Marketing Happy Hour - Why Agile Social Media Content Performs Best | Gabriel Gomez of Verizon

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 00:00:57 Today, we're joined by Gabriel Gomez, Social Strategy Lead for Verizon. With several years in social media marketing and experience with big names like Unilever and Mars Food Group, Gabe shares his journey from agency side to leading Verizon's social strategy. We discuss critical career skills, building a personal brand on LinkedIn, and leveraging data and social media strategies. Plus, Gabe gives us insights into Verizon's tailored content across platforms and his favorite campaigns, including the Beyonce album released during the Super Bowl. This episode is so jam-packed with value. So let's get to it. Grab your favorite drink and let's listen together. Hey, Gabe. How are you? Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour.

Starting point is 00:01:37 Hi. Hi, Cassie. I'm great. How are you guys? Doing so well. Thanks for being here today. We were talking off record. We had an agency partner of yours on the show not too long ago. And so excited to kind of continue the conversation, not only on Verizon, but also just on your personal story and what you're working on personally and your experience today. But first, we have to ask you a very important marketing happy hour question. Gabe, what do you have in your glass right now? Or just what do you enjoy sipping on, on a regular basis? Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm on a sort of like a mindful health journey. So I've cut back a little bit on the wine and the cocktail, but today I'm enjoying actually just like some sparkling water with a little bit of like crystal light, um, blackberry lemonade to be specific.

Starting point is 00:02:26 So it's my refreshing little treat for, for the evening. Oh my gosh. We love a good mocktail. I, um, I think this is the first time in marketing happy hour history that I actually don't even have anything on my desk right now, um, other than water. So I feel like that's, that's a history making point there, but Cassie, what do you have in your glass? It's all right. Staying hydrated. Um, I have two things as always I have water and then I have a vintage Cola Olipop. So, and sipping on that and we love,

Starting point is 00:02:56 uh, we love probiotics. So that's what I say. Yeah. Fantastic. Oh my gosh, Gabe, we are so excited to chat with you, like Cassie said, but I want to hear a little bit about your career journey thus far. How did you end up, you know, leading social strategy at Verizon? Yeah, I mean, I'll give you the truncated version so I don't spend an hour talking about the last six years of my career. But I think, you know, long story short, it's been interesting. I actually didn't really know I wanted to work in social media until about two years into college. I didn't even end up studying marketing or anything remotely related to that field in college. I actually studied English literature and thought I wanted to be a teacher. Same though, Gabe, same.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's a weirdly like common like pipeline. I've spoken with like a lot of marketers about actually, which is funny, but I, what kind of sparked the, you know, social media marketing career for me ultimately was actually an internship at do something.org one summer in New York. And that was just such a great experience. I hadn't really done a lot of social media marketing to that point, but kind of just dove into it that summer and just fell in love with it. And that was, you know, kind of, gosh, when was it? That must've been like 2015. So it was like when Instagram was like kind of in its heyday and it was like all about actually like being aesthetic on Instagram so it was like such like a fun experience to like curate really visual visually led like content at the time so it just felt really fun and creative

Starting point is 00:04:35 but that's sort of what like springboarded me into my career after college I kind of got my first role in the advertising world at Zimmerman which was a based in Fort Lauderdale and I was a community manager for a brand you guys might might have heard of it's Chuck E. Cheese's which was an iconic it still is an iconic brand but was like such like a boot camp experience for me because I was just like rolling my sleeves up at one of my first, you know, big boy jobs and was just like in the trenches, like responding to folks on Facebook and Instagram, but also thinking about content and content calendars. So it was like a really great kind of experience to really just get deep into all things social at the time. And eventually, after a few agency roles,

Starting point is 00:05:25 working with a lot of different brands across a lot of different sectors, like retail, e-commerce, tech, I was able to land my role at Verizon as one of the social strategy leads on the team, which is super exciting. And I think, you know, a lot of benefit. I personally feel like there was a lot of benefit

Starting point is 00:05:44 working agency side for a while because I got to try and learn so many new things with so many different brands. It just really like opens up your mind to like how different processes can work and then how it's great to like test and learn. So I've definitely brought a lot of that knowledge to my current role, which is great. And, you know, different perspectives from different roles certainly help in like in-house type of roles I found. Yeah, we definitely talk with a lot of marketing professionals who got their start in the agency world and feel like it gave them a really

Starting point is 00:06:18 good starting point and just like a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. And it sounds like you agree with that. Like that was a great place to start. So that's something that we always kind of like lean into and recommend starting there if you don't know what exactly you want to be doing. Yeah, absolutely. It's like, it's been invaluable to be quite honest.

