Florencia Prada is the Technology and Social Media Manager at San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
How did you get to where you are now?
It took several zigzags and two transatlantic moves for me to finally land here at the San Francisco Public Utilities (SFPUC). In retrospect, each detour makes sense and allowed me to get the experience to be successful at my present job but at times I thought I had wasted my time.
Although we all know that you can learn from every experience no matter how unpleasant it might have seemed What drives you as marketer? Customer satisfaction and effective & reliable service delivery drives my work. And when you work for the city, this is important because you are delivering an important service to millions of residents.
What do you think is the state-of-the-art in Customer Experience?
A rewarding, educational, and satisfying experience that gives the customer a feeling of trust, satisfaction, and understanding. There’s the part about finding what you want, when you want, at a price that you find acceptable.
And then there’s the satisfaction of having accomplished something in reasonable and enjoyable way where I have learned something about a product, myself, or anything that can make my life a little better.
What do you see as the biggest challenges in measuring ROI for social media marketing?
The fact that many of us don’t measure our own time and effort and quantify it to a per contact level makes it merely impossible. But most importantly, there’s a general lack of awareness about the power of social media marketing over traditional means. Social media is treated as the chocolate flakes on the ice cream, when it can actually be the ice-cream.
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?
The vendor that does its homework and takes the time to understand my needs and prepare a customized approach get my business. Most vendors don’t bother to do that and fly by the seat of their pants. I have been in situations where I’ve know the solution better than the salesperson because I take the time to read about trends, announcements, etc.
How much dependency is there about Twitter data for consumer insights and listening and what would happen if Twitter disappears tomorrow?
If Twitter were to disappear tomorrow, we would adapt but we would have lost a fantastic way to engage with our audience on a real-time basis.
Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately and why?
Watching brands take over Instagram and create original content for specific niches is something that has really captivated me lately. Companies like Ipsy and Fabletics come to mind. Ipsy (https://www.ipsy.com/) based here in San Francisco, offers users the chance to sample beauty products for a monthly fee.
When you take closer look you realize that they act as a marketing platform & distribution for cosmetics companies as their products are not theirs. The related content shared on Instagram for example is just perfect to target young females. Fabletics, along with a little celebrity endorsement, is one of the many players in the “athleisure” wear, which has been hitting the fashion industry by storm. Their model is different however, as apparel is actually theirs or sold with their label.
They also create a lot of really good content related to fitness, health, and beauty and of course leverage their celebrity association (Kate Hudson) as much as possible. What they do is nothing new. Creating relevant content is something that all companies try to do.
But these players are taking content to a new level with very particular niche segments: it’s entertaining, educational, informative, fun, and it does NOT push a product. In fact, 95% of the time, it has nothing to do with the company.