Social Butterflies: Kristyn Mangiamele on Being a Chameleon
Kristyn Mangiamele has over 15 years experience in digital marketing, with a core focus on social media and platform strategy. She has successfully created and activated holistic, cross-functional strategies that captured consumer attention, resulting in increased awareness, shareability and engagement through organic, paid and influencer efforts.
With a robust background in social listening and analytics, Kristyn is able to gauge success of current tactics, evolve where necessary, and identify brand-relevant opportunities and trends to increase relevance within the social space. Previous clients span a multitude of industries and include AMC Networks, Warner Media + Discovery, Campbell's Snacks, ConEdison and Amazon.
LBB> What’s the most significant development or trend shaping the social space right now?
Kristyn> Everyone will most likely say AI, but I think the significant trend in the social space is simpler than that. The surge of content creators has become the most valuable and significant development we've seen in the space since influencers came on the scene and drove a significant shift in the way brands spend their marketing dollars. Creators are now utilised within content mixes as great resources for not only organic content creation but for paid needs as well.
Tapping into this vast pool of professionals allows brands of any size to create branded content to spec and based on specific direction quickly and efficiently, without significant cost or fully staffed creative teams. Creators have helped brands create more social-focused content, catering to the algorithm and improving performance to achieve KPIs.
LBB> Every platform functions so differently—and the way they function evolves over time. There’s a lot of fun to be had on social, from shoppable livestreams to AI filters—so where are you finding the most satisfying or exciting creative opportunities right now (and can you give an example of a campaign that demonstrates that)?
Kristyn> The place I find the most satisfying and exciting opportunities is when social is part of a more holistic campaign and helps bring a campaign to life on social platforms. Whether it's a companion to an experiential event or social creative that makes an overall campaign more social and engaging based on platform best practices, campaigns that lean heavily into the platforms they are on make for the most exciting executions.
LBB> Social media is a space for brands to be a bit more human—but how do you walk the line between personable and tweet?
Kristyn> Taking a more personable approach to branded content on social has been a successful way to drive engagement and fan loyalty among followers, but not every audience is looking for that humanised approach. Depending on the brand itself, it's important to look into the industry as a whole and see what a brand’s competitors are doing.
Cross-referencing those findings with the values and interests of your target audience will allow a brand to more accurately determine the right mix of personable and branded communication and content mix. If a brand’s focus is on building a good reputation and changing potential sentiment around their products, a more personable approach might be a great way to foster loyalty and a positive reputation.
However, if a brand is in an industry where things are more serious in nature or tone, it might be best to be more reserved and branded to avoid coming across as flippant.
LBB> What does ‘craft’ mean to you in a social context?
Kristyn> Craft, for me, is knowing the social space inside and out through the eyes of a variety of target audiences. It’s about taking learnings and successes from past clients and campaigns and seeing how those learnings can be applied to new scenarios. Everyone says social is ever-changing, and they're right, but it's the historical knowledge that allows strategists and creatives within the social space to rely on their 'craft' or gut to inform recommendations and future work.
LBB> Organic, paid, influencers, social search—how do you approach figuring out the best way to reach audiences?
Kristyn> It’s all about a holistic approach to social, stemming from a brand’s core goals and priorities. It’s important to ensure that all avenues of a social strategy align with achieving a brand's goals. However, we cannot let goals and priorities be the only drivers of our social strategy; we must always ground our recommendations and tactics in the target audience: What are their interests? What do they care about? Which platforms are they most active on? What are the purchase drivers?
LBB> Social media can be brutal—on a personal level, how do you deal with that aspect of the role and help your teams on the front line?
Kristyn> Yes, social media can be brutal, especially when these platforms were created for users to share their thoughts, feelings, and aspects of their lives. However, it’s always important to remove personal ties and feelings from the work you're doing on behalf of a brand. Negative feedback is not a direct result of you as an employee, whether you work on the client side, at an agency, or as a content creator.
For mental health and personal value, it's important to separate yourself from things you cannot directly control. With social changing so rapidly, and the temperature of each platform truly being based on what’s happening in the world and pop culture, it’s nearly impossible to foresee all potential discontent and scenarios to ensure your content will be well-received.