Starting point is 00:06:38 And another thing, you know, aside from the experience that comes like from, you know, agency world, it's also like the connections you make. There are so many folks that you meet both brand side and client side agency world that just like make it feel like a richer kind of, you know, career in a lot of ways. And I actually love that. Like one of the things I love about marketing are the people that work alongside us.

Starting point is 00:06:58 So I think that's definitely something that's maybe not talked about as much, but is definitely valuable and important. And it's like the fun of the job a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. I know Eric and I kind of dabbled in that space a little bit here and there. And we, I believe we both agree it was very beneficial. And I think to Eric's point just helps you kind of learn what you're interested in and what you're not interested in. So it's so beneficial. But I want to ask you, um, we haven't really asked this question before on the show and I'm really excited to hear your response, but what do you feel skill wise, whether it is within social, within marketing, or even just general

Starting point is 00:07:34 career has been a critical skill for you to kind of hone and develop over time in your career so far? Uh, that's, uh, that's such a great question. I'm also flattered that I'm the first to be asked this. So thank you. I hope I proved to be a good test subject. But I mean, there are honestly a few that come to mind in terms of skills. What's interesting though, is that I don't know if this is considered a skill, maybe more like a trait that maybe comes with being a marketer is just like adaptability. Because I think that that is actually like the route that's helped me so much personally, versus like a really versus like a hard skill, like copywriting, or, you know, more technical skills that you might think of, like video editing,

Starting point is 00:08:26 for example, I actually think adaptability has been so important for me, whether that's, you know, considered skill or more so a trait. As a marketer, I think adaptability is great because you, like social media changes so often, and that's like actually a skill you need to always have, or the ability to always kind of be able to flex with like this new platform has come out or instead of static being like the format of choice on social, it's now video and who knows what it's going to be, you know, in a few years. So that's actually been like the one constant for me as a marketer is just like being able and being open to say

Starting point is 00:09:06 to A, acknowledging change is happening and B, like, you know, starting to think about how brands should change along with that, how your strategies should change along with that. So that's certainly a thing that comes to mind because, you know, skills can kind of like come and go as like the world changes, but adaptability is like, is actually the constant there. So that's, that's the one thing that comes to mind right away. Yeah. That kind of reminds me of when you were talking about, you know, your, your degree in college and everything of English literature, and now you're in the marketing space, even that is so interesting. And we talk about this all the time. I feel like our generation is a lot more adaptable to changing from what we got our degree in to a completely different industry,

Starting point is 00:09:51 even though there's a lot of transferable skills there, copywriting, obviously being one of them. But I think our generation is getting more open to that. Whereas, you know, our parents, our grandparents were very much about, I got this degree, this is going to be my lifelong career, but now we're becoming okay with that. And I think that's very crucial. Personally, I'm curious to your viewpoint of just following what you're passionate about and, and not being afraid to pivot and change throughout your career. And again, just being conscious of those skills you can bring into that next step of your career. versa. But I do think, you know, I tend to agree where to your point, no shade to mom and dad or grandma, grandpa, I kind of see it as like almost like a luxury to be able to feel like you can stay

Starting point is 00:10:57 at the same place or use your same skills for like a long period of time or like for your entire career. Because I don't think I've met anyone like my contemporary co-workers and colleagues who have had that same experience like it's just not what happens anymore right even let's take copywriting for example since you mentioned it like copywriters 10 years ago have a completely different role and completely different parameters to like what copywriting looks like, no matter where they work, right? So just like not really the reality. And while it's like, it's a double edged sword, it's like kind of cool that we get to experience like all this change,

