Audience-First Content Strategies w/ Dace de la Foret (Nationwide)

0:28People want to hear from... New York happening and it's mostly like November weather, more, you know, summertime, unfortunately, but it's New York City. What can you do about it? Right. So it is what it is. So Daze, why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself before we get started, you know, with today's episode and what we do, we use the map is this way where basically we understand a bit more about the guests, knowing about their mission. So basically, what do you aim to achieve with your work? Achievements, anything that you are very proud of and notable milestone, either career-wise or in your life or both, if you want, and the purpose.

1:02So why do you do what you do? I've been at Nationwide for a little more than 13 years and on this social media team for a little more than seven years. And our mission is actually quite simple. And that is to every day answer the question of why would someone want to follow or see any sort of social media content from their insurance company, from financial services providers? Yeah. We are, you know, we're competing with other brands and content creators that are doing some really, really cool things. And our content needs to stand up to that. And so we approach that by creating content that is not just engaging, but takes this incredibly complex industry, financial services, retirement, insurance, these really important complex things that people need and make it hopefully easier to understand or at least approachable or relatable.

1:53And we do that in a way so people not just want to consume it, but that they can save it or share it with their friends or their networks. That's really our mission. And I think the achievements or the milestones, I think, is a great segue because I mentioned I've been in this industry for a little more than a decade now. And I actually got my start in broadcaster journalism. Back in the early 2000s, I was working in Washington, D.C., doing broadcaster journalism. And early 2000s, starting in my career, which I then transitioned into more of a public relations and then eventually got into social media.

2:28But if you think about the achievements or the milestones around that timeframe, early 2000s, we were still coming into kind of the peak of that 24-hour news cycle, which was really changing the way that at least information was consumed by people. And then soon to follow was the start of all of these social media platforms, like the very beginning of, at least the ones that are still around today, the big major platform. So I've been lucky enough to be a part of a lot of firsts, a lot of first time companies joining these platforms and figuring out what it's like to be a brand on social media.

3:05Or the first time they started an ad campaign, which was relatively new at the time, that obviously that changed into more niche building of communities and groups or even live streams on social was very new. And I feel like even the broadcast journalism background, public relations, which is very much, again, just about storytelling. It's about visual storytelling. It's about making these complex issues easier to understand. And so I kind of think that no matter what, all of the achievements that I've had, or at least big milestones in my career, kind of go back to that, that idea of trying to get information in a relatable way, not just kind of regardless of whatever medium is available.

3:45That's kind of been the foundation of my career, which I really, really appreciate. And I think that that's also kind of the purpose too, right? I feel like I I love being creative. I love being part of creative teams. I think the idea of taking something that starts as nothing or just starts out as an idea and then, you know, turns into something tangible and then you put that out there in the world. And what I think is so cool about social media is that you can't hide from that. You get the real-time results, you get the real-time performance, and you know when something works and you know when something doesn't.

4:18and to be a part of that creative process, there's just something really inspiring in that. Fantastic. And I want to hear more about later, you know, about what happened in the last decade, right? You said 13 years with the company, seven with the social media. We all know what I say all the time that one minute in social media is seven years in any other industry, right? That's what I say all the time. It's like interstellar basically, right? What happens here, it's crazy for everything else. And so I'm very curious too to hear more about that. Before we go there, let's talk about something that is very interesting inside like no social media.

4:47And then something that became even more popular, especially thanks to TikTok. And then, you know, Instagram, Realty, YouTube Shorts. And that is music, right? So music-driven campaigns and branding especially, right? Many brands out there have a specific jingle, right? They have some sort of music, something. And actually, well, of course, you know, we all know, right? That the jingle, it's very important for you, right? There have been many iterations in different commercials. So tell me a bit more, like, why it is important to, you know, like, find your, you know, music branding. how do you come out with that and and how do you keep it right during the years especially when there are so new trends happening on social media how do you keep it alive all the time yeah i think you're right i think it's very funny anyone who at least works for nationwide or or is anywhere near the company uh when you say you work for nationwide the immediate first reaction is you get that jingle sung played back to you right away so it i'd say a couple things i think the idea of that musical background is that audible connection to our brand.

5:47I know not every brand or every company has that, but it is a brand attribute. So whether it's music, a jingle, or if it's something else, whatever that natural tie to your brand is, or if you can create that natural tie to your brand, I think that's really the most important thing. I'm not telling everyone to go out there and write a jingle. Our jingle actually is decades old. It was in the sixties when a lot of companies were creating jingles. But the fact that it's still around and still associated with our brand, that's kind of the focus that we take for our social media, at least a part of our strategy.

