Marketing Happy Hour - Gen Z Work Habits: Balancing a Tech 9-5 and Full Time Content Creation | Angelica Song of Google

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where you'll hear 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. So grab a drink and join us for this week's episode. I have very exciting news for you all. If you are like me and you are obsessed with insights for social media, you are going to love this update. So Instagram recently announced this week that they are adding new insights to their backend platform. And so a little bit background on this, Instagram hasn't always included robust metrics within their platform themselves. When I first started in the social media industry, I had to

Starting point is 00:01:06 use third-party platforms to try to pull different analytics to present to clients. So when they started adding more metrics, more insights for consumers to either review for themselves or present to clients, this was massive. So I love that they are taking it upon themselves to add even more insights and give more consumers more control over the data that they are taking it upon themselves to add even more insights and give more consumers more control over the data that they're reviewing. I think this is awesome. So the new metrics being added to Instagram insights are number one accounts engaged. So this will show the total number of accounts that interacted with your content in a given time period. Number two is what is called engaged audience. So this

Starting point is 00:01:46 data will provide demographic insights into the users that are engaging with your content, whether they follow your profile or not, including top cities, top countries, top age ranges, and gender. And then third is reached audience. Similar to engaged audience, this will provide demographic information about the people you've reached with your posts in a given time period including top cities top countries top age ranges and gender so make sure you guys pay attention to instagram look out for these updates i'm excited and you should be too make sure you are reviewing your analytics on a regular basis because it provides a lot of insight into

Starting point is 00:02:26 what is happening with your audience and with your content. I am so excited about this week's guest. Cassie and I catch up with Angelica Song, Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google, working on projects at YouTube. As a Gen Z graduate entering the job market after finishing both college and her internship virtually, Angelica has a unique perspective on not only her role and responsibilities in tech marketing, but also the best ways to optimize your work from home experience. She's also a well-known TikTok creator and shares some insight on how to balance a full-time job with being a content creator. Listen in for some behind the scenes of working at Google.

Starting point is 00:03:14 Hey, Angelica, how are you? Good. How are you? Good. Thank you so much for joining us today. We are so excited to have you. But before we do, we have a very important question that we ask all of our guests that join us because it is marketing happy hour. What is in your glass tonight? It can be water, a alcoholic beverage, really anything. But we'd love to hear what you have tonight. Right now, I have some passion tea, tea leftover from Starbucks. I caught it.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Yes. So I put it in the tumbler. So I've been sipping on that all day. I love that. I have a glass of Prosecco. It's been a long day, but I also have water. Always double fisting. But Erica, what do you have tonight? I'm sure that you probably know what I'm about to say because I'm I now have said it in almost every single one of our episodes this season but I have an onda which is tequila seltzer that's by Shay Mitchell it's like her brand of tequila seltzer it is actually so good it's so good and their branding is so great I'm like have someone from their branding team on our podcast. We'll make it happen.

Starting point is 00:04:27 What is it called? It's called Onda. O-N-D-A. It's only like 100 calories. There's like not, I don't actually know if there's sugar in it, but I don't think there's sugar in it. But it's honestly, I don't usually like tequila. So it's very interesting.

Starting point is 00:04:45 I like it, but I do. Elka, you recently started your career at Google, transitioning from an intern into a full-time position. And congratulations on that, by the way. It's super fun to follow along with your journey on social media. Can you just tell us a little bit about your background, what you studied in school, the internship program at Google, and now your current role? Yes. So I just graduated at UC Berkeley. I studied business and nutritional science. And I was a summer intern that's called BOLD APMM, which is Associate Product Marketing Management Intern. And the role is basically a mix between marketing,

Starting point is 00:05:26 digital marketing, content strategy, marketing consulting strategy. It's a really, really cool role. And I worked last summer remote, and then I got my full-time job offer to come back after I graduated. So I just started my full-time around four or five weeks ago. And I've been now here and it's a product.