Starting point is 00:11:36 because it happens much quicker to write like, change now happens in like maybe a year versus like 10 years when it was in the past but um I think there's there's sort of like an excitement that comes to that um but also a little bit of panic too because while this works now like I don't know what it's going to be like in two years yeah right no matter what role you have in marketing whether it it's social or email, e-commerce, like name it, you name it, right? Like it's all kind of been changing right before our very eyes, which is awesome. But also like, oh my gosh, like I'm scared. Yeah. Which even more reason why what you said about adaptability is so incredibly important. So yeah, such a, such an important

Starting point is 00:12:21 trait that we cannot forget, I think. But I want to ask you about building your personal brand. So you are a top voice on LinkedIn, which is amazing. Congrats on that. And also you were a recent speaker at Adweek as well. So I'm just curious, how have you approached building your personal brand as a professional and why do you feel doing so is so important for your career? Yeah, that's a great question. And I'm actually really happy you brought that up because I've had like an interesting, like personal journey with that. I, you know, I started really building my LinkedIn presence, like about a year and a half ago and I didn't really have expectations around it and I actually was so terrified because I still consider myself like really early on in my

Starting point is 00:13:12 career um and I quite frankly thought like no one would want to hear from me um on LinkedIn like what's Gabe got to say like I don't know right um. Right. Versus like a CMO. Right. So I was kind of like top of mind actually. And that made me really nervous to start posting and building my personal brand. But I kind of started by not putting too much pressure on, on how to do it and what to post. And I actually just started posting around like what I was texting my friends about what's happening in the industry versus, you know, making like a rigid content strategy that in a more traditional sense of like, I'm going to post X, Y, Z on X, Y, Z's eight on X, Y, Z dates. It's much more like what's something on my mind today and what's something I've talked to my friends about that I find interesting. So I kind of just started to do that.

Starting point is 00:14:05 And organically, it seemed like folks either were thinking about the same things or hadn't thought about those things. And I think the content feels much more like a dialogue versus like on LinkedIn, it can really easily feel like, you know, information overload. I think a lot of times where like, whether you're job hunting or just like looking for information in the industry, it's like just a lot to take in. Right. And I think for me, I kind of wanted to use it as an outlet to just talk about things

Starting point is 00:14:36 I was excited about or things that I thought were like funny or relatable. And that's kind of how it happened. So it was a little bit, it was a little bit on accident and then it snowballed into something that I became really passionate about and now I kind of just like and that's just part of my routine which I really love because I don't feel the burnout that might come from something that you you put more like rigidness around where you're like oh if I don't post like four times a week like I'm not meeting my own personal goals but to me it's like I posted twice this week and I felt

Starting point is 00:15:11 really good about what I posted and I and I had a lot of fun doing it um and so it's been actually so fun and I certainly encourage anyone who like might be on the fence about like do I build a personal brand or do I start to post to just do it? Because you really got nothing to lose. And, and people want to hear from you, whether you are two years into your career or 10 years into your career. So I think, I think it's been really great. And just like a beneficial tool that anyone can kind of start to do. Wow. Yeah. Well, we are so grateful for that encouragement and we're so grateful that you started posting despite the doubt, because that's how we found you and that's how we're having this conversation. So

Starting point is 00:15:54 kudos to past you for doing that because that's awesome. Well, let's get into the social media side of things. Could you just walk us through your approach to developing a social strategy that increases brand awareness, engagement and loyalty for Verizon? is Verizon. So I think like for a brand like this and for any brand that's like you just recognize, it's like a legacy brand. It's like a household name. We've kind of started thinking past awareness, right? Because everyone knows about it. And so the crux of our strategy and our goal on social is like all around brand love actually um and and like you know driving positive perception so that's actually like a starting point um for us when we think about strategy at Verizon specifically and um you know I think through that lens it's it's you know what what do we say and what kind of content do we make that feels shareable that feels like will

Starting point is 00:17:03 humanize the brand, right? Telecom is such a challenging space for whoever's working in that, right? Because it's like, you know, you don't want to think about your phone bill. And actually, you might hate your phone carrier. And like, we get like a lot of those comments, right? And a lot of telecom companies do. So that's kind of like the unique challenge when it comes to like a social strategy perspective. Like, what do you say when like, no one wants to hear from you and we talk about that a lot so um you know we we just like look at it through that lens through that filter of like what can we say that humanizes us what's going to be content that's actually shareable versus content that

