Marketing Happy Hour - Getting Silly on Social Media | Jack Hailey of Chili's

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners, when's the last time you ate at Chili's? Even if it's been a while, you probably have still seen the brand's presence all over social media, and that's in part thanks to this week's guest, Jack Haley. Jack is the social media manager at Chili's, and thanks to this week's guest, Jack Haley. Jack is the social media manager at Chili's, and in this episode, he's walking us through some of the brand's recent stunt marketing campaigns, how the team is able to gain approvals on out-of-the-box ideas so quickly, and sharing his predictions for the future of social media. Call in an order for a Chili's to-go margarita or grab your favorite drink and listen in with us. Jack, we're so excited to have you on the show. How's it going? Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour.

Starting point is 00:01:37 It's going amazing. I'm so excited to be here with you all. Oh, I love it. We're stoked to have you as well. Well, we have to ask you an important question, which I know you told us off record, you've listened to the show a couple of times, so you kind of know what's expected here, but Jack, what's in your glass this morning or what are you just enjoying sipping on, on a regular basis recently? Yes. I'm channeling my mother, my amazing mother, Claire Haley this afternoon, and I have a extra large glass of Chardonnay in my cup. So she would be so proud of me. She taught me well. Oh my gosh. I love it. I am just sipping on an Ouroboros. I feel like a lot of our listeners probably know I love this brand by now. It's just a sparkling water, but they are pretty unhinged on social as well, just like Chili's. So I feel like there's a kindred spirit there. This flavor is cactus rose,

Starting point is 00:02:25 and it's literally excellent. So highly recommend. But I wish we were recording just a little bit later in the day, I would have ordered some to go Chili's Margs because that would have been fun. But yes, yes. What do you have? I have a Celsius right now. I am a little bit tired. We're recording this at the end of kind of the holiday, you know, getting ready for that season and taking time off, prepping everything for, for that time of year. So I'm, I'm needing a little bit of a boost today. So that's what I'm sipping on this afternoon. Always good. We love a good Celsius or anything like energy to boost our energy is always good. I love Celsius the best.

Starting point is 00:03:07 I drink like one a day. It's bad. Probably not good for my heart. I need to stop, but I do too. It's a problem. Well, Jack, like Cassie mentioned, we are so excited to have you today. I was thinking back on like, you know, my own interactions with Chili's in the past. And one of my first dates ever was at Chili's when I was in high school, they had

Starting point is 00:03:30 like this, I think it was like a two for 20. Yeah. And you know, we're all broke in high school. So my little date took my little date. My date took me there. I remember it so vividly. We got the like chicken crispers. I think they might be. I remember it so vividly. We got the like chicken crispers. I think they might be called, or maybe it's something different. Um, but it was really, it was a great impactful time. So anyway, that's just a little, no, no, you're so right. So many people, like I'll tell them I worked at Chile or I work at Chili's and they're like, Oh my God, my first date was at Chili's. And like, that's why I met my husband. And I'm like, I've been going to Chili's for like 10 years now. Where's

Starting point is 00:04:07 my husband? Um, but yeah, it's, it's insane. I we're really, you know, connecting people to marriages. It's great. I love that. Maybe I need to head back to Chili's cause I'm still looking for that husband, but anyway, we can go together. Yeah, for sure. Amazing. Fantastic. Well, before we dive into all things social with you, could we just hear a look back at your career journey thus far? You know, did you always have an interest in marketing or did you kind of just fall into that area? Yeah, so I definitely fell in. I had like really no interest in marketing whatsoever before I landed the role in social, But I did have interest in

Starting point is 00:04:45 Chili's. So I have worked at Chili's. I've been with a brand for like almost eight or nine years now. I started when I was a host when I was 16 at like my local Chili's that I still go to with my family. And then I worked all through high school and college. I was a bartender all throughout college. And then I majored in supply chain in college. I did an internship in supply chain. I hated it. It like wasn't people driven. And I was just like, I can't be sitting behind an Excel spreadsheet for my whole life.

Starting point is 00:05:14 So I applied for a role at Chili's in HR and got it. So I was basically like a I did like investigations and like HR and supported like a couple of regions in the country for our restaurants. And I did that for six months, but I know we don't know each other too well, but I'm definitely not fit for HR. So then Luz and I knew, my boss Luz and I knew each other through like a couple of people in the office and she took me to lunch and she was like, hey, there's a job opening on my team. Like you're young. I know, you know, what's going on in culture and stuff like that. I think you'd be a great fit. And I think I told her like an idiot. I was like, well, I like only really

Starting point is 00:05:52 post a picture on Instagram if I like look skinny in it. And she was like, Oh my God, please don't tell me that. Um, and so, but yeah, we like talked through everything. We had like a two hour lunch and I was like, this is so cool. And I never understood how much went into social. And then I did a project for her. And then I ended up landing the role with I started in community engagement. So that was my first role on the social team here. I did that for six months and then six months in, I got community engagement and then all of organic content. So, yeah, it's been like a crazy ride. But I've been with Chili's for like ever, and don't see myself leaving anytime soon. So I'm but I'm super happy to be where I am now on social. Oh, my gosh, I love that. Well, it sounds like you know, a lot of people are in these companies.