Starting point is 00:05:47 It's a product marketing position. So you're placed on different products on a rotational basis. So last summer I was on Google Pay and now I'm on YouTube, which has been really exciting. And that's kind of where I've been. And I started social media a little bit into quarantine. And that's kind of how I met you guys. So it's been really cool to you know merge my two passions together that's so fun so um if you don't mind telling us like a little bit about what you do at YouTube yeah so it really depends and the APMM

Starting point is 00:06:19 role there's a ton at different tech companies and so i can't you know this is just at least from my personal experience and even within apmm there's still different um positions and things that you do but there are people who focus more on products so this is more traditional like pmm stuff which is go to market campaign strategy and then there's also like brand product marketer so these are people who focus on branded campaigns brands and stuff like that And then there's also like brand product marketers. So these are people who focus on branded campaigns, brands and stuff like that. And then there's also growth marketing marketers. And that's kind of what I'm on. I'm a growth product marketing manager. And this is really new to me. Growth is just, you know, I'm still learning to be really honest. I have never done it before, but it's a lot about Lyft, internal ads and space and targeting and all those things of how any tech company or platform can reach its next billion users.

Starting point is 00:07:13 So that's what I've been doing. And right now, a lot of it has been how can we utilize the tools already on Google's products to then highlight and feature our campaigns internally. So whether that's boosting more YouTube premium subscribers or, you know, getting people to make more shorts, all that kind of stuff is part of the growth initiative. That is so awesome. Did you always know that you wanted to go with marketing or was that something you figured out in your internship what what's the background there yeah so actually I had no idea growth marketing existed and although my position is a product marketing management it's a rotational so it's really my

Starting point is 00:07:59 first rotation the company actually places me somewhere so I don't really get too much of a say. I get to definitely put some of my interests, and thankfully, my interests were seen and met. But yeah, I mean, I always knew I wanted to go into marketing, and I had a passion for working in strategy and even consulting. And so working here in tech has kind of been that perfect, you know, like melting pot of all those things. That is so awesome. You said one word that I feel like gets tossed around kind of in the marketing industry a lot, but I feel like a lot of people, especially that I know may not be

Starting point is 00:08:36 familiar with the term, you use the word lift. Do you mind sharing a little bit about what that is and kind of how you guys track that yeah so me me as well don't know too much about it and just threw it out there to flex so I um I think it just means like how we're measuring whatever our goals are whether it's viewerships or clicks or engagement or all those metrics that I'm sure all of you guys already know especially if you're listening in and that lift is measured whether it's like a percentage or like some kind of like what is it like almost like deviations right like notches so I think there's different companies and different products and different campaigns all probably measure Lyft differently. And they probably have data people or people on the analytics team who determine what those goals should be or what we should be striving for. So that's what I meant by Lyft, but it's really arbitrary depending on

Starting point is 00:09:35 what company. Sweet. No, I love that. I think that's a term too. I'm like, I, like I said, I don't hear it a lot personally too. So I always like hearing how people kind of define it. And I think you're right. I think it's almost like conversions, you know, people can kind of define what a conversion is to them differently and what types of conversions they're, unique position for you to be in. Do you see yourself kind of as a role model within the Gen Z age group? And what inspired you to share your journey on social and what has kind of come up that journey so far? Well, I definitely, you know, did not strive to be a role model but I really you know in the pandemic a lot of people we stayed home and I came back from college and TikTok was growing and I've always wanted to social media and I told myself once I landed an internship I'd start social media so then it was just kind of right timing right place and I started sharing my journey and my life and a lot of people resonated

Starting point is 00:10:41 I think you know and this is not a gig or a, you know, insult at any full time influencers, because I have tons of friends now who are full time influencers. And it is definitely a very, very difficult and draining job. But I think in the light of COVID and being home, people were just kind of, kind of tired of the quote unquote day in my life as an influencer content and those influencers who yes they work hard yes it's a lot of work but also that lifestyle is not sustainable or realistic for 99% of people and I think that era of almost glamorizing that and which was fun and great and I love being entertained I think people just kind of were tired of that and which was fun and great and I love being entertained I think people just kind of were tired of that and which is why slowly I think there's just been a more rise of influencers and I know that term has had a negative connotation I think only now it's slowly turning back positive again but um or just more everyday average people who just you know they just post like 30 times a day on TikTok and they just kind of build a brand around their personality. And, you know, we also see the doctor influencers and