6:25And you look at how social media platforms are now, especially with how popular TikTok has become, YouTube as well, but these are not just visual platforms. These are audio focused, sometimes even audio first platforms. And the example I keep giving is I mentioned that example of when people sing the jingle, we're a big company. We're on a lot of different platforms and kind of regardless of if it's TikTok or Instagram or even Twitter or Facebook, we see people just naturally want to sing that jingle. And I think that's what we're trying to tap into is not push that information at people. I guess we've been guilty, right?

7:08We do campaigns where we bring that jingle to life. But as much as we can encourage our audience to embrace that, they're naturally doing it. We see people post videos all the time of their little kid who for the first time is learning music and the first thing is the nationwide jingle or people who are learning to play instruments, a guitar. And among the first thing that they learned to play is the nationwide jingle. What we try to do is create that environment of not just, you know, tapping into the power of what the social platform can provide, which is essentially a forum to create. But what we're trying to do is find the right way to amplify that, right?

7:52It's really cool when a Fortune 100 company engages with that person, right? Sends them a message, replies, comments, and amplifies. right? We share it to our platforms. We create that sort of amplification, that part for them to really shine. That connection, really embracing that connection to our brand and then creating that environment of making people feel like they're part of the creative process. That's fun. That's part of the basics of social media, even before we get into campaigns and how we're trying to connect and create some brand awareness. And obviously even more than just brand awareness, But, you know, at the heart of things, what I keep saying is that, you know, platforms will change.

8:34We've seen platforms change. They will come and go. But what people have, you know, have tapped into is they want to have fun. They want to create. And they can probably do sometimes a better job than they can. So why not give them the tools to do that, embrace it, and then, you know, be there to participate, to encourage, and to have some fun. have some fun with everyone as they're playing. Absolutely. You know, we say all the time how important it is to be there on social media, listening, watching, right? Like, you know, without going back too much, you know, again, on the jingle, but, you know, with Zai Kamba, right?

9:09What happened there, you know, with the video, like, you know, and then years after, you know, happened that she basically, right, go back, you know, with your official channel and like, you know, for the challenge, right, to get all the other people there and everything. So it was very cool to see. And I also wanted to ask you, so because of the importance, right, of being there. And as you correctly said, many times the normal common user can make a video that's going to be viral that even maybe five senior marketing managers can maybe can figure out the strategy, but sometimes it's random, right?

9:41You need luck, you need to have a person understand what is happening in terms of trends and so on. So because of that, how much are important and how do you manage when it comes to both UGC, so user generated content, but also So in a company like, especially big like nationwide, also the EGC, right? So employee generated content, right? We see more and more that people want to see the behind the scene of a business. They want to see the brand value. They want to see the human connections, right? Before the brand itself. How do you, again, it's something that you, like, how do you manage all this?

10:12Because I imagine there is a lot of content out there. So tell me a bit more about that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'll start with the UGC, which not that there's necessarily a complete disconnect from the UGC part. With UGC, like I mentioned, part of this is just natural. It's occurring. It's just there are people out there who are singing that jingle and who are doing that regardless of if we're encouraging them to do so. And I think I mentioned this, this is the big part. It is about setting up the infrastructure to be able to do something when that happens. So, you know, we are a company, we have the benefit of having access to some tools that allow us to have a very large infrastructure for social listening.

10:55And a lot goes into that. It's not just the jingle, but it is when, and it's also not just when people tag us, which usually is when they're reaching out and they're trying to get our attention. This is about the conversations that they're having with their friends or we're on a creator's channel that they like, that they are spending time with. And so part of that is having the infrastructure and spending that time, not just thinking of social as a channel to push, but really seeing what is out there. Social listening is one of the biggest pillars of our overall strategy. And I think I mentioned this as well too, but not just listening, but then having the ability to do something.

11:37And we are a highly regulated company. So when something happens and it's not just the jingle, but when someone polishes something about us, we're regulated. There's a lot of implications that come along with that. And we've spent a lot of time creating guidelines or at least some guardrails, working with our PR team, working with our legal teams or compliance teams and setting some clear guidelines for our community managers and for the team that is tapping into that infrastructure of social listening so that they know when we can do something or when something might need a little extra eye of approval or just to make sure that we're taking the right steps before doing something or engaging as a brand.

12:22But having that clarity, that's something that's really hard to do on the fly. That's where delays can happen. That's where, you know, time is, time is one of the most important factors when it comes to social media and especially social listening. So we've, we've spent a lot of time on not just the ability to listen, not just the ability to see and find that UGC, which is extremely important, but also working with some, some key partners internally and sometimes externally, just to make sure that, that we've got the clear guidelines of, we can do this and here are the expectations and here's the goal.

