills you've learned, all the tasks you've done or you've worked on and projects that you've accomplished and achieved. It's really great to look at for yourself so that you feel prepared and confident in yourself when you go to that manager to ask for what you need or to, you know, to give examples of why you need that and what you're looking for. So that's what I would recommend. Put it in writing, start there, put together kind of, you know, an outline, a plan of what you want to talk about,

and then support it. I mean, it's totally an English paper outline, right? But it's really important to apply. So I guess I guess I got a lot from industry. There you go. See, it circles right back to the beginning of our conversation. No, I think I think that's incredible advice. And I think a lot more people like need to hear that. So I hope there's a lot of people listening to this who are taking notes right now, because that that's a really good way to do it. And I think a lot more people like need to hear that. So I hope there's a lot of people listening to this who are taking notes right now, because that's a really good way to do it. And I think, you know, that's something that I didn't learn for a long time. I was just like, I'm doing so much, I'm doing so much, but it's hard to communicate that,

you know? So I think having that paper trail or just like having it written down and so you can communicate effectively your needs or whatever it is that you might need is really important. So great advice. Thank you for that. And then I know you, I'm assuming that you have had to hire team members. So what is that process like? And what would you say makes a great candidate? So I find the process to be really exciting. You get, you're getting to expand the talent you get to work with and give someone the opportunity to become a part of what you're building, or even to be a part of their career choice and their career path is such an honor to me. It's also a sign that you're growing as a company and as a department, which is also super exciting. You know, when I started with One Enthusiast,

the social media team was a team of one. It was just me at the time. And so the fact that I've been able to build this team and bring on really talented people and to expand what we're able to do for the brand and what we're able to do for the company as a whole, it's been really, really exciting. I think it can also be stressful.

You know, there's steps that go into hiring, writing the perfect job description that really illustrates what your needs are, but allowing them for growth and innovation. You know, I work, I do work, try to work closely with the recruiter and our HR teams to, you know, make sure, you know, we're in line with who we're looking for and what we're looking for. And they do a great job of sending resumes that are a good fit for us and a good fit for the brand and the company as a whole. But yeah, I mean, overall, it can be a tough process, you know, and you're managing people's expectations and skills and you're trying to ask the right questions to make sure you get you're giving that person the best chance to to provide to you um you know their

skills and putting their effort you know you have to I I'm feel like I'm not the best interview interviewee interviewer yeah but I don't do it I feel like I'm always like, what did I just say? I don't even know what I just said. Did that make sense? And so, you know, it's, I recognize that in candidates and, and when I, when I started to see someone who's like not feeling confident or not feeling like they're putting their best self forward, like I, I tried to continue to ask them questions that relax it or that, that environment and that conversation so that I can see what they, that they can do. So it's, it's a tough, I think it's a tough, it's a tough process for most people on both sides, I think. Yeah, absolutely. I just recently had to go

through that process to hire a coordinator and it was, it was daunting and it was very time consuming. That's one thing I did not think about how time consuming it was because it was daunting and it was very time consuming. That's one thing I did not think about how time consuming it was because it was probably a three month process from, you know, identify in this obviously varies company to company and, you know, however the HR department is structured, but from job description to posting it everywhere, to looking through the resumes, to figuring out who we want to interview and why, and, you know, presenting that, you know, to my boss and getting, getting the approval and then going ahead with the interviews and then scheduling second interviews and then projects and then things like that to

the final hiring process. And I feel like it was rushed even in three months. So it's, it is daunting. I totally agree with that decision for both, for both parties. You, you want to get it right. Right. You want someone who's really going to fit your team and fit your growth goals. And like I said, I, I like to be really open and style of work, as long as like, you know, that they can get that, get there and get that done. And as long as they're bringing a skill, that is really what you're looking for. But, you know that they can get that get there and get that done and as long as they're bringing a skill that is really what you're looking for um but you know in the second part of the question what you know what would you say makes a great candidate um for me it's just diversity in all aspects background skills interests personality types there's always something unique that

everyone brings to the table and always something i haven't thought of. And I'm sort of in awe of that. I'm really usually in awe of my team. Like, Oh yeah, we could do it better that way. Thanks for bringing that up. You know, I mean, I think that there's this idea that if you're considered an expert in something that you just know all, and I think that no one is truly an expert in anything, there's always something to learn and social media touches so many different parts of a company and that those skills and that diversity of skills, most people that I know like

