Category: Blog

In 2021, after nearly two decades, the parent company, Facebook Inc., changed its name to Meta as its moves to a “metaverse-first” focus, where users log in with VR helmets and engage as holograms in a space that resembles real life. While the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, credits the change to his goal of altering what is possible through social media, skeptics believe the change is in an effort to change public perception of the company.

Although Zuckerberg is not getting rid of Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger, only deprioritizing them and moving to “metaverse-first,” it comes at a time when the long-term health of his top platforms is in question and the demographic crucial to continued success, ages 30 and under, continue to spend less time in the app.

With an estimated 5-10 years before key features of metaverse will be mainstream, the greater question marketers and brands are facing now is whether to pull back advertising dollars on Facebook. Before you jump ship, I recommend asking yourself the following.

7 Questions to Ask When Choosing Social Platform for Advertising:

1. What is your goal? While social media is great for brand awareness, not every platform can reach your business goal. If you are selling a product, visual platforms like Instagram are a great option. If you are looking to generate leads, Google Ads reign supreme as your ads appear to potential clients looking for your product or service, even if they don’t know you exist.
2. What is your budget? The average cost per 1,000 impressions varies across platforms and some give you more bang for your buck than others. On Facebook, they expect you’ll pay $7.19 per 1,000 impressions, whereas LinkedIn’s average is $33.80.
3. What platforms are your competitors or industry leaders using? What is working on their social profiles and what isn’t? Facebook’s Ad Library is a great way to find current ads running. Use this to educate yourself on what others in your space are doing to make more informed decisions.
4. How complex is the platform’s targeting for your product or service? On LinkedIn, users update their job status more than on Facebook, making its job title and seniority targeting more reliable for B2B marketers. Life events, like getting engaged, are only a targeting option on Facebook/Instagram, making it a great platform for venues.
5. How much creative bandwidth do you have and what are your output abilities? TikTok is a video-only platform, which recommends new creative weekly. If that is not feasible, joining the platform will not prove fruitful.
6. What is a user’s mindset on the platform in question? Platforms amplify their user’s behaviors and each platform tailors to a particular frame of mind. On LinkedIn, you can count on your audience to be in a professional, educational mindset. Pinterest on the other hand is known for its planning mindset.
7. What are the platform’s features and how do they cater to your industry and needs? Instagram has added Product Tags and the ability to purchase in the app, making it a no-brainer platform for merchandisers. Needing to gauge audience sentiment? Use polls!

While flawed, Facebook still ranks number one by active users worldwide with 2.91 billion users. Whether Facebook, Snapchat, or TikTok, the key to continued success is a consistent presence online. Let your audience guide you and advertise on the platforms where they are active to see the best results.

Whether a small business or a company with over 1000 employees, every business needs a marketing plan to stay on track with business goals and budgets while maximizing opportunities. In the past, the key to success was revisiting marketing plans annually, but today, modern marketers recommend reassessing more frequently.

In the AMA New Orleans hosted webinar, Spring Clean Your Marketing, three panelists, Malcolm Schwarzenbach (Partner / Director of Brand Strategy at Trumpet), Tristan Babin (Field Communications Advisor at Phillips 66), and Christine Briede (Executive Director at The Jefferson Foundation), shared their tips on keeping marketing plans up to date in an everchanging world.

Stay Nimble.

Despite the varying industries in which our panelists work, they all agree that being nimble is your best asset. Nothing goes as planned, as COVID taught them, so their advice is to be adaptable and move forward. 

Spring Cleaning Marketing Checklist

The beginning of Q2 and Spring is the perfect time to do a marketing clean-up if you haven’t already. Here’s where to start:

1. Review data and consumer sentiment. Develop next steps and redefine objectives. 
2. Go through website content and social media profiles to ensure information is up to date. 
3. Scrub email lists, removing hard bounces and unsubscribes. 
4. Examine social media efforts and plan the marketing calendar for the next quarter. 
5. Perform photo cull. Organize usable images, and discard/archive images that are no longer relevant. 
6. Monitor your online reputation across platforms, looking for reoccurring themes. 
7. Review keywords and audience targeting, updating where necessary.
8. For security purposes, review platform access and update passwords. 