12:57You mentioned employee generated content, which I think is so interesting. I'll be honest, we're relatively new in formalizing that. We have a new program where our employees are able to contribute and participate in social media, but it's not only new because they're employees and they've probably been doing this for years, just not at part of an official platform. And I think you're right. I think people want to see that behind the scenes. They want to get the real story, whether it's employee generated content or user generated content. I think one of the kind of key trends that we've already seen, but we're really trying to embrace.

13:36And I think it's only going to get faster and maybe more so in this area is, is just that whether it's, uh, you know, people want to hear from, they want to hear the real stories. They don't always just hear from the brands. They want to hear from the people that they trust. They want to hear from their neighbor, their friend. They want to say, if I'm doing business with Nationwide or if I'm considering their product or honestly any product or any company, they might listen to us, but they are first going to listen to that person that they trust. And so that UGC, that EGC, I think that's the future.

14:12I think we're going to see more and more smaller, for lack of a better word, influencer type people who are going to be sought after to deliver the real story of the real experience of what it's like to, you know, so to work with nationwide or to have a product with us. I think that's where the trend is going is we, again, I kind of go back to social listening. We need to know if that's coming from an employee. We need to know if that's coming from a user, but maybe even more importantly, we need to accept the reality that this is happening. people are going to be out there telling those stories.

14:45So let's, let's arm people with, you know, with tools and resources so that they can tell, you know, a full story, a complete story, something that is representative of the full story of what it's like to have an experience. So I think it's a big trend. I think it's only going to get more and more along that way. And we're, we are doing our best to not just stay up to speed, but to really start to look as far out as possible, not just weeks and months, but if possible, as many years as is reliable to try to get a sense of how those trends are going to impact the work. Hello! Is your brand ready to amplify its reach?

15:23Well, the Influencer Marketing Factory is here to do just that. We are a global influencer marketing agency helping brands ignite their growth from influencer identification to campaign strategy, handling legalities and agreements to managing shipping and logistics. we have it all covered. We work with hundreds of brands across different verticals from Fortune 500 companies to DTC brands. And we don't just stop there. With detailed ROI analysis, we help brands like yours measure success, transforming impressions into actionable conversions. You can find us at theinfluencermarketingfactory.com or just search Influencer Marketing Factory on Google.

15:59Yeah, I mean, I might be biased, but that's why influencer marketing works, right? That's because you look for someone that is your peer, especially when it comes to something, as you said, like regulated, difficult to understand sometimes, right? You want to have someone that's going to be on your side. It's going to give you the real, transparent review of something. And then if you learn that from either an employee that you trust or a friend and family, you go in that direction, right? And so because of this, we covered about the importance of content, right? But content without an audience watching and listening, it's nothing, right?

16:31You can create the best content out there, but if no one, like, not really listening, it's what's the actual value of that and in some episodes in the past we differentiate something that is you know the audience right so the audience is usually is like you know passive group of people that is interested in something but doesn't really engage while on the other hand you have something that is getting even more popular that is community right a community is this active group of people that might be a bit smaller sometimes it depends by the type of community right that could be niche could be macro but they are active they talk to each other they want to meet and so on.

17:03And more and more communities are intersection, right? Different people together. And so in your case, for instance, you also created a partnership, right? With different communities. One of that is like NFL, for instance, right? So why don't we talk about, you know, how do you get two worlds that are so different, right? Together in terms of, again, social media, NFL talents, influencers, content creators, how do you even manage something big like that? I think it's a great question. The partnership with the NFL is, I think, a very good example of just that, of a partnership, of not sponsorship, but really trying to tap into this fan base.

17:38So if I think about the communities that we've not just built on social media, but these fan bases, think about the natural ways that someone might connect with a company like ours. So there's obviously that musical connection because of the nationwide jingle. You've seen some of our partnerships and sponsorships with these musical artists, their natural tie-in. There is a fan base associated with that artist. NFL, that is something that it really started with a focus on community. So our sponsorship of the NFL is focused on the Walter Pate Man of the Year Award, right? The focus of that is about these players that every year are awarded a recognition for the work that they're doing in their community.

18:22This is their off the field contributions to me. That really speaks to something that we care about. So it's not just a partnership or a relationship where we get some advantage of just saying nationwide or trying to get in front of this audience. What we're trying to do is we see this as an invitation, right? We've got this shoot with the NFL. We've got that Walter Pigman of the Year award, which is a huge opportunity to really connect with that fan base. And the way that I usually describe it is this. People don't want to, not that they don't want to hear from us, but they much rather hear from their hero, right?

19:02The football player, the team, the person that they watch, you know, every Sunday. And we can provide a behind the scenes, an exclusive access, some interesting way. And if you can hear from Andrew Whitworth or this last year's winner, Cam Hayward, talk about what's inspiring to them, how they plan, how they think about production, how they plan, which isn't the only messages that they're talking about. But if we can provide them some access, provide their fan base, their audience with some access to some really cool stories, that's going to create a connection. That's going to create a reason for people to come back to us, to perk up when they see some content from us.