Starting point is 00:11:49 the nurses and the lawyers and like these influencers who I think have such a great influence in the sense of they provide a more realistic lens into someone's life that isn't a full-time influencer 24-7. Like some of these doctors have, they're full-on influencers and full-on doctors. And I think it's such a great way to inspire people that you can be an influencer without, you know, again, there's nothing wrong with dropping out of high school or college,

Starting point is 00:12:17 but, you know, like that's not sustainable or, you know, the best like advice that I would give someone who wants to be successful in any industry. Because unfortunately for most people, that's not, you know, realistic for them to drop out and pursue something that doesn't pay well a lot in the beginning or whatever it is. So I love that we've just been normalizing more working career people to share their life and motivate people to like, hey, like, I can have a stable job and be an influencer and also, you know, financially be stable from two income streams or

Starting point is 00:12:51 whatnot. So that's kind of why I started and it's been really cool to share and, you know, people have been really resonating with that. So I don't know if I'm necessarily a role model, but I hope for inspiring people to pursue more than just one thing and really make it their own and not be afraid to, you know, be an influencer, but also work a nine to five job as well. Yeah, I definitely think, you know, we're slowly seeing more people within the Gen Z age group, do more things like you, you know, kind of sharing their journey, even if they're not, you know, the top of the line executive in a certain company. I think it's really cool. And like you said, it really inspires people in college or even in high school

Starting point is 00:13:34 to look at that and really be encouraged to work hard, like you said. So I think that's awesome. And definitely a ton of kudos to you for that um did you find on tiktok was there a specific video that kind of helped kickstart your following or was it kind of like a slew of videos that you started to post that you saw kind of a lot of traction come from yeah I started tiktok I would say November of right before the pandemic for fun just like kind of used it like Instagram and you know whatever whatnot and none of my videos really took off and I come from a dance background too so the dances were fun to learn and all that stuff but the first video of mine that really took off was my dancing video to say so talking about tips on how I got first round interviews at some top

Starting point is 00:14:22 companies and this is probably early January when TikTok was heavily pushing out content that was educational career content. I'm not sure if you guys kind of remember that era. It was like heavy text on screen, heavy dancing. It was like tip after tip after tip. And I think they were really trying to pivot away from that, quote unquote, cringy lip syncing, you know, branding that TikTok had been associated with. Then they wanted to be like, hey, TikTok could be a platform where you can get quick soundbites on how to buy real estate or money tips or how to get a job or college hacks. And so those are some of my first videos that really took off. And I think a lot of that was just being a first mover.

Starting point is 00:15:05 I hate that phrase, but people always use it. A first mover in that space of college hacks, work from home tips, or how to get interviews here. And I'm dancing, so I'm helping the algorithm. And half the comments are making comments about the advice I've added. The other half of the comments are being like, why is she dancing in the background?

Starting point is 00:15:25 But either way, it helped the algorithm. So that's kind of what I did. And yeah, those were definitely the ones that did well. I did like, I think I posted like 20 to 25 videos first before seeing my first viral one, which is not a lot. I understand now that it's so much more competitive and saturated, but I just tried a little bit of everything and I saw that. I let the market decide like what they want to see from me.

Starting point is 00:15:49 Yeah. And I feel like November was like kind of the cusp. Like if you didn't get in before then or right in November, it's like it was very difficult to grow after that. So I feel like you kind of tapped in right at the right time. But okay, you mentioned one of your one of your top videos that kind of kicked you off was about landing interviews with top companies. So what was one of the tips that you shared within those videos? I think it was honestly nothing that

Starting point is 00:16:15 revolutionary, but I just put it on a, you know, a short, savable content. But number one, definitely having a good sticky resume. I think everybody thinks they have a good resume but it's it's like how everyone thinks that they're good at public speaking but most people are not and very few people even very very talented public speakers who often say I'm a good public speaker so I see so many resumes and a lot of them are just not good in the sense of they're not going to get through the system. And so many companies these days, especially top companies, use software. And as much as people want to create a creative, artistic resume for these big top companies who are filtering through, you know, 10 to 15,000 applications at least in a month, right? Unfortunately, you having a super unique, like artsy, fartsy resume isn't going to go through the system. It's not going to get read correctly, right? It's going to mess up the formatting. And so unless you're applying

Starting point is 00:17:20 for, of course, the designer position or graphic design, you can always attach your portfolio elsewhere, right? But I always tell people have that kind of clean i hate to say it but boring resume template because it looks professional it gets read and you can always link portfolio and art samples later if that's really where you stand out so that was one of the advice and the second one was definitely network getting getting referrals. A lot of these top companies, your resume, like unless you have big company names on there already or something like that, it is really hard to get picked up without just getting an auto rejection if you're lucky.