Starting point is 00:06:36 And they're like, How do I move around? How do I ask for these different opportunities? Do you have any tips for that? Just like building connections within a brand and moving your way around to the areas that you aspire to be in? For sure. Yeah. I think Brinker and like Chili's is we are hybrid. So we go in three days a week where you have optional work from home two days a week. So I think if you have the opportunity in your company's hybrid, like definitely when you first start, like I went in every single day and just tried to meet as many people as possible. One, just to like network. And two, it's good if you ever want to move roles, if you already know somebody in a different organization or like department in your brand, that helps a ton just because you already have that connection. So yeah, I think just like knowing people, whether they're like the VP or,

Starting point is 00:08:06 you know, they just started a day ago, I think knowing people in a bunch of different places in the company helps you if you want to move. And then it really helps you when you get in your role and you need something done fast or like a quick favor're in, really. But I want to hear all about your role as a social media manager. What does your day to day-to-day social and community engagement for the brand. And then I think, I mean, every day looks totally different. I think it depends on if we have a like big campaign going or not. We lose, my boss also owns, she owns social and then she also owns brain activations. Um, so anything that lives digitally, like as a campaign, we own that as a team as well. Um, so if we have a campaign going on, um, it looks a little bit different than like now when we're kind of like working on our next. Um, so I think just like, you know, day to day, just like building content calendars, looking for turning opportunities for the brand, um, connecting with our agencies in just like all the social stuff. Amazing, amazing. And then in terms of just some of the projects you guys have worked on, I mean, I can only imagine just being in the restaurant space on the hospitality side as a

Starting point is 00:08:56 server, whatever things I've done in the past, I see all of these different marketing campaigns, new menu rollouts, all of these different things. And so from everything that you've worked on, do you have some favorite projects or campaigns or rollouts that you guys have worked on? Yeah, I think I've gotten so I've gotten the chance to work on like some of our really big brain activations we've done in the past six months. So we just recently launched Boyz II Men. They remixed our Baby Back Rib jingle. That was insane. And just to be like, go to a shoot like that is like, I'm like, it was nuts. It was so much fun. I think my two favorites that we've done so far have been like what we call social stunts. The first one

Starting point is 00:09:37 being Barb's Day. So like two or no, like a year last September, Nicki Minaj dropped her song, Super Freaky Girl, like the sample of the Rip James song. And we just like I tweeted one day I was like, he want a and then I said like fried pickles and cookie skillet. But it spelled out like freak with like all caps. And then we I went in and like followed a bunch of Nicki Minaj fan accounts because the tweet was like kind of blowing up. It had like a thousand likes. That time was really good for us. And then it really blew up and it had like 10 or 15,000. And then Nicki quote retweeted it.

Starting point is 00:10:13 And she just said with like a couple emojis. And I was like, oh, my God, I don't know if that's good or not. But like we'll take it. A celebrity engaged. And like it's Nicki. And I'm personally a huge fan. So it was insane. and then our cmo had just started george felix um and we were at like a conference or something and he was like

Starting point is 00:10:31 hey that tweet was amazing like that's so great like and i was like yeah i was like i think we can do something in restaurant and he was like what and i was like well i was like i don't know yet but i think we can do something um so we like worked super fast with like our ops team internally and we were like hey if this tweet gets 40,000 likes can we host like a Barb's Day at Chili's so um it got 40,000 likes which was like insane because we they kind of said like 40 because they didn't think we would get it so we got it then we're like oh my god we really have to do this um so then we hosted a Barb's Day at Chili's so we did like a one day only offer where we sold pink margaritas and we called them Barbaritas. And so we like killed our sales number for that day. We had like