AMA New Orleans is excited to announce its first post-pandemic in-person event, Cheers for Beers, at The Howlin’ Wolf on Wednesday, October 27. Join us as we talk to three craft beer industry pros about the challenges from going from small time to building brand recognition. Our panel includes brewery reps from Port Orleans Brewing, Urban South, and Faubourg Brewing Co.

This event marks a major milestone for our chapter. This is our first in-person event since our Agency Leadership Lighting Panel in February 2020. We look forward to hosting more get-togethers and in-person events in the new year. Until then, we’ll toast to our triumphant return live programming at Cheers for Beers!

Back from our summer hiatus, AMA New Orleans is excited to kick off a new season of online programming with Festivals Forever: How CMO’s are Navigating Change on Wednesday, August 25.

We know and love New Orleans for its richness in culture, music, food, people, and its iconic marriage of the above – festivals. As marketers we have to be nimble, no one knows this better than the marketing leaders of NOLA festivals.

Moderated by Mark Romig of New Orleans & Company, this impressive panel includes:

• Matthew Goldman – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
• Becker Hall – Hogs for the Cause
• Amy Boyle Collins – Beignet Fest

Hear first-hand from our festival marketing leaders:

• How do they manage their brand during the uncertainty of a pandemic?
• Success strategies they employed to foster growth
• What they envision for the near future of the industry

Don’t get FOMO—register today to learn from the champions of our fun!

Wednesday, August 25th – 12:00pm-1:00pm

FREE for AMA members! $10.00 for non-members.
Pre-registration is required.

One of the numerous benefits of being an AMA member is its vast library of toolkits. FREE for all AMA members, marketer’s toolkits are interactive marketing tools, templates and dashboards to help you make smart business decisions.

Toolkit Spotlight: Content Marketing Playbook

The Content Marketing Playbook is built to give you a comprehensive strategy framework and easily editable tools to quickly bring your plan to life. No more searching for the right download or building spreadsheets from scratch. This all-in-one guide saves you time and helps you make smarter business decision.

See the entire library of marketer’s toolkits here: https://www.ama.org/toolkits/

This past summer, New Orleans-based research firm MDRG tracked weekly consumer behaviors and attitudes culminating in their study, Black Lives Matter: MindStates and Metaphors. In a webinar for the New Orleans Chapter of the American Marketing Association, Consumer POV: Social Justice and Your Brand, MDRG’s Senior Director of Marketing and Operations, Stephanie Douglass, broke down what this data means for brands, researchers and marketing agencies. 

After 10 weeks tracking consumer behaviors related to COVID-19, the firm pivoted to track feelings around Black Lives Matter. For the purposes of this study BLM references the movement rather than the specific organization. 

Brands are looking to see how to reckon with racial issues internally and with their public messaging. One question Stephanie came to was, “How do we respond as an organization? Will our response push the movement forward and what impact will it have on our brand?”

By surveying over 200,000 consumers on their feelings around protests for four weeks they found that 6/10 in were in support of the protests with 2/10 neutral, and 2/10 against. Trends fell along expected lines in regards to age, urban and rural divide, and party lines.

Their study used online metaphor elicitation exercises to revel a conscious and subconscious responses to get a more complete understanding of consumer’s emotions. Two metaphors they found commonly present were journey and transformation.

“Ultimately, the fight for equality in America is seen as a long journey” Stephanie explained, “A majority of Americans believe brands have a role in this fight by responding to the issue of police violence.” Studies have found 69% of Gen Z are more likely to buy from a company that contributes to social causes, and that some Americans would stop buying from a brand if they are perceived to have behaved hypocritically on the issues of racial injustice.

She stressed that it is crucial for brands to remain authentic, using their own voices to be believable and relevant. “Values your brand brings to the table in response to this changing dynamic should be ingrained in employees and internalized in the corporate culture,” she explained. 

