12 Questions with Steevan Glover

Social media and the campaigns that drive brand success, are nothing without the people who make things happen!

Each week we profile one innovative industry executive and get them to answer 12 questions. Then, we share their insight with you!

Also Read: 12 Questions with Alison Battisby

Today I would like you all to welcome Mr. Steevan Glover, who is currently the Founder and Director of BREW’D Marketing and has over 22 years experience in the field of integrated marketing.

Hello Steevan!

Hello! As Linleigh said, I am currently Director and founder of BREW’D Marketing – marketing made simple. However, at university I never studied marketing. I studied Drama and Film at the University of Winchester back in 1991.

Despite my initial qualifications I went on to be the director of Octopus Group and Blueprint Partners; both through the line marketing agencies. I  have also been head of digital at AYM, a marcoms agency, sales & marketing director for Verve and Vision Critical; both in the insight business.

As for now, in addition to what I do at BREW’D, I’m a consultant, NED and strategic marketer who works with corporate clients and agencies, focused on the intelligent implementation of inbound, content and the automation of marketing.

With that said, I am also a fierce advocate of the principle that marketing should be made simple, and aim to reclaim the concept of ‘marketing’ back from its endless re-branding by purveyors of software and cloud solutions which, can never, and will never, solve the issue of poorly conceived, created, and delivered marketing campaigns.

About Social Media In General

1. Which is your favorite social media platform?

From a work perspective, I love LinkedIn. I was a really early adopter, and have been an advocate ever since. It still makes me smile how many predicted its demise because it ignored the ‘freemium model’. People tend to shout on it rather than focus on educating, engaging and entertaining… and they also forget to think about CTAs.

As for my favourite for personal use, I adore Pinterest! I use it to mold my sense of style and curate that which interests me. It is a personal platform which I rather ironically, rarely use socially!

2. Which social platform is used most by your brand/agency?

LinkedIn is our favourite. We also use it predominantly for B2B clients, and for targeted audience content. In our client work, YouTube is becoming more significant, as is Facebook, and increasingly so, Instagram. We are currently developing a plan for how BREW’D uses YouTube.

3. In your opinion, what is the future of social media, and which platforms do you think will lead the way?

Social mutates very quickly – largely in reaction to, or driving technical and platform advancements. At the moment, the power of the image – be it video or snapshots – are big interaction-drivers. The rise of the Vlogger, and especially the crossover to traditional media by some super vloggers is interesting. That will continue, and so talent and good content always rises to the top.

The generation that embraced YouTube and subsequent developments like Periscope will mature in their tastes, and so the content will need to adapt – while retaining that personal connection and empathy. The next generation of social users will seek an alternative to that which has gone before. The merging of live video streaming and real-world gaming could be huge!

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About Great Social Media Campaigns

4. Please tell us about the one social media campaign you liked the most this year.

I loved what John Lewis did with their Christmas ad in 2015. Yes it was traditional advertising at its heart, but their use of social integrated with PR, advertising, social, guerrilla marketing, and experiential is a master-class in integrated marketing. The quality of the content at the centre, and its cross-audience appeal is staggering. People all too often judge social within certain app/platform confines, and that is just plain wrong – it is an essential part of the whole.

5. What about the latest campaign your brand or agency was involved in?

We rarely do “social campaign” alone – in fact I’d probably refuse to do one. We only include it as part of an integrated approach. A business solutions b2b client, whose name I cannot disclose, needed to reach a highly select group of C suite executives. So, we combined personalised print (high-end production and insightful copy) with highly localised sponsored posts on LinkedIn – VIP LinkedIn groups  – A live streamed event with accompanying ‘free’ community content and awareness/consideration content for the wider.

6. What is the most important thing brands and agencies must keep in mind, in order to build a successful social media campaign?

The audience. Marketers are still guilty of putting the message first, and then adapting it to the audience. Marketers need to look at the audience, personas, segmentation etc. and work backwards to ensure they don’t leave any engagement or content cul-de-sacs in their UX. Also, too many campaigns have vanity metrics, and aren’t actually tied to a valuable revenue stream.  That said, it depends on the objectives of a campaign… For me though, they should all contribute to a wider revenue strategy.

7. In your opinion, which is the most important KPI to watch during a social media campaign?

It must always be dashboard of measurements that are aligned to key objectives. Trite answer, I know… but it’s true. One measurement is largely meaningless. You can brand that dashboard as “engagement”… which is the measure of the success of the UX journey – for all the awareness and penetration how many meaningful, measured engagements were created? Defining that is a dark art… which I am not willing to give away here!

About the Future Of Social Media Marketing

8. What will be the role of social media in the marketing mix of the future?

As much as it does today I guess, but the quality of the shared content needs to improve, as it will form an ever more crucial part of the awareness and consideration part of the funnel. Effective social community management, the right content, and the right time to contact the right people, will become a more high-value skill. Automation will always need people to define the metric.

9. What would you say is the biggest obstacle within the field of social media marketing?

The lack of skills of clients, who thus remain inherently risk adverse. Clients don’t create a marketing strategy that is truly integrated, and using too many agencies often hinders integration. I would suggest they invest in more knowledge in-house, to take more control and more risks.

10. If you had to give one piece of advice to someone who has just started out in the industry, what would it be?

Social is only part of the marketing process. More important than others in some industries, and for some audiences, but big campaigns need a media mix. Learn about them all, and you’ll produce better campaigns.

11. In your opinion, which is the “ad format of the future”?

Advertising is in constant flux. It will not die or disappear, but it WILL radically change. With content as the driver across social channels, the interruptive ad, as we know it now, will simply HAVE to disappear. As the need to be personal and placed in real-time links with RFI, beacons and geo-location connect NEEDS/WANTS with opportunity. You serve the VALUE directly to a specific user.

Product placement will grow within video content… Yes It happens extensively already. Remember that a freemium model requires ad revenue, so let’s watch this space carefully.

Fun Fact

12. Finally, tell us one thing someone would NOT be able to find about you from looking at your social media profiles.

I recently played the Dame in the village pantomime, Snow White and the 7 Dwarves. The original performer fell ill two weeks before and I stepped in. I hadn’t been on stage in over 20 years!

Excellent interview Steevan! Thank you so much for taking part!

 

Stay tuned for our weekly interviews!

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