Starting point is 00:11:11 the highest numbers we've ever had on like mentions and like on Twitter. Nikki engaged throughout the whole day. And it was so special. It was I was like on my way home, like crying in my car and I'm like not a crier. But I was like, this is insane. But yeah, it was like one of the craziest things I've ever gotten to be a part of. We did it again this year and it was amazing and got like a ton of earned coverage from it. So that's definitely my favorite ever. I think I'm biased because I'm like a big Nicki Minaj fan too, but that's definitely my favorite thing we've done so far. Oh my gosh. That is incredible. I can't even imagine being a part of that, especially as a huge fan of her. So that's amazing. And then I think I saw on your LinkedIn, there was a campaign that was featured by ad age. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:11:58 Yeah. I would love to hear more about that. Yeah. So we had a, um, we had a Tik TOK that blew up. It was from, um, a user. And she just said like, I catered my wedding for under a thousand dollars from Chili's. I think it was a thousand dollars. Yeah. Um, and she basically catered like her whole wedding for like 75 or a hundred people from Chili's for like a really great price. Um, and it blew up. Everybody was like, how did you do this? I want to do this for my wedding. And so we saw it and then we were like, this is a huge opportunity. And it, I mean, basically came from, you know, like user generated content. So let's see if we can blow it up. Um, so we created this like stunt and we basically said like the next three people that propose in Chili's and like video it posted posted on TikTok, then we'll sponsor their weddings and like pay for their wedding catering.

Starting point is 00:12:52 So, yeah, we did that. We acted super fast. I think we like we saw it like in a week. Then the next week we decided we were going to activate on it. And then the post was live within like 72 hours. I like flew in and out of L.A. to shoot it like in the same day. And then we got it up and it went nuts. And we got like a ton of coverage from it. We've already catered to weddings for it. I think the third one is like later in the summer. But yeah, it was it was insane. It was insane. Oh my gosh, that is so cool. And so ridiculously smart and like such a attention grabber, but also like a relationship

Starting point is 00:13:27 builder with your community. So I love when those two things merge. You know, a big question around things like that is like the approval process. You mentioned that you were able to move super quickly on a lot of these things that your team wanted to execute on. Could you just talk through that and like any hurdles that you might run into or like how you navigate that? It seems like your team is a little bit more on the leaner side. So you're probably able to, you know, get in contact with people and get approvals pretty quickly. But any advice around that? Yeah, I think our leadership team is amazing. One, George, our CMO is like so great. And then our VP, Jesse is like amazing. And Lou's obviously is great. So we have like a pretty direct pipeline

Starting point is 00:14:12 to them if we want to do anything crazy, like the wedding proposal or like Barb's day. And then I remember when George came on, he told like Lou's and I like the social team, he was like, hey, like we want to take big swings and it's okay if you like not everything's going to be a home run but like as long as you're trying that's all we want so I think from day one he made us really confident that we have the power to like do like these big swings and take risks and stuff like that so I think as long as we're confident in the idea and we're not doing anything that like could be brand damaging, um, and we stay within like good legal perimeter parameters, um, then they're usually always like, let's go, like, let's do it.

Starting point is 00:14:53 Um, so I think it's all kudos to our leadership team that they're like willing to take these swings and like, you know, let us have these big moments on social. That's incredible. And that's a big conversation that people are having right now is giving that that kind of autonomy and those like free ideas like to your team and trusting them to execute well, because they're the ones that, you know, they're in social every day, and they know what's going on in the culture space. And they know what will work and be impactful, and they're willing to take the risk. So I think it's, it's super important for leadership to kind of acknowledge that and like give them that autonomy to do that kind of stuff, because then that's where the magic happens. Like, I love that so much. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:34 Yeah. So how do you kind of figure out or think through, Hey, is this right for my brand? Is this a right fit for my brand? I'm thinking from the perspective of people listening, they're probably thinking about their own brands that they work for. And they're like, how can we do some of these fun moments or like unhinged content or whatever? How do you and your team kind of identify what could actually work and what might not be a fit for the brand? A hundred percent. I think we did something when I first came in, we did like a big audience analysis just to understand like, okay, this is our Chili's umbrella. This is everybody that follows us. Like what are they actually interested in besides

Starting point is 00:16:15 the food space? And so we know from those insights that our audience is super interested into pop culture. So like music, TV shows, movies, and then just anything that is culturally relevant, our audience like really gravitates to. So I think whenever we're looking at these opportunities, you know, we have a wide variety of things that we can play in with that space because we know that our audience

Starting point is 00:16:42 is gonna like gravitate towards things like that. And so, yeah, I think like the Chili's fan base on social is amazing and they're super supportive. And so it just like we have so much room to play with, which is great because everything kind of like I feel like nowadays a lot of things falls into pop culture, anything to do with celebrities and stuff like that. So we have a lot of room to play with, which is it makes our job a lot easier. Yeah, well, and kind of piggybacking off of that, we have a lot of younger marketers that listen, and they're newer in their careers. And I think the idea of proposing some of these crazy wild ideas is a little bit intimidating. So what would you say, or what's, what encouragement