Starting point is 00:17:39 feels like we're you know grabbing like a sales grab or like a hard sell right because like you know no one wants to necessarily be fed that content when you're scrolling on social. And so that's like kind of the lens we're thinking through when it comes to social strategy for Verizon specifically. And that, of course, expands to like community management, influencer, our paid media strategy. And that's actually how I've approached like strategy for other brands as well. Like what's like the one line that you can build your strategy

Starting point is 00:18:11 around? Like whatever that is, right? Whether you are a retail brand, what's the one line your strategy can ladder up to? I'm going to make something up, but like, it's like, if your brand's all around right value and, you eclectic merchandise how's your how does that translate to content and i find that like the simpler you can actually make that like one sentence like kind of north star the better your content's going to be because it's like such a clear kind of way in for the brand um and you can expand that in so many ways um That's just like a little bit about how, you know, we've been building the strategy and how I've seen other successful strategies

Starting point is 00:18:50 like kind of be built. I also kind of want to hear a behind the scenes look at like some of the content that does speak to what you're talking about with like humanizing the brand, whether it's with Verizon or another brand that you've seen do a really good job at that. What kind of examples can you speak to in that area so that people can like go reference, check it out

Starting point is 00:19:10 and like try to emulate that? Yeah, I have a few examples. So one thing that I've kind of been pushing a lot for at Verizon is more kind of like agile content is what we call it or like reactive content you could call it. But it's essentially like content that like doesn't live in a bubble where like you are creating something that's like participating in the dialogue that's like actually happening, or what we say sometimes like being social on social. So a good example I have actually is when I first started at Verizon,

Starting point is 00:19:40 I don't know if you guys remember this trend, but like Nicki Minaj's album was about to come out. Everyone was talking about gag city. There was like AI generated gag city, like city, like gag city brand and storefronts being built. Like they're like Netflix has just arrived in gag city. It was like a crazy like pink building. So a user on Twitter actually, Twitter slash X actually made one about Verizon and it was like a pink storefront. And it was like my fourth day on the job. And I was like, basically like pinging everyone on the team are like 20 persons like, Hey, like, this is an idea I have, like, we should retweet this gag city thing. And the first thing that people like asked was like, hey, like, this is an idea I have, like, we should retweet this gag city thing. And the first thing that people like asked was like, well, what's gag city? So I had to do a little bit of that explanation first. But, you know, we got there and we got a tweet approved, which was awesome.

Starting point is 00:20:39 And we worked with our agency partners to kind of like, treat the messaging a bit. But we participated in something that like, actually wasn't about selling someone a phone or selling someone a phone plan, but it was like about music and around something that like you would talk to with a friend or that a friend would send you. And like, that's like a perfect example of like humanizing a brand. Right. And we, you know, retweeted this like gag city post and we said something like you know we're usually red but we'll go pink for the barbs and that ended up being

Starting point is 00:21:12 like our best tweet in like years which was just crazy because it happened in like less than 24 hours and it was just all about humanizing the brand so that's probably my favorite examples um because it happens so quick, but it's like still fun and it's not overthought and it can like ladder back up to like your one sentence strategy. If making this up, like if ours was humanize the brand, that's a perfect example of how you like, you know, executed your strategy in like one tweet. Yeah, absolutely. That makes me um remember our conversation with jack haley of uh chili's he's a social media manager there and they did something similar around that same time with nicki minaj like an activation in store and he was just like the the impact that that had over

Starting point is 00:21:59 like come in and grab another burger or whatever was like so like exponential because it was like um relatable you know and that's like a big conversation today is making your content authentic relatable all that stuff authentic has now like some negative like uh buzzwordy connotation but like it's so true it just really is true it boils down to like humanizing your brand and making people relate to you. And, and that makes them like, remember your brand when it comes time to do something like get a new phone plan or like pick where you want to go for dinner or whatever it may be. So I love that so much. Yeah. There's there's an interesting like exercise, like as we're developing like a ton of