Starting point is 00:17:57 But then most times they'll just get ghosted. So getting a referral from somebody at the company at least guarantees that somebody is going to look at your application with real eyeballs. So that definitely helps your chances a lot and definitely that depends on how much certain companies really weigh referrals more than others but it definitely can't hurt either way so that was another tip and I think the last one was using university recruiting resources because I was talking about college students. So I think a lot of people like to ignore university career pages.

Starting point is 00:18:30 But a lot of times those jobs are listed through the university. So you do have like an expedited or separate track of where your resume gets to be shown. And whether that's a platform like Handshake or specific university pages. If you see job listings there, your application will be prioritized if you are a student at that university. So definitely recommending people use their internal career sites as well. Yeah, those are tips actually.

Starting point is 00:18:56 And I actually had a question too about the interview process at Google and some of these top companies that you were able to land interviews at. We know a lot of our listeners are kind of at that point of looking for their first job or taking a next step in their career. So what's kind of the application process that you're seeing a lot for working, working in marketing, working in tech marketing? Yeah, I can't say too much about the interview process, because mine was so unique to a full-time conversion but i will say that you know i think again this is like the resume the

Starting point is 00:19:32 public speaking thing people always like to say i'm so good at the behaviors when i think behaviors are very tough in the sense of you know you really you can't ramble you have to get all the details you have to be concise but then you know, you really, you can't ramble. You have to get all the details. You have to be concise, but then you have to show personality and you want to have different case scenarios. And so, but then you also don't want to sound too rehearsed. So I think a lot of people neglect the behaviorals because they think they could just wing it.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Like how many people, I've heard it so many times, like, oh, I'm not too worried about the behaviorals. I'm not even going to practice. And then when I ask them to even do a little tell me about yourself, they stumble or they rant takes them three minutes so definitely practice your behaviorals and it should sound natural but also be concise and straight to the point and of course practicing technicals is a no-brainer but I definitely think the behaviorals are one of those things people think that they're all good at. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's honestly, I've seen and heard the same thing. So totally right

Starting point is 00:20:30 there with about behaviorals. Yep, yep. Yeah. Yep. What has been your favorite part of starting your career? And what do you kind of hope to accomplish in the next five to 10 years? And, you know, that's totally okay, if you don't know, but if you do know, we'd love to hear. Yeah. I mean, I just started, I'm five weeks in and I I've been telling this to people and don't quote me, never say never, but I, you know, personally don't see a future where I'm not working in corporate. Right. And I plan to continue to make content and share my life. But I personally have been so fulfilled and happy working at a company that I love on a team that's really great and where I could bring my skills as an influencer

Starting point is 00:21:15 and that knowledge to a tech company or any company. And it's been really, really cool to see that. And maybe one day, you know, my social media, what is it, outgrows my career life. But, you know, I think even when that day comes, I think I would want to, you know, join a different tech company or start my own business and, like, use my knowledge I have from working at different companies because um i think that is so much more about i think i could bring so much more value to audiences if i'm working and building something and being in industry and i feel like when i become if i lose that then there's only so much i can offer because i wouldn't be constantly learning as somebody in the industry. Of course, I'd be learning as like an influencer and content creator, but especially with my degree and also things I'm passionate about and I've been trained in, I think that I could be of most value

Starting point is 00:22:13 if I am also working. That is awesome. Yeah. I'm curious too, to see, you know, as we continue to see people like you that are sharing kind of their corporate experience on social I'm curious if brands will start to almost incentivize people like you to almost act as a brand ambassador as you are working within within the company because I feel like it might almost to turn into almost a recruiting tool in a way like you can kind of talk about the brand and help encourage people you know to apply if there's certain uh jobs open within kind of the department that you're in so I'm curious to see as like brands see this happening more and more because I'm certainly seeing with several different you know corporate companies this happening and I think it's really

