Glossier Social Media Strategy: Advice from Former Social Media Editor

At Dash Hudson, we often receive questions from our community of social media marketers about the ins and outs of building an effective social media team, crafting an impactful content marketing strategy, and how to get internal support on organic social initiatives. Who better to address these topics than an expert who lives and breathes social media, and helped to build the organic social presence of one of the top beauty brands of the Instagram era?

Enter: Eva Alt, the former Social Media Editor at Glossier, turned Content Consultant. We recently tapped Eva to answer these, and many more questions, on an exclusive customer webinar. Missed the conversation? Read the recap of the insights shared by Eva herself below.

Meet the Social Media Marketing Expert: Eva Alt

Hi there! If we haven’t met, I’m Eva Alt. I’m a Content Consultant based in New York City, formerly the Social Media Editor of Glossier — where I led organic social media marketing for six years. I’m a longtime partner and friend of Dash Hudson, which is why I was excited when they asked me to speak with the Dash Hudson community, and pen something on the blog!

Below are some of my guiding principles when it comes to leading social. These principles are fueled by my own personal experience. I know a lot of similar questions and concerns come up for social media managers and those working in the social sphere at a company. As someone who has been working in social media for the past seven years, I see you, hear you, and for the most part… I’ve been there!

Advice on How to Team a Structure:

I find this to be unique at every organization, and it depends on existing structures, goals, business priorities, and resources. In my experience leading social, I’ve been a part of many different teams. I’ve been a part of a brand team, a communications team, a marketing team, a creative team, and even reporting directly to the CEO. The benefit of these experiences and having been very agile and ready to adapt, is that I’ve seen social through the lens of these various facets of the business. So, know that finding the right team structure might also mean switching it up when necessary.

I like lean, creative teams that are extremely resourceful — and I believe in letting people do what they are great at. For example, if you have a really creative social team, bring them closer to the creative org, and support them in other areas — i.e on insights and strategy. This will force social media to be more integrated into the wider org, rather than siloed, which can be a commonly occurring issue. And like anything, social will continue to become a more specialized field. We should be moving towards a realization that managing, creating content for, and measuring social — CAN be different jobs.

Advice on How To Build a Content Strategy:

I used to find the idea of building a content strategy intimidating, and a brilliant former colleague at Glossier, Emily Ferber, helped me gain a better understanding of what it is, and why it is so important. Simply put, it’s a plan. It’s saying ok, what are the goals of the business and the brand? And which of the goals can be achieved through content? What’s the content? And on what channels does it go? I think removing jargon and trying to communicate things simply and clearly, is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your team. The point is for people to understand!

Advice On Data Analytics and Reporting:

I think it’s a good idea to get in the practice of talking about performance all the time. Try having a dedicated time as a team to look back and discuss, even pulling up Dash Hudson and/or the software’s auto-generated reports for 10 minutes at the end of a weekly touch base. When discussing performance, encourage everyone to find the outlier. Meaning: don’t just talk about what happened, but what’s the insight? Did something perform unexpectedly well? Why do you think that is? You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re coming from. Better yet, share concise recaps on a monthly basis with the wider organiztion.

Advice on Getting Buy-in From Executive Leadership

This is where a content strategy is helpful. If you lay everything out on the table alongside how you’re measuring it, then when X leader says “Why are you doing this? What’s this post?” You can point to your data and your goals to help them understand.

Additionally for new initiatives, I find it helpful to ask myself “What’s the comment?” Or rather, what would someone say about this concept, or piece of content, etc. What holes can you poke in it? Go through the exercise of answering all of these questions, so that you are totally prepared for any response. Support your idea with hard data whenever you can. A proof of concept and a lot of thoughtfulness can go a long way.