Starting point is 00:22:45 you know or as you're like any marketer does like just look at what's happening on social which really interesting that we noticed is like if you do like a side by side with a lot of brands like let's say you're on tiktok you search a brand enter brand name here and you go on their tiktok page and then you search um the brand name and just look at the content that's being created from that community, a lot of it like actually tend to look the same. So it's really interesting that you're seeing brands just like essentially recreate or play off of content from their community, just like using that as their social like kind of content engine. And I think we're going to personally, I think like a lot of folks are going to continue to adapt that,

Starting point is 00:23:29 do more of that because it's working. It feels really down to earth, not like kind of, you know, over-engineered. And so that's like something I like to reference as well. When thinking about a Strives You for any brand, whether you're in-house or agency side, right. It's like, what's your community talking about? Because you could likely do something similar or saying like, Hey, we're listening. And like, if you like margaritas and chilies, we're going to talk about margaritas and chilies, right?

Starting point is 00:23:53 Yes, absolutely. And just like letting your community know that like you're there with them and like the people that work at your brand are also people and like they can relate to the community as well. I think that's really important. I want to talk about the flip side too of like data and analytics. What role do you think those play in shaping your social media strategy? I mean, the most important, maybe I think like you can't have a conversation around content without involving data and analytics in whatever capacity, right? And it's funny, there's been a lot of dialogue on LinkedIn around what the best way to use data is. And I think for social media marketers specifically, I think there's certainly an importance around kind of like going beyond like an engagement rate, for example, where you want to just look at a bigger picture.

Starting point is 00:24:50 So are you considering how many shares your content is driving? Are you considering the sentiment? Are you considering the saves? I think like that's really important when it comes to not just like, are you looking at data and analytics? Like, how are you looking at data and analytics like how are you looking at data and analytics and are you and the team having a dialogue around like hey is there something else you should be looking at should we kind of you know not not look at every post the same right if you're creating content or why objective you shouldn't measure it with the same kind of data

Starting point is 00:25:27 points across the board, because then you're kind of setting yourself up for failure, right? So if the goal of X post was to drive shares, make sure you're measuring it against that, and not measuring every post around shares or every post around engagement rate, because that's A, maybe, you know, shooting yourself in the foot a little bit. Um, and B only telling kind of like one part of the story. Um, so I think it's so important. And I think it's also equally important to have a dialogue around how and what you're kind of looking at when it comes to data. When it comes to that too, we've had conversations about just presenting new ideas to leaders or team members. Let's say you have this crazy wild idea for a post or campaign. What, in addition to some data, are you presenting

Starting point is 00:26:16 in those situations in order to kind of reinforce and back up in an idea? Just because I feel like being well-equipped for those conversations is important. Being able to answer questions about, well, we've seen this kind of post perform well in the past and here's why, et cetera. But how are you approaching those kinds of conversations with new creative ideas that you have? Yeah, that's a great question. And I think, you know, for the agency folks out there, I think it's so funny because like that, that has like a different answer a lot of the times, depending on like who the clients are, what the goals are. But I think, you know, one thing that's actually helped me so much in the past, and this goes for like in-house folks and agency folks, is aside from the data, hey, like I have this crazy idea, look at the data. One thing I love to reference is like,

Starting point is 00:27:05 look at what our competitors are or aren't doing. And I love to say our competitors aren't doing this and they're missing out and we can use this trend or use this idea as like a point of difference. Cause I've seen that that helps move mountains as well. Because you will, you want to set yourselves up from your competitors and you want to do it better or do it differently. So I'd say data, kind of like competitor insights if you have that. And also just like use your community as sort of like the fuel to you and the engine, like actually we saw that like 200 people asked for

Starting point is 00:27:45 this. So we're just going to give it to them. And also this does well on our competitors would hate us if they did it. So, you know, you can definitely use those additional layers to help, like help kind of sell in an idea. I'm sure missing, you know, some other ideas, but I do love to reference competitors and just like, you know, social listening to kind of weave that in. Yes. Yes. Thank you for mentioning social listening too. That's so incredibly important.