have a wine that are in social media, have very windy path. Like I do, you know, started out really not knowing what we were going to do. Got a second degree to try to figure out what you're going to do. Didn't use that one either. And then eventually it all came together. And, you know, I even worked for a credit union for a time in my life out in California. And that was just simply because I needed a job and they actually ended up supporting my graphic design degree. They paid for part of it. And so I think finding the right company and the right people to support you and your goals and your career goals going forward is really important. So you'll get there, you know, and social media really does touch so many different

things. It's organized very differently in different companies. So your skill set, it might not just be social media or digital marketing specifically, but it probably fits in somewhere into what, you know, that industry is looking for. Absolutely. Do you have a like favorite interview question that you like to ask? Oh man, put me on the spot. Um, gosh, I don't, you know, I really don't. I think that I, I'm a pretty extroverted person. Um, I think that I just look for a flow of conversation, you know, I do. Um, if I'm being completely honest, I don't have a specific question because, and my questions change depending

on that resume and who, and who I'm talking to. And sometimes there's, there's questions I will ask one candidate and not ask another, just because of the vibe that I'm feeling or their comfort level, you know, of how they're answering things. So I think, you know, it just depends for me, to be honest, I know that's not super helpful. No, I, no, I totally agree. I think it's important to know, you know, flow of conversation and things like that, and just making sure that you get a feel for who the person is, not necessarily how they're answering these specific questions that you ask every time. I think that's important for sure.

Yeah, there's ways you can get those answers in a conversational setting rather than just like, okay, next question. Okay, next question. And I think those are the questions that sometimes that can be a little intimidating. Yeah. You know, you know, when you prepare to, to, you know, to interview somewhere, you like, you try to like practice for all of these questions and they don't ask you any of the questions you practice, you know, you're like, great. What are the typical ones? Like, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? You're supposed to say that your weakness is actually like a disguised strength. No, no, I don't like that. Exactly. The one that was popping into my head, the strengths and weaknesses. It's a tough one.

Yeah. I know. I know. I, it's so funny because I use in my own like personal life. I always like to ask people an interview question. It's so funny. It's so dumb, but I always ask, um, and my friends, not like a candidate, I always ask them if you were a casserole, what casserole would you be and why? And it doesn't really tell me anything, but we like to pretend that it does. It's so funny. I want to ask you that though. Do you know what casserole you would be? Cause I mean, you, it can be anything. One of my best friends said I would be ice cream casserole, which like doesn't exist at all, but you know, I'm just love to hear. I can only think of like what I like to eat and it sounded really gross to people. My mom used to

make this like really simple, delicious tuna noodle casserole yeah did she put like potato chips on top my mom did that like the ritz's crushed ritz's okay yep kind of the same thing like cream of mushroom soup campbell's and something so you know really simple inexpensive dinner but like feeds everyone and it's delicious. And you know, if you like tuna, that's a good one. It is. That's it. Yep. And it's comfortable. And I think honestly though, like when people answer that question, it kind of does speak to their personality because I can see how you would say tuna noodle casserole because your, your presence is very comforting. So I think it, I think that really makes sense. I don't know, maybe I'm onto something here or maybe it's just a dumb question that I like. Oh, I think it's a great

question. I definitely, definitely ask, you know, are you interested in wine or interested in beverages? Um, it's not a requirement. Oh, it's not a requirement at all to work at wine enthusiasts, but it definitely helps because all of the content is related right to the beverage world and the food world. So it's always, it's always good to, to know, like you asked me today, like what, what's, you know, what's in your, what's in your glass and that's sort of similar. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great. Moving on to, you know, you and where you see yourself in the future, what are your ultimate career goals? Now, you know, you're in this management uh position and you're you're

moving up um where do you see yourself in about you know everyone always says five years but I know the future this is also an interview question that you get a lot yeah exactly not my favorite one either um you know it is hard to say. I think that my, my career and where I am now, it does come as a bit of a surprise still to me that I was able to hone my different experiences and skills. And, you know, there was times where I, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. You know, when I went into bartending, it was a job that was going to, it was like an end to a mean to do more design work. And it ended up actually, you know, when I worked for this, this wine bar bartending, like I,