Starting point is 00:23:00 interesting and people love it so I'm curious to see how those brands will use that to their advantage and I totally get what you're saying about, you know, never wanting to leave the corporate world. I work for myself, but I kind of fantasize about the idea of getting into a big corporate company and like climbing the ladder per se and kind of having that challenge. I think that's something that people that own their own business don't really get to experience. And it's something that's kind of fun in a way. You know, obviously, I'm not going to do it just for the fun of it. But it's kind of a good challenge to see what you can do what you can learn from people because you know, owning your business a lot of time, it's just you are in a few people and you don't have people pouring into you a lot of times. So you know, it's it's kind of a

Starting point is 00:23:44 fun opportunity to be in corporate, even though owning your own business is really glamorized a lot of times too. So anyways, I love that you talked about that. But this is one question that we are dying to ask you. So overall, what is it like working for Google and YouTube? Are you working from home currently? Are you going into the office? And what does kind of your day to day look like right now? Yeah, so so far, I've been really enjoying it. And I think this is really, you could work for your dream company or any company, but I think it really does depend on the manager you have and the team you have. And I've had such a positive experience. Right now I am working from home, but Google has slowly opened up their offices I believe it's like voluntary don't quote me on that but I have been able to visit some offices last

Starting point is 00:24:31 last week last last week I was in the Bay Area for a work social and just visiting some of my Berkeley friends and I got to go into the office for like four days out of the week and that was so much fun and that was amazing and I know a lot of people probably have been working in industry or like I want to be work from home forever but for someone who did college for like a year and a half at home and internship at home like I was just so excited to go in office and it was just also so much better for my mental health when I was moving around and doing stuff and I felt like just, just a better work life balance. So so far, it's been really great. And everyone has been so nice. That's awesome. Yeah, I love the content that you I think you made some content while you were at

Starting point is 00:25:15 the Google offices. I loved that. And I'm all about the snacks, too. I know there's like, a huge, like pantry there or cafeteria. So definitely jealous of that. And I how do you come up with, you know, your content ideas around, you know, working from home? Because it can kind of be it can get boring, you know, doing the same routine day in and day out. So what are some ways that you come up with? What are some of your best tips for people working at home to kind of make sure they're not getting into a rut yeah I mean I was just doing this with my social

Starting point is 00:25:52 media manager the other day because I was kind of going through a transition rut as well because I graduated but then I hadn't started my work yet and I was like well I don't want to talk about this and I can't really talk too much about that and I was feeling a little bit in that red space and I was still living at home and I you know there's all I'm not in a I can't do apartment series because I haven't moved to a new apartment yet so I totally resonate and empathize with that and I've just been building out you know content in terms of what I could do with work from home, whether it's fashion or like mini morning routines. And I think I, for a long time, was such a perfectionist in the sense of, because I was on early TikTok,

Starting point is 00:26:31 you know, I was on TikTok when every single one of my TikToks were like blowing up 250K, 300K, 400K. But then now, because there's so many more people on the app and overall, I think everybody kind of has less views than they did at their prime. And which doesn't mean what I'm making is any worse or better so just learning to separate myself in the views and

Starting point is 00:26:51 I'm still on TikTok quite small compared to a lot of the large creators or my social media major hates when I say I'm a small creator I am a niche creator okay she's like you're not small you're niche um so yeah like even as a niche creator she was telling me that I it's too early for me to be stressing about views and that if the views are becoming a problem you know she'll let me know but I think I used to post and I would delete videos all the time because they didn't quote unquote blow up on the rate that I could predict it would blow up so then I was like I don't want it on my feed because it's gonna look like I have blah blah but now I've just been posting more and just not taking it down yeah yeah absolutely and that

Starting point is 00:27:38 brings up another question that I had is you mentioned that you have a social media manager so at what point did you recognize, hey, I might need somebody to help me out here managing my full time job or even the interview process into your full time job and then also a whole calendar of social media content? When did you kind of realize and how did you take that step of hiring someone to help you out? Yeah, so I really took that step. I would say wrapping up my senior year in college, the brands were getting bigger, the deals were getting bigger, and I was just wanting to be more efficient with my time. And also, I was getting extremely high anxiety, negotiating with brands and then waking up and it's kind of like, not gambling, but it's like going to Vegas, right?