How you’re treating your employees is a reflection of your brand just as much as your advertising. She noted a local example of the backlash faced by the Ace Hotel, when they posted a message in support of protests this summer. They were then called out publicly on the post by former employees for the hotel’s habits of using BIPOC identities to sell their brand while doing nothing to help when those employees were harassed by customers and management, and were kept from moving up. 

“Allyship without accountability is not enough,” she explained. She emphasized that while brands take actions such as hiring chief diversity officers, implementing programs to support value and mission, and change corporate culture it is crucial to look at the data to understand how black consumers experience your brand. 41% of black Americans feel that brands don’t understand them, and Stephanie feels it’s our duty to examine how our research and marketing policies are whitewashed.

“Most importantly, look at the data- identify key research studies to review with a lens toward diversity, and determine areas where black Americans are underserved by your brand and take action through specific initiatives to address these areas,” Stephanie said. 

To hear the full webinar withmore analysis of which brands are doing what well, how research companies can make their surveys more equitable, and a deeper dive into the data join our AMA NOLA Chapter and you’ll receive an email with all of our 2020/2021 webinar recordings. AMA NOLA has so many wonderful membership benefits, learn more. (If you’re already a member—YAY! You should have received the webinar recordings via email—if not—email president@amaneworleans.com.)

By Olivia Morgan, Fund Development Coordinator at Culture Aid Nola.

Kelli Saluny, the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Camelback Ventures says DEI is the best business case for the job market moving forward in terms of the talent pool you want to attract and the cost of high turnover within your company. “It isn’t just the moral imperative, there is money at stake if you don’t take this seriously,” she said. “We must be fully cognizant of not implementing race-neutral policies and practices to race-based problems.”

Hillary Davis, director of regional diversity and inclusion for Ochsner Health added, “Inclusivity is really about valuing the people that you have and showing that and integrating that into your policies and cultural observances.” Along with being a good corporate citizen in the communities where you are located, Hillary encourages companies evaluate their hiring practices, the inclusivity of their job listings and the diversity of the questions asked to ensure they are building an equitable workforce.

“Multicultural is mainstream now,” AnaMaria Bech of VIVA NOLA Magazine said. She cautioned that media entities should establish strong partnerships within their communities and support those they are trying to include to ensure they connect correctly and don’t the mark.

Moderator Spears explained that if there is not enough diversity in the room, and the inclusivity to make everyone feel safe speaking up at every level of the branding process, efforts will miss the mark. “There are hundreds of years of cultures that must be un-learned in society and our industry, it will take courage and intentionality from those in decision making seats to integrate diversity into our industry.”

To hear more from our panel analyzing campaigns that missed the mark, and other tactics for successful DEI branding, join our AMA NOLA Chapter and you’ll receive an email with all of our 2020/2021 webinar recordings. Learn more about the incredible membership benefits here. (If you’re already a member—YAY! You should have received the webinar recordings via email—if not—email president@amaneworleans.com.)

By Olivia Morgan, Fund Development Coordinator at Culture Aid Nola.

Social Media Influencer marketing is the newest wave of digital advertising. Recently the New Orleans Chapter of the American Marketing Association hosted a workshop with two well-known local influencers to break down when and how to begin an influencer campaign with your brand. 

“When it comes to paying an influencer, you’re not paying them for the one post, you are paying them to maintain a relationship with their audience so that way when they post a sponsored post with you, they are interested in it,” said family and fashion blogger Jennifer Palpallatoc Perrault @HauteOffTheRack. Jennifer began blogging in 2012 as it was becoming popular, to create an online portfolio to get a job in the fashion industry. This has since opened up enough paid promotional opportunities for her to pursue blogging full-time for the past two years.

Jennifer likens sponsored posts to advertisements on a show- the influencer is the show, and to make money from the commercials, you have to put on a good show. She shares lifestyle and styling tips and has a loyal following of over 240k on Instagram, and has collaborated with brands such as Popeyes, Dove, Nordstrom, and Nivea. She says the best time to begin incorporating influencers are for product launches, sales, and new brand awareness. 