I went into management from there and learned so much more about wine and really started to learn the craft and how people talk about wine and sort of like this need that, you know, people don't really know how to talk about wine. They don't know how to tell you what kind of wine they want. So I started in this front of the house, just conversations, having conversations about, well, if you like this, maybe you'll like this and, and kind of filling that need. And I think it's hard for me to say exactly where my, or what my career is to go necessarily. I love what I'm doing and where I'm at. And I think that if I can continue on this path of continuing to find, you know, different skills and different things that I can, I can expand upon. You know, when I came in, I had a really strong, you know, wine experience,

understanding of the food and beverage world, a design background and English background. And now I'm working, you know, on partnerships and working, I have a little analytics and business acumen that I need to learn that I had to learn over time. And, you know, and then going back to hires, I made sure to hire people that I can learn from too, that, you know, they can bring something different to the table because everyone comes to social media with a different background in different vein. So I think that I'd love to just continue to, to hone in on, on how social media connects and how that brand can connect with the outside world. And that's sort of what we got into social media to begin with and continue to be creative in that way um and brand awareness has always been really important to me in that that share of voice

um and kind of scanning for something um and really being able to educate someone through this kind of global platform um so I think that I'll keep it there I I could I don't know really where to go with it but I don't have like a specific vision in mind just that like you know continuing to go back to the core of what social media is connecting people in the community and you know do it and doing more good than harm um social media started you know like I said I started in college for me, connecting with friends. And I think that on like a very granular scale, it's still, we're still doing that now. And so finding ways to make it a healthier, more responsible place to be. And that can really provide a lot of value and positivity in people's lives. Yeah, that's amazing. And just always continuing to learn, I think is, you know,

that is probably my growth goal too, is just always continuing to learn from people and from places and from things and everything. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just consume, um, through osmosis, just listen and learn and, and be open to saying, I don't know how to do that. You know, can you help? Can you teach me? Or, you know, if you're looking to see an opportunity in your role and you say, you know, how can I help? And that's sort of how I, how I started as well. You know, I see that you have this need, how can, how can I help? How can my skills help you? And that's going to continue to push you forward. And I think, you know, my role will expand organically naturally because, because I think

I have that personality. Yeah, definitely. Well, I are, I'm so sad that our interview is almost over. I feel started, but we do have to ask this question on marketing happy hour. Is there anything, you know, now that you wish you knew when you started your career? I know we kind of went over, we touched on a few different things, but is there one thing that stands out to you? I would say just how expansive social media is within a business.

I always say, some of my colleagues have heard me say this, everyone wants a piece of social media. It's working in social media isn't just one skill, one focus, one talent. It's an assortment of skills ranging from design, writing, efficiency in organization, business acumen, like I've mentioned, marketing, PR. It could really run the gamut. And I really haven't found an area it doesn't touch.

And every company social media team is organized a little differently to fit their needs. Early on, I thought about social media in one vein as an opportunity to connect with people through writing and content streams, which of course is the core, like I've mentioned a lot, but there are so many areas social media can help your business or brand and so many places that someone

who is thinking about a career switch can fit into. And I think that that has kind of been the most important thing for me, just how expansive and how large a part of your business it is. Yeah. Or can become. Yeah, definitely.

I totally agree with that. Well, we are at the end here. Where can everyone find you and follow along with you and Wine Enthusiast on social? Yeah, yeah. So Wine Enthusiast is on all major platforms. And that includes TikTok, like we talked about earlier and we're just um at wine enthusiasts no spaces um no characters just wine enthusiasts one word um and that's it it's pretty easy to find you can also find me um it's just also one word at Strahla. And that's pretty easy as well.

No dashes or spaces either. So I'm all over here. Yes, I love it. And we'll also link all that stuff out in the show notes for you as well. Well, I really enjoyed speaking with you and I feel like our audience will learn a lot from you. So I'm really excited for them to hear this.

And just thank you so much for sharing all that you shared today. Thank you, Erica. I really, I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Elise for joining us this week and thank you for listening. We'd love to hear your feedback about this episode. Leave us your thoughts in the review section of your favorite podcast platform. Don't forget to follow along with us on social media, on Instagram, and our favorite, LinkedIn. As a matter of fact, Erica and I recently launched a LinkedIn newsletter chock full of great marketing tips, listener spotlights, product highlights, and more. We'd love for you to check it out.

In the meantime, we'll see you next week.