Starting point is 00:28:28 You wake up and then you refresh your email and you're like, am I going to get a hit? Like, am I going to get brand income? Like, it was such a negative thing for me. So that was, you know, the workflow was getting heavier. And also just for my mental health, was like okay it's probably just better if someone else handles this and so yeah I had some friends who was working with this manager and talked and it was a great fit and so that's kind of how I found her and she's been really great and been taking a lot of stress off my you know it's not living rent free in my head anymore.

Starting point is 00:29:06 That's great. Well, we are reaching our last question here. We love to ask this question on Marketing Happy Hour, but I think I'm going to rephrase it a little bit because it's usually, you know, now that you wish you knew when you started your career, but according to everything that you've shared with us, you started your career about five weeks ago, not including your internship that you did in college, but is there anything or like one major tip that you'd give somebody

Starting point is 00:29:36 starting out their career that you haven't shared yet? Yeah, I mean, I think this, I mean, of course, depends on the culture of where you work, but this sounds really cheesy, but just be confident because I think a lot of people are listening to Gen Z right now. And a lot of people are listening, especially, I don't know, some of them might cancel me for saying this word, but a lot of boomers are listening to Gen Z, right? I heard boomers are sensitive to the word boomers, which really i'm not yeah it's not an i guess the phrase okay boomer like some work oh yeah called it offensive but the all the generations that are not gen z are listening including millennials are listening a lot to gen z right now and

Starting point is 00:30:20 you know whether it's in meetings or whether it's marketing or business or sales or whatever, especially in marketing, though, people are listening to Gen Z and they value your input because they're paying lots of money to all these digital marketing agencies to give them a like a brief on Gen Z. three months old. And so you offer so much value than you think and be confident and share your insights. And of course, always back with data and solutions and be supportive, not just critical. But yeah, I think just being confident in that right now is a great time to be a young mind in corporate America, because there's a lot of people looking at young minds for everything. So I think it's, yeah, just be confident. Yeah, that's such a crucial point. We were actually talking about this in our first episode of this season with Allie from Upwork.

Starting point is 00:31:16 She was talking about empathy and we kind of got into like the purchasing power and the preferences of Gen Z and how they're kind of leaning more towards the authentic self and kind of like, you know, brands that are really putting, you know, their authenticity out there and their empathetic side actually out there. And that's, you know, a shift from what we've seen in the past. So that's really interesting that you're keen to that and like recommending that people, you know, address things with confidence. They are the generation that people are looking to for that kind of stuff. That's super, super interesting.

Starting point is 00:31:55 So, Angelica, we are done with the episode here. Where can we find you on TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn if you're on there? Where can people find you on TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn? If you're on there, where can people find you? Yeah, everyone can find me at underscore Angelica Song, A-N-G-E-L-I-C-A-S-O-N-G on Instagram and TikTok. And on YouTube, it is just Angelica Song. And I'll be posting more on my YouTube channel because, you know, probably looks good for the bosses as well. Sure. That is so awesome. Well, thank you so much, Angelica. We appreciate you coming on again.

Starting point is 00:32:33 We know you are busy. We're so excited to see your career continue to evolve and just follow you on TikTok and see all the amazing content that you post. So thank you so much again. Well, thank you so much for having me. And I'm so excited you guys are doing this. And what a great resource for a lot of young people starting their job. So I'm so honored to be here. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Have a great night. I loved learning more about Angelica's unique career path, especially diving into what the future of work can look like for generations moving forward and how showing up authentically through your employees can really humanize your brand. It reminds me of our episode with Allie Golden of Upwork, where we chatted about empathy in the workplace and how that can really

Starting point is 00:33:19 impact a company. Definitely go listen to that episode if you haven't yet. But if you enjoyed this episode, please remember to rate and leave a review. And as always, keep up with us on Instagram at Marketing Happy Hour. That's at Marketing Happy HR.

Marketing Happy Hour - Gen Z Work Habits: Balancing a Tech 9-5 and Full Time Content Creation | Angelica Song of Google

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