Welcome New Members - April 7, 2025

Hello!

Introduce Yourself: My name is Jessica. Our company is a 4th generation retail appliance biz. I love to tell stories, create art, and connect people, so being a content creator for a family business has been awesome. I also manage all of our local sponsorships for 29 stores in 4 states. (Grand Appliance)

Favorite Platform: I gravitate toward Instagram since I am personally into reels (especially with humor). 

Campaign Highlight: We are working on a campaign right now to highlight a non-profit in Green Bay, WI ahead of the NFL draft that is taking place in a few weeks. I love that we are trying to capture some of the spotlight that will be cast onto the city, and hopefully direct some of it toward a great cause (raising money for a veteran’s non-profit). 

Expert Advice: I feel it’s important to have a personality, and to answer the question in every consumer’s mind, “What’s in it for me?” Give them a reason to follow your brand.

Future Trends: I am so new to this role, I am not sure about the answer to this! (“what is the next big thing in social media?”). Hoping this community can help me!

Learning Objectives: I hope to learn trends, but above all else, I hope to learn and create a strategy that makes sense for our business. I want to tell our story, but I need the story to be seen by the right demographics. 

Heyyy all! I’m Jess, owner of JB&Co, a Fractional CMO agency that helps mid-sized businesses grow through content partnerships & strategies, creative campaigns, and community-centered storytelling. I’ve always been the creative in my group of friends, and grew up in a family of entrepreneurs...so running my own business was always a dream. I have used my education & experience to launch my agency a few years ago after spending nearly a decade in traditional media (TV/Radio etc) and trying to figure out “what I wanted to be when I grew up”...and I keep coming back to just being that marketing expert who can help businesses make easier, smarter decisions with their marketing plans & budgets.

Favorite Platform:
Instagram is my go-to, but I also love Tik Tok. I love how IG gives room for storytelling in so many formats, and how you can develop quite a persona on Tik Tok (hello booktok, brandtok, momtok haha!). 
 

Campaign Highlight:
One standout campaign I’ve worked on was for CMHA Edmonton, blending lived experience with impact storytelling to promote mental health resources. It was a mix of emotional resonance and clear calls-to-action for our communities and it made a real difference to those who participated. 

Another one I’m so proud of is the brand launch for HER: The Motherhood Shift — a business built to change the way we prioritize moms throughout prenatal and postpartum experiences through in home mental and physical health checks. Our client Krissy is building an empowering, authentic digital presence from the ground up, focusing on storytelling, relatability, and real community-building as we get ready to launch in the coming months.
 

Expert Advice:
Before you decide your business needs social media...ask a second opinion from an expert. Know your audience, ask for help, and make your content feel like a conversation, not a sales pitch. (oh and always batch and repurpose content wherever possible) 
 

Future Trends:
AI-powered content strategy and UGC (User-Generated Content) are both on the rise as most of us know of course. We’re leaning into both at JB&Co with some strict boundaries for both — creating systems for easier scheduling (thank you sprout!!) and helping clients build trust through relatable, human-first generated content.
 

Learning Objectives:
I’m here to connect with other smart creatives, share what I’ve learned, and keep evolving — especially when it comes to video content, short-form storytelling, and growing communities that actually engage...all driven with data backed decision making. 

Hello! I am Laurel Feakes and I am a Digital Content Strategist for a chiropractic malpractice insurance company. I have been in the insurance industry for about a year and a half, but prior to that I worked in higher education marketing and comms., magazine publishing, and broadcast news. I am a proud graduate of Iowa State University and later on getting my M.A. from the University of Denver. 

I think being a millennial, I have always been drawn to social media. But I love finding out what content resonates with our audience and why they might want to engage with certain things. 

Favorite Platform: I have always loved Instagram and being able to share snapshots of my life. With that being said, I do love TikTok from just personal use and being able to find content creators that are educational/tutorial on how to do things. 

Campaign Highlight: This year I created a small Black History Month campaign that highlighted black individuals who were important to uplifting the chiropractic profession into what it is today. It did perform well, but what was most rewarding about it was a comment that was left by a policyholder highlighting how proud she was to be a policyholder because our company was promoting DEI efforts and the hard work that these DCs put in to make chiropractic care a more inclusive place. 