Starting point is 00:17:25 do you have to a marketer? That's like, I want to build confidence in my ideas. I want to be able to stand up there and present these to people and not be afraid what, you know, my team or my leaders may think and just go for it and see what happens. Yeah. I think the first thing is that you just have to go into it knowing that not everything's going to work and that's totally okay and it shouldn't all work um I think like early on when I started in social I would get really upset if like I was because I'm passionate about everything we do and in my head I'm like this is going to be the next biggest thing we've done and it's not always like that um so I think one just knowing that not everything's going to work and that's okay like as long as you're taking swings and taking risks for your brain and trying to break through, I think that like

Starting point is 00:18:07 you're doing your job at the end of the day. One, and then two, I think when you're pitching the leadership and stuff, it's always really important. I found to give them context. Like you said earlier, like leadership, you know, if their job isn't day-to-day social, then they might not know that like whatever is trending right now. So if you give them context, like, Hey, this is why it's culturally relevant. This is what's going on. I also think if you can have numbers to back that up, it's great. Like this is, this got 10 billion impressions yesterday on Twitter. And it has this hashtag has a hundred million views on Tik TOK, just so you can quantify it that like really elevates whatever you're trying to do. So I think giving them context, giving the why,

Starting point is 00:18:48 and like helping them understand where the brand fits in with this is huge. And then it's kind of like if your brand fits in and it's trending and all this, like it's garnering all this attention, then it's kind of like, well, why wouldn't we do it? And at least take a swing at it. And then the more swings you take, the more you understand what's going to fit for your brand and what's going to hit and what's not going to hit. But yeah, I think just confidence and context is like the biggest thing when you're trying to pitch these ideas to leadership. Yeah, absolutely. And I think having

Starting point is 00:19:13 some of that insight to back up your ideas will in turn build that confidence because versus you just coming up with an idea out of left field, you're like, I know this could work because of X, Y, Z. And I think that not only helps your team understand, but also yourself to kind of, you know, figure out how that could be applied to your brand. So exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, speaking of kind of social media and just trying new things and, uh, you know, there's a lot of different changes always happening on the platforms, a lot of new trends and activations and things we can kind of jump onto as marketers in the social space. But do you have any predictions for 2024, anything you could see potentially happening both on the content side of things, but also on the platforms themselves? Yeah, I think my first prediction, I don't even know if it's

Starting point is 00:20:04 prediction, but I think if you're a really big brand and you want to break through on social, if you're not jumping into like culturally relevant opportunities, then it's like, what are you doing at this point? I think you have to be in touch with what's going on and what your audience wants to see in order for you to break through and be successful. So one, I think TikTok is just gonna get bigger um and like it just has such a huge impact on just like culture day-to-day for everybody that follows the platform and like uses the platform a lot um and then I think influencer is gonna grow into a space where like brands aren't necessarily gonna post it organically but use it more of like a um I'm trying to think of the word I want to use, use it more of like just brain recognition. So like you don't have to post an influence organically to make it, you know, useful for your social. Like when we think about social here,

Starting point is 00:20:57 it's like, okay, how many people can we get the brand in front of every single day and be like, cause you could follow Chili's every single day. And then we post something great. And people are like, Oh my God, I love Chili social. Or people could be like, I haven't thought about Chili's in 10 years, but this influencer just posted it. Um, so I think, you know, I think utilizing, I think how brains utilize and leverage influencers is going to change in like, um, just the strategy behind that is going to break through like past organically and more into like, let's just pay them to post on our platform or post organically for themselves and not necessarily get the return. So yeah. Yeah, that's incredible. I'm thinking about the some of the TikTok trends that I've

Starting point is 00:21:37 seen, like you choose, I guess there's like a filter and there's all these different restaurants and you choose like where you're going to get dinner and appetizer entree and drinks or whatever, like that's a perfect place for a food brand to step in and say, okay, well, we're going to sponsor this video or something like that. And that way they're getting their brand in front of a completely different audience and not posting it on their own native channel. So I love that. And then I also love that you mentioned like setting aside

Starting point is 00:22:06 some like budget or wiggle room to play with because that was one of my big things for 2023. I was like, this is going to be the year that brands are going to like play around and like get silly and get weird and go into all of these spaces. Like, you know, you know, the stunts that you guys did with, you know, Nicki Minaj or like proposals and Chili's and, but it has a little bit, you guys did a great job. Auntie Anne's did a really good job. I know they just crashed a wedding. Like a couple of days ago, we had a Barry on the podcast on their social team. She's their senior social media manager. And she was talking through that process. And I don't think that they had actually done the stunt yet. So she was like