New Orleans native Tracey Wiley @tracey_wiley, began her influencer journey three years ago and uses her platform of 11k Instagram followers to share dining, shopping, and beauty picks while advocating for public education and equality. Blogging is a creative outlet from her job in public education and a way for her to combat her anxieties.

She says when pitching to brands, she looks to what she already uses to keep partnerships authentic and literally “in-house.” She likes to first outline her deliverables to a brand, and then build a relationship through phone calls. Jennifer says another great way to reach out to influencers is by sending an email pitch including campaign details with a scope of work and timeline.

Both influencers insist creative control is important, and that using their own voice to stage photoshoots with props, photographers, clothing is key to creating a natural-looking sponsored post. Tracy explains it is key to not only deliver great content for a brand, but to also present metrics of engagement rates, likes, comments, shares and saves for each post following the campaign. 

There are two different ways to measure success on a collaboration, either return on investment or brand awareness. Jennifer stressed it’s important to be clear with influencers from the start on which goal you are hoping to reach with your posts. She suggested influencers are typically better for brand building than conversion, and that it’s best to begin a relationship with an influencer to build brand awareness, and once it has been integrated into their market, they can build the trust with their followers to launch more successful campaigns for sales or conversions.

To hear the full webinar join our AMA NOLA Chapter and you’ll receive an email with all of our 2020/2021 webinar recordings. AMA NOLA has so many wonderful membership benefits, learn more. (If you’re already a member—YAY! You should have received the webinar recordings via email—if not—email president@amaneworleans.com.)

By Olivia Morgan, Fund Development Coordinator at Culture Aid Nola.

During the week of November 16th, our board members will be taking over Instagram to answer all of your questions.

Are you a small business trying to launch a product? Have you been wondering what an influencer is and why your plan should include one? Or maybe you’re just starting out and need help creating your brand? No worries, we’ve got you covered! 10 marketing experts in multiple disciplines from across New Orleans will be available for you all week long – so please feel free to Ask Us Anything!

To join in on the conversation and get your questions answered make sure you are following @amaneworleans on Instagram. Also turn on post / story notifications to never miss a thing!

Monday, November 16
Josh Owen, Comfystonefilms – 10am-2pm
Allison Herrera, Uptown Girl Media– 2pm-6pm

Tuesday, November 17
Leigh Landeche, Wink Media – 10am-2pm
Michael Cook, Salty Key Marketing – 2pm-6pm

Wednesday, November 18
Priscilla Medina, Taste Buds Management – 10am-2pm
Will Monson, Ochsner Health – 2pm-6pm

Thursday, November 19
Branda Johnson, Branda Communications– 10am-2pm
Anna LeDonne, Gambel Communications – 2pm-6pm

Friday, November 20
Haley Pegg, New Orleans Chamber, – 10am-2pm
Robert Baer, Fidelity – 2pm-6pm

Tom has developed a method of five P’s: Proximity, Preparation, Presence, Patience, and Preference, to stand out when building virtual relationships. The greatest of these, he insists are preparation and proximity. He suggests conducting social reconnaissance to ensure you never talk to a stranger. Start with LinkedIn and Facebook to find out not only who you need to be talking to, but the catalysts for future conversations. This is also a great way to build proximity to those you hope to form a relationship with.

Tom sees relationship building not unlike a taco truck- we must find where our clients are and take ourselves to them. Once those needs have been met, we must move again to somewhere else and continue to always find the markets where people are already interested. This is how we build propinquity- they state of being close to someone not just physically, but emotionally as well.

We’ve come a long way from when buying attention to land a sale was common — taking a client to dinner, attending a ball game, or drinks. Now that we live in a virtual world, it is more important than ever to earn someone’s attention, because it is easier now to simply ignore an email, or a call. Tom says the key in building any relationship is to always be of value, not simply in a transactional relationship for one’s benefit.

You can learn more about Tom’s “5P’s of Successful Sales” in his latest book, The Invisible Sale. View the full webinar here to hear Tom’s answers to questions and examples of building strong digital relationships.

By Olivia Morgan, Fund Development Coordinator at Culture Aid Nola.