How to Move From Social Marketing to Brand Marketing
I chat with Riley Nelson—who has worked at Glossier, Ghia, rhode, and VUUM—about the world of brand marketing.
When people unsubscribe from Link in Bio, they have the option to write a note. Most leave it blank, but when people do fill it out, one of the top responses is: “I’m leaving social media!”.
In the recent Social Media Compensation Survey, almost half of the respondents said they were either unsure if they wanted to keep working in social media (43.9%) or wanted to leave the social media industry entirely (6.3%). Those that are considering getting out mention being burnt out, not getting paid their worth, and wanting to pivot to a more broad marketing role. Today’s newsletter focuses on one of those marketing roles.
When I talk to social media managers who have left posting behind, it’s not uncommon to hear they’ve moved into “brand marketing”. It’s an area that I’ve always been intrigued by but has also felt a bit nebulous to me. I wanted to sit down with someone who’s an expert in the field to understand what it is, how social managers can move into it, and what brand marketers do day-to-day.
Riley Nelson is currently the Director of Brand Marketing for VUUM and previously worked in brand roles at rhode, Ghia, and Glossier. While she has spent the majority of her career working in brand marketing—she gets social media and understands the specific qualities of a social manager that would translate well to this side of marketing. Let’s dive in.
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Rachel Karten: First, can you tell me a bit about yourself and your work?
Riley Nelson: I'm a brand strategist and marketing generalist with close to a decade of experience crafting innovative campaigns and brand launches across beauty and beverage. My passion for storytelling and creative strategy has enabled me to build meaningful and lasting connections between brands and their communities. Whether I was leading teams to craft engaging launch experiences at Rhode and Glossier or building a new brand from the ground up at Ghia, I'm committed to being the glue of an internal team to create a recognizable and lasting brand.
RK: How would you define what it means to work in brand marketing? Like we've talked about in previous conversations, it's one of those job titles that can sometimes feel nebulous.
RN: Marketing, like a lot of other fields, has become an umbrella term—and there are a lot of various roles within Marketing. Brand Marketing specifically oversees and works across teams like Social, Digital, Product, and Creative.
Brand Marketing is focused on the long-term identity and success of a brand, maybe more so than other roles within Marketing where success is tied more to day-to-day and specific launches.
You tend to see more brand-focused roles at companies that put design and creative at the forefront of their broader decision making. I'd argue these are the same brands that have stayed relevant over the last 5-10 years. I think the emergence of brand-centric roles within marketing highlights the priority placed on consistent, multi-channel storytelling at scale.
This is silly simplified but people who work in “Brand” are typically valued for their taste and ability to forecast and predict trends. They see the power in the details that will later shape public opinion about a brand. Do we use a red heart emoji or a white heart emoji? Meaningless