Anita Shaw is the VP Online Advertising, Search and Social Media at MUFG in the Americas (formerly Union Bank).
Before joining the bank Anita was at iCrossing. She has over 15 years of online marketing and account management experience as an agency account director and client side for financial services, online publishers including ThirdAge.com, MyFamily.com and Ancestry.com and, retailer, LeapFrog Enterprises.
How did you get to where you are now?
Tenacity! I transferred my TV/video producing skills to digital when "digital" was just getting started. I saw the online channel as a direct-to-consumer distribution channel and I had to be a part of it. My first digital role was Client Services Director for a publisher website, ThirdAge.com.
I'm so grateful that some very successful women at then start up gave me a chance and believed I could make the switch after a lot of convincing, I might add. After that, I made my way to the digital agency side and learned the intricacies of search and social media.
I applied all of this to a client-side role doing much of the same type of work but the perspective is quite different.
What drives you as marketer?
I really enjoy helping people find what they need and solving problems. I can probably out-Google most people to find answers to just about anything. But, that doesn't really solve the problem.
The fun part is connecting a marketing message to the problem and creating a connection that really resonates with someone. Hopefully, it pays off with sales, a more loyal customer or, brand recognition. All of these moving parts are fascinating when you think of them as data points that, stitched together, make digital marketing really accountable.
And, I like accountability -- for testing, learning, imagining new solutions, products.
What do you think is the state-of-the-art in Customer Experience?
Ha! Great question. I recently attended RampUp 2016 (LiveRamp Summit) and this question was posed to a panel of CMO's. They all seemed to agree that the number one user experience is Amazon. This is the competition. If you think about how Amazon has lifted our shopping expectations for a range of products and, free, fast delivery, their delivery has become the benchmark. Now, think about how you feel when you have to pay for shipping or, it’s free but you won’t get your package for 5-7 business days.
What do you see as the biggest challenges in measuring ROI for social media marketing?
Probably determining the reach or potential reach of Twitter. That and seeing conversations from Facebook in our listening/monitoring tools. I was just talking about this with my agency, (quick plug to Cibo (cibosf.com). We can’t really see any conversation mentions about our brand if when user privacy settings are on. So, when looking at percentage of conversations by type like news, blogs, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, results are pretty much zero for Facebook. And, this is our largest audience. Wearing my consumer hat, it's not great for evaluating performance but I'll opt for privacy.
As a marketer, how do you feel about the increasing number of marketing technology companies and what is your criteria when choosing or trying new tools?
There are so many options to choose from and the overlap is challenging to sort through. As with any new corner of the market, consolidation is likely so I think it’s good to probe about a company’s long term vision, M&A strategy, investors, client list and then weigh your options carefully. No one wants to recreate a lot of work in a couple of years with a new vendor. Selection really depends on where you feel your business’s needs are and then, convincing a varied audience that marketing’s needs are their needs too. The list gets shorter right there.
How much dependency is there about Twitter data for consumer insights and listening and what would happen if Twitter disappears tomorrow?
It’s a piece of a bigger set of data. We use Crimson Hexagon and the amount of conversation data isn’t terribly dependent on Twitter for insights. I wouldn’t want to see Twitter go away because it serves the needs of a lot of people. But, it's a noisy channel.
Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately and why?
I like Whole Foods Market, @wholefoods – such visually attractive content with unlimited story ideas and great products/services. They have a brand and community based strategy and I feel they have worked well with social media platform, Spreadfast, to meet evolving social needs across a lot of metrics and roles. I also appreciate how LinkedIn has created a publishing platform for B2B marketers. They have evolved a their strategy with a" brands’ first" mindset that has completely shifted the way I think about our content strategy.