Hosted by:

Katya Allison

Director of Marketing
Content at GRIN

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About GRIN Gets Real

Welcome to the GRIN gets real podcast, the show for people who want to maximize their marketing potential. From influencer marketing to eCommerce strategy and everything in between, each episode will feature industry experts that share their insights and provide actionable tips to help you achieve your marketing goals. Subscribe and stay tuned!

Then & Now: The evolution of sharing customer experiences

In this episode:

Aliza Freud

Founder & CEO SheSpeaks

Aliza Freud is an influencer marketing pioneer. She spent the early part of her career with American Express learning the ins and outs of marketing before founding SheSpeaks Inc. – the largest, most diverse community of female consumers and influencers in the U.S.

Full episode details

Passionate creators are your most powerful voices

“At the end of the day it goes back to that old adage – the customer is always right. Even if the customer is wrong, the customer is right, and that has existed for many years. But because of social media, the customer has a way bigger voice and a much bigger megaphone than they did before.” When people find something they are passionate about, they want to share it with the world. These conversations used to only occur within a customer’s inner circle, but today’s digital landscape puts a megaphone into the hands of every person with a social media account. This expanded platform has its drawbacks, but the edge for marketers who understand how to leverage these voices has never been sharper. Aliza Freud implemented influencer marketing into her branding strategy long before the practice became what it is today. With more voices discussing brand products and services than ever before, creator opinions are critical to leverage for spreading the good word about your brand.

Breakdown of the GRIN Gets Real podcast: Season 2, Episode 3

“If you have people who genuinely care about your brand, (your brand advocates and brand ambassadors) you are way better off having them engage in a conversation or share their own experience. Even if they’re not responding directly to a troll, they can just push out their own positive perspective about your brand.” Social media creators are the perfect champions to promote your brand. Whether it’s influencing brand sentiment online or spreading love for your product or service, influencer marketing is the most effective way to get your message to the masses and drive more sales than ever before. In this episode, you will learn:

How the customer experience was leveraged before social media
Challenges marketers face now that didn’t exist before the digital age
How influencer marketing can affect your overall strategy
What effect social media has on marketing today
Advice for handling social media trolls

“I realize that now, instead of calling in to American Express to tell us what they thought, they could just do it online. But now everyone can see it. It’s not just us. And that was a huge shift. Instead of calling us and telling maybe 10 of their friends, the customer experience became something that you could tell thousands upon thousands of people at any given moment.”

Quotes from This Episode

“(We knew we didn’t have to mobilize) every American Express card holder, because American Express has many, many millions of customers. But even if you got a relatively small percentage of those people that you could mobilize and give them an easy way to share positive experiences, that could be hugely powerful. That was the start of us thinking about ambassadors, and how we get our card members (when they are happy with us and they’ve had a good experience) to be able to share that. “ “Now everyone has a megaphone. And you don’t even have to be somebody who has an enormous following. You could share something on social media that other people decide to pick up on, and then lots of people see it. Even if you just have something like 100 followers, somebody else can pick that up if you use the right hashtag or the right @. So something can go pretty viral even from somebody who doesn’t have a huge following.” “I think what has also evolved for marketers is that the people working on these products and services have all almost had to become crisis managers. You have to understand what to do and what to say. You have to consider the fact that consumers now have these opportunities to say whatever they feel on social media, and that other people will hear it – it’s out there in the public domain.” “When it comes to media buying, I try to find where the attention is. Where am I going to find the people who are relevant for me to put my message in front of? It’s more complicated (now) because I (have so many) choices. But it’s also a lot more effective.”