19:47and it really isn't about pushing a message through those channels. It really is about what are those mutual connections? What are those really cool things that through this partnership we have access to? And what are some new and different ways that we can bring some of those stories to life? What are some ways that you can see those players and those teams in maybe a way that you didn't think of them before? You see them all suited up and playing that game, but have you ever seen them doing a community event with the Boys and Girls Club where they're able to connect with kids and we can be there and show what that looks like?

20:23And it's very intimate. It's a very cool experience. So that's really what we're trying to do. We're trying to, whether it's music or football fans, and we have other partnerships as well with the National Women's Soccer League, those fan bases are community. We don't want to be the company that steps in It tries to get a room. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we want to speak their language. We want to, you know, we want to give them more of what they're looking for. And I think the more that we can deliver on that, the more trust we're building. And that way, when they do think of nationwide or they do think of maybe a key milestone in their life where they might be in need of insurance or financial services, it's a familiar face and it's not done in an invasive or inappropriate or, or doesn't come across as an outsider.

21:08We want to truly be part of that community. And I think we spent a lot of time, a lot of work specifically on social doing just that. You know, we've got to speak their language. We've got to know what those topics are. We've got to know we can't be the funny meme of like the hello fellow kids. Like we can't help. There's an authenticity that could get sniffed out really quickly. And we've got to be authentic. So that's really what we strive for with all of those partnerships. Especially because these days, you know, consumers on social media, they are not damp, right? They see when it's authentic and when it's not.

21:40And they like when it's not invasive, right? So again, as you correctly said, when you're part of it, you're not just like an outsider getting in one day. Here you go, this advertisement, this some money. And you go away. You want to be part of the community. You want to, again, be, as you said, I like when you said the familiar face, right? That is going to give me your name right there during the conversations. And so to go back at the beginning of our conversation, right? When you said I've been in this for like a decade. Is there any other piece of advice that you would give to leaders that want to develop basic and efficient, but at the same time also effective content strategy?

22:17Again, there is so much going on. There is so many trends happening, so many things to understand. It's difficult sometimes to keep up with things. What is your method behind that? You touched on the first part. The advice that I would give to anyone in social media or honestly, probably in marketing is start with the audience first. I think, fortunately, we see too many times when marketing messages or campaigns don't do so well. It's because it started with the me first. It started with the company, the product, or the message first. And that's important. That's important for product development.

22:53That is important for other parts of marketing. But when you really, when it comes down to going to market in an authentic way, There is just something about social media. I think this is to your point. It can be sniffed out and you're going to come across as an outsider unless you spent the time in really understanding who is that audience? Where are they? Where do they spend their time? I think we are hopefully coming out of eras where we see brands create content and then put that same piece of content on every single channel because it's a distribution platform more than what it should be seen as, which is an opportunity to be invited to a community of people who are already participating in conversations.

23:36And let's become a part of that. And you have to do that in a way that starts audience first. We've done some work. We really looked at what the differences are between the people who follow us on Instagram or who consume our content on Instagram versus TikTok, even though, yeah, I could create a video and put it on both platforms. But the person who's doing that is not the same person on both of those. So I think the more time that anyone in social media, or at least in marketing, can spend taking those first steps of really understanding that that's at least the first key to success. The other part that you mentioned about trends, I agree.

24:14I think maybe no more so than in social media do we spend so much time thinking about or maybe being driven by the trends of what's happening right now. And I think that can be dangerous as well, right? We've seen some brands try to follow and try to jump in on a trend and it just doesn't work. Some of that is because of the first part, because the audience isn't there or isn't receptive to that message. But I think it's always a really good exercise to not just look at, and again, I kind of go back to the platform. So if you look at even a relatively new-ish platform, at least for us like TikTok, that is a new platform.

24:51But the underlying value that that platform provides isn't really all that new. It's a creator platform. It is an opportunity to give people who are very creative tools to do something funny or do something really creative. And I think if you look at not just the trend, but what is the underlying truth of any platform, right? These platforms, a lot of them have been around for a while. Some of them may not be around in six months or a year, certainly not five years. But what is that underlying theme? And if the theme is these platforms are uniquely trying to create an opportunity for different communities or different types of audiences to create something.

25:34and entertain each other and brands and companies are essentially being invited into those conversations. What are those common themes? Don't chase a trend as much as you can really identify really the core of what that platform is supposed to deliver and what that audience wants on that platform. So it might be a long-winded answer, but I think those two things, I really think audience first and getting to the core of what these platforms are really supposed to be or place drive me, I think that's going to be where I would give anyone advice. I would say at least start there. Nice. That's fantastic advice, especially a lot when you say about all these trends.