Starting point is 00:28:09 Now that's a good introductory checklist just to keep in mind as you're presenting new ideas. So thank you for that. I got to ask to you, whether it's speaking to Verizon or just in general, some of the past work you've done, how do you approach content and voice differentiation across platforms? I know that's a big question in social. It's like, I shared this on Instagram. Should it also go on TikTok? You know, how are you kind of approaching that kind of, you know, just kind of planning content? How do you, how do you think about that in that way and and how are you differentiating across yeah that's a good question I think um I think you know it'll depend

Starting point is 00:28:51 brand by brand and what you want to achieve on each platform of course so I think do the due diligence of like sitting down and saying what we want to achieve on an Instagram versus what we want to achieve on a TikTok but once once you've kind of got that framework laid out, what I like to do is essentially make different platform strategies. How that can look like, for example, is on an Instagram, we really want to go all in on content that's all around making this up, but like phone culture and like texting behaviors, because we know like people share memes around that all the time. Versus on a TikTok, maybe like that's not as big of a dialogue there at the moment. So we're actually going to go all in on content that we can use like

Starting point is 00:29:36 CapCut templates with, and it'll actually be more experiential. So kind of like setting filters for each platform to kind of help inform the content that might work there based on like what you want to achieve. Like Instagram is all around engagements because you don't care about followers. Great. Versus TikTok is actually all around followers. So this content will tie back to that objective. So that's sort of how we've started to lay some things out for us and how we've done it for past brands as well.

Starting point is 00:30:09 And I think, you know, something important to note is like it's not like a set in stone thing. What I stopped doing actually is like making strategies for like a whole year. And actually I've started like making strategies for like a quarter of the year instead because things change so often especially on social um you don't want to kind of like make a strategy that feels like outdated in six months time and just like stick to it for this for the sake of sticking to it if that makes sense so um that's like kind of a hack that we've been kind of doing, you know, let's do this strategy for three months, learn from it and evolve versus, you know, maybe a more traditional, like here's our strategy for the year.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And that's what it is. And what we assess next year, right. It's like so important to kind of keep evolving, keep adapting and trying new things. Oh, it's such a good idea and better to do that. I feel like versus planning for the whole year and then realizing things. Oh, it's such a good idea. And better to do that, I feel like, versus planning for the whole year and then realizing three to six months in, oh, we need to scrap this completely and pivot fully.

Starting point is 00:31:14 So it could save your team time, I feel like, too. So that's a great idea. Yeah, awesome. Okay, tell us too, whether, and I would love to hear about Verizon, but any project that you've worked on or campaign or launch or influencer collaboration, do you have something that stands out to you that you're like, I loved working on this and being a part of this project? Yeah, well, I got a few that come to mind, but you know, it's funny. I started Verizon

Starting point is 00:31:43 last December and one of the first big campaigns I was able to work on was our Super Bowl. Yes. Which was so, I mean, just like the bragging rights alone, but like you can say that is like incredible. But it was also so great because, you it was uh obviously like a large integrated campaign like I have never done a super bowl before um the tv spot was phenomenal um and while I wasn't a part of that it was great to be part of like the social aspect of like what are we going to say what are what's our community management strategy how can we like stretch this on social um and then seeing just like the hilarious um memes that came out of that was incredible to just like being part of that

Starting point is 00:32:32 um kind of experience and like seeing seeing that trickle in when like people were posting memes around the moment making gifs uh from the from the tv spot so just like a moment that i was so proud of and also like selling disbelief of. And then I was after that, I was like, I should maybe retire. Cause I don't know if I'll ever like work on something this cool again. So watch off my retirement pose, hitting like, I don't know how else I could, you know, but definitely a highlight. Oh my gosh. That's so, that's so awesome. I remember I that's one of those moments. I think as a marketer, I'll just remember for the rest of my life, like how I was

Starting point is 00:33:10 feeling, what I was thinking. I'm like, is she for real? Is she actually launching an album? Is this just a part of the bit? Like what's happening? Um, I'm curious to like your role. Cause we talked to a lot of, a lot of different people that are a part of live activations like that, or things kind of happening on a national scale, like your role in that moment, are you at home on your computer, live tweeting, live posting? Like, what are you doing in that moment specifically when that's going down? Yeah, I, so we were, I'm sure a lot of marketers know this term, but a war room. And we were being hosted by our amazing agency partners at Ogilvy, who were like, well, you know, have a setup. And we were all there, like, or most people from our social team were there in that war room with our agency partners. And we also had some folks on the ground, actually like in the stadium as well for kind of like live content capture opportunities. But I was first and foremost, a fangirl of the moment in the war room. But secondly, kind of monitoring the conversations in real time, deciding who and when and what to engage with when it comes to, you know,