I advise my team to plan for the things we can anticipate and not dwell on what we couldn't have predicted. Everything is a learning experience that yields great insights and optimisations for the future.
LBB> Social media has been accused of driving polarisation and spreading misinformation, while others call it the marketplace of ideas. Whether or not that’s the whole truth, it is certainly shaping discourse and is one of the key venues for culture war-like behaviour. What’s your take on the role of social media in society, and what responsibilities do brands and individuals working in social have?
Kristyn> A brand’s job on social is to remain true to its core values and participate in conversations that truly make sense for the brand. In a world where social media has become a place for free speech, it’s important not to jump into conversations and trends without sufficient research: Is what’s being said true? Where did a trend or topic originate? What are the different conversations happening around it?
Social moves exceptionally fast, so brands are often afraid of 'missing the boat', forcing them to act quickly and sometimes hastily.
In today’s social world, it’s incredibly important to take a moment, assess an opportunity, cross-reference with your brand’s values and goals, and then provide a thoughtful recommendation or plan. A brand never wants to be caught spreading misinformation or aligning with a negatively charged situation. When in doubt, play it safe and sit this one out!
LBB> What are the biggest missteps you see brands making most regularly on social media?
Kristyn> The biggest misstep I see brands making on social is being too 'social-first'. The term 'social-first has been a buzzword for the past few years, and I think it has caused brands to sacrifice the unique branding elements that make them stand out. Many brands have started incorporating trending templates like CapCut and other formats we regularly see on Instagram and TikTok into their social content rotation, catering to the algorithm and hoping to increase discoverability with relatable, native content.
However, using this type of content too frequently can make a brand’s feed seem inauthentic, unbranded, and out of touch. While social content should never be just a repurposing of traditional marketing materials, it should still incorporate subtle branding to create a cohesive look and feel on social, helping to reinforce brand presence and build awareness.
LBB> Inevitable AI question! How are you applying AI in your day-to-day role, and what have been your key insights/observations about the best way to approach it in the campaigns you’ve worked on (feel free to share examples)?
Kristyn> As a strategist, AI has become a tool that helps guide strategic recommendations. Sometimes, the most daunting part of putting together a social strategy is the research required to identify your target audience and the industry as a whole. AI helps cut down on that research, as long as you're not looking for specific statistics.
However, AI lacks the personal touch many brands want to see as they define their strategy, and it's often limiting when you want to apply historical data and observations that social professionals gain from working in the industry for so long. While AI can be a great tool to assist strategists in their daily roles and responsibilities, it doesn't replace the experience and knowledge each strategist brings from previous work.
LBB> Thinking longer term, where do you see the biggest risks and opportunities when it comes to AI in social?
Kristyn> The biggest risk with AI is the loss of a personalised, cultivated approach to social media. Whether using AI for creative or strategy, it risks making social content plug-and-play, with brands using the same blueprint for their social presence.
While AI is a great tool for informing strategies, it generates the same information for the same questions and requires deeper analysis to ensure that recommendations are strategically sound and make sense for each brand. Although some AI tools allow for further digging, this requires more time and trial and error to get the desired output.
LBB> When you’re not working, what social platforms and content do you personally enjoy engaging with and why? What creators, influencers, and social communities do you really love?
Kristyn> They say TikTok is the emerging platform for millennials, and they are right! That’s the platform I prioritise in my personal life from a consumption perspective only. While I actively post and consume content on Instagram, I only consume content on TikTok through influencers I follow, but mainly through my FYP and the content TikTok’s algorithm chooses to show me.
Taking it a step beyond consumption, I also use TikTok’s search capabilities for product reviews, recipes, etc.
LBB> What advice would you give to people who are looking to get into social, whether as creatives, strategists, or producers?
Kristyn> Be a chameleon and have tenacity.
Social is ever-changing, and the way you succeed is by truly knowing your audience and the nuances of the platforms. Some of the most strategic recommendations and viral creative come from putting yourself in the lives of your audience and understanding what matters most to them and what piques their interest.
Once you become part of that audience, start to think about how they use the platform and the types of content they engage with most.
This might mean you need to take risks, but don’t be afraid to do so; some of the best social strategies came from risk-taking or the learnings garnered from those risks.