Expert Advice: Understand your audience and don’t take it so seriously every step of the way. Social media is a powerful tool and I believe you should be able to have fun with it. Of course, brand standards and voice exist for a reason, but find ways to have fun within those guidelines. Moving from higher education to malpractice insurance was a hard switch, but I have still found a way to make the content engaging and exciting for not only our audience but for me to create. 

Future Trends: Of course, there is AI in whatever form that may look. From generated captions to assets, AI will have a place in social, but I do think it needs to be used sparingly and most importantly, ethically. 

Learning Objectives: I am excited to hear more from others in the group about wins and losses that they are going through. 

Introduce Yourself
Hi! I’m Anneli Rispens, founder of Social Frontiers.
I help corporate social media pros grow from content executors to strategic leaders.
I’ve spent nearly 20 years in digital—working with brands like Heineken, Nestlé, McDonald’s, and Philips.
What got me hooked? The power of real connection at scale. Social can drive culture, business—and if done right—change.

Favorite Platform
LinkedIn.
Why? Because it’s no longer just about humblebrags and job updates.
It’s become the platform for thought leadership, real conversations, and finding your people.

Campaign Highlight
One that still gives me goosebumps: McDonald’s MyBurger.
We turned burgers into user-generated products before UGC was cool.
The campaign let fans build their dream burger, and the winners got sold nationwide.
Community-led. Data-backed. Commercially brilliant.

Expert Advice
Don't post. Start a conversation.
Stop shouting. Start showing.
People don’t want polished perfection—they want relevance, rhythm, and a reason to care.

Future Trends
Community is the new content.
Algorithms are rewarding creators who build tribes, not just posts.
I’m doubling down on relationship-driven growth—via programs, newsletters, and spaces like this.

Learning Objectives
I’m here to spar, share, and stretch. Open to mentor folks too. 
Looking to learn from fellow pros, stay sharp, and help others rise as leaders.
Let’s build the future of social—together.

👋 linkedin.com/in/annelirispens

Introduce Yourself: Hi! I’m Kelsey from Austin, TX. 🤠  I have worked in tech marketing for a decade and run a community for women in startups called Lady Bird Talent. Currently, I am supporting some tech orgs with their organic social strategy as I ease back in from parental leave. 

Favorite Platform: For work, I’m LinkedIn primarily. Personally, I’m Reddit & Pinterest for more hours than I want to admit.

Campaign Highlight: My favorite campaign I’ve run to date is Hire Women Week– a week long hybrid event supporting women+ in their job search and helping hiring teams build practices that are more inclusive for folks of all genders to get fair interviews. The event crossed the digital and IRL experience with folks engaging on social, in chat rooms, in virtual and in person meetings, virtual events and in person parties. It felt like a true reflection of how blended our human:human connection is theses days. 

Expert Advice: Write like you talk, quite forcing it! 

Future Trends: Bringing personal experiences to the forefront. I have some apprehensions about content becoming homogenized as we all optimize with AI. I want to hear answers like your favorite campaign from your own experience, not a google search! 

Learning Objectives: I want to sharpen my skills listening and responding to industry trends and be more engaging with our community on social. I feel ready to move out of broadcast mode and more into connect and conversation mode!

Introduce Yourself: Jason Meserve, Director of Social & Content at Commvault. My real foray into social started in 2008 when I joined Twitter during the Red Sox playoff run and discovered a new way to connect with fellow fans.

Favorite Platform: Instagram right now for its story-telling abilities.

Campaign Highlight: Admired: The Solo Stove smokeless campaign with Snoop Dogg. Nailed it.

Expert Advice: Be yourself and have conversations you would in the offline world (aka real world).

Future Trends: AI everything. Just got back from Social Media Marketing World and was blown away by the ways we can use AI to be more productive and accomplish tasks quicker.

Learning Objectives: Learn how to use the Sprout platform to its full advantages and stay abreast of the latest best practices for the ever-changing world of social algorithms and tastes.