Starting point is 00:34:21 our community, really like a heavier community management role in that moment, because that's essentially like where all the action is, right? Like you are watching the screen and then watching your phone for like what people are saying. So we were just really like, you know, we rolled our sleeves up and we were just there in it, replying to folks in real time and kind of just like seeing how things, you know, played out, because you don't know like how it's going to to be received what's going to happen so it was really just um you can plan as much as you want we did we had so many document documents kind of like outlining plan a through plan z um so we were just there in the room ready to go and ready to respond um but but that was so fun and that's actually my favorite things

Starting point is 00:35:06 about working in social, like, sure, making strategies and being creative and conceptually thinking is always like challenging and fun. But I also find that being on the ground and like, doing the work like hands on keyboard, so to speak, is also like, so much fun. Oh, that's incredible. What a great look into just like being in the moment and like getting it done. I love that so much. Gabe, we have to ask this question as we're wrapping up. What do you know now that you wish you knew earlier on in your career? This is a question that we ask everyone. So looking forward to answer. Yeah, I have to make sure I have a good question, a good answer for this. I don't seem lame. I think, gosh, what I know now that would be helpful to know. I think, you know what, it's, I don't know if like you all experience this as you're like kind of like progressing in your

Starting point is 00:36:02 career or just like through life. But I think like um having just trust in yourself and trust in your ideas has been something I've like had to learn the hard way personally where you know growing up I was just like always really shy in meetings and like I was like should I share this idea no it's gonna be awful and no one's gonna listen um I think actually the more voice, the more of my voice I use, like the better, just like the better because you're, you know, you're sharing a different perspective for the most part. You are adding value to the conversation and just like actually just believing that you are makes all the difference.

Starting point is 00:36:43 So I found that to be if I could like tell Gabe like five years ago be share your crazy idea because now that's all I do um and and it's and it's great and it's um not only been impactful for brands that I've worked with but also for just like building relationship with your co-workers and your leaders. I think that's something I wish I would have learned a little earlier, but that's what experience is for. So that's the answer I'll go with. Love it. Yeah, no, that's such a great answer. And I'm sure just working on building your personal brand and not being afraid to share your own stories and ideas has been helpful for that too, when it comes to those kinds of conversations. So that's always a good nugget too, to remember not being afraid to just start posting and get

Starting point is 00:37:29 out there in front of people. Yeah. I mean, if it's not you, like someone else is going to come in with the wild idea and someone will buy it. Yep. Yep. Don't be afraid to share. And most of the time we are our own worst critics. So chances are the ideas you have about your own idea, no one else is going to be thinking about that. So just saying. Yes, there we go. Well, Gabe, this has been so awesome. We'll definitely have to have you back and just check in and see what you've been up to. But in the meantime, can you please share, if you don't mind, where we can stay in touch with you personally and also Verizon online as well? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:38:09 I mean, you can catch Verizon at Verizon across all the social channels. So check us out. And you can stay interested in me on LinkedIn. If you have trouble finding me, the URL is Gabe Gomez Digital. But you can also just try searching my name and maybe I'll come up. And I'm always happy to take like impromptu virtual coffee conversations with folks.

Starting point is 00:38:35 I think that's always like part of the fun of like being on the platform. So don't be afraid to reach out. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Gabe. Again, really appreciate you coming on and sharing all of your insights with us. Of course. Thank you for having me. This was so fun. I'm almost halfway through my marketing happy hour drink. So I feel hydrated and I feel

Starting point is 00:38:56 love it. Well, happy hour will continue after this. So enjoy it. And, uh, cheers to that. Thanks for listening to this week's episode. We hoped you loved it as much as we did. If you enjoyed the conversation, we'd love to get your feedback on the episode. Head to the review section of your favorite podcast app and let us know what you thought thanks for listening and we'll see you next week

Marketing Happy Hour - Why Agile Social Media Content Performs Best | Gabriel Gomez of Verizon

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