Starting point is 00:22:47 giving us a little behind the scenes peek beforehand, but it went really well. I'm pretty sure. So that's like really cool. And I hope a lot of brands go into that more in the new year. I think that's going to be super fun to watch. Okay. Well, we could talk all day to you. You are so funny and so personable we're super like Cassie and I are chatting on the side and we're like this is such a good interview like we should talk to him all day um but we do have to close eventually so I want to ask you this is a question we love to ask here um what do you know now that you wish you knew a little earlier on in your career? I think when it comes to social, I think I wish I one knew like how hard social is. I think before I did social, I was like,

Starting point is 00:23:33 oh, that seems like such a fun, cute job. And now I'm like, it's really serious. Brands spend a ton of money, like so much work goes behind it. So I think, you know, it's really hard to do social one and it's even harder to break through and be a really good brand on social. So I think, you know, it's really hard to do social one and it's even harder to break through and be a really good brand on social. So I wish I knew that. And then two, I think it's really important, like anybody that wants to get into the social space, I think having one of these two things is like really going to set you apart from other people is either like having like really good design chops or having good copywriting skills. Like I do, I'm not good at design. I'm not good at Photoshop or anything like that. Luckily we have like amazing, amazing agencies we work with that can help me

Starting point is 00:24:13 with that. But, um, I am a good writer. And so I think, you know, having one or two of those skills and you don't have to have it just like, you know, right off the bat, it's obviously going to get better as you go. But trying, trying to hone in on one of those things, like personally is going to help you a lot when it comes to social, because that's, I mean, that's what it is at the end of the day, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Well, how have you built your copywriting skills over the years? I have to ask that because I know that's something that is, takes some time to hone in and everything. So how are you doing that just to become a better writer over time? Oh my gosh, I honestly don't know. I think I like had no idea that I was creative before I started

Starting point is 00:24:54 in social. Like I didn't consider myself a creative person. I think I'm funny, but I never thought I was, you know, very creative. So I think it's just like honing in on like what you have. If you're funny, then just use that to your advantage. One, I think to lose my boss has done like a really good job navigating me through the copywriting space, especially when it comes to Chili's and like checked me a lot when I first started and was like, OK, do you think this is a fit for the brand? Is it not a fit for the brand? So I think having somebody like a leader over you and just telling them like, hey, like I really do like this and this is something that I want to grow in.

Starting point is 00:25:30 So you can you help like me keep in check or like give me the skills to be better at this is really important. And I'm ADD. So I think my brand just comes up with a million different things at one time, which like, like not not everybody wants to have like ADD, but you know, like it's useful in some situations like copywriting. So I think that's great. Absolutely. And that's why I tell everyone in marketing, I'm like, write every idea down. I was like, you never know when you can come back to it and it might serve you for a future project

Starting point is 00:25:59 or campaign or whatever. Um, so that's always really important to just to reference back to. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah, absolutely. Well, as Erica said, Jack, we could talk to you all day, but we have to let you get back to doing all things social for Chili's. So before we let you go, uh, can you share with us where we can follow along with you personally and also the Chili's brand across social? Yes. Chili's brand across social. It's at Chili's on Instagram and Twitter. It's actually as official on Tik TOK. And then I like, I'm not very active on my Twitter or Tik TOK personally, because I'm, you know, focusing on the brand. But my Instagram is Jack underscore Haley. So yeah, if you want to follow along for my personal, you know, wild adventures, then you're more than welcome.

Starting point is 00:26:46 Amazing. Well, Jack, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your knowledge with all of us. We're excited to have you back to you in the future and check in and see how you're doing and how the brand's doing. But thanks so much for being here just overall. We really appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you all so much. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the

Starting point is 00:27:11 Marketing Happy Hour podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. If you want more of Marketing Happy Hour, but don't know where to start, we invite you to download our free Marketing Happy Hour Starter Kit at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash starter dash kit. This interactive magazine style PDF walks through who we are, includes helpful resources like a marketing term glossary and the printable daily planner sheet that we actually use ourselves and contains clickable links to our episode recommendations by subject area. Not to mention all the fun extras like a quiz, the link to our Marketing Happy Hour Insiders Facebook group, a word search, a playlist, a goal

Starting point is 00:27:58 setting guide, content inspo by month, and more. It's our hope that you'll dive into this resource and walk away more confident in your career journey with a group of industry pals that you can lean on for advice and support. Snag your free starter kit today at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash starter dash kit for all of the info you need to become a Marketing Happy Hour insider.

Marketing Happy Hour - Getting Silly on Social Media | Jack Hailey of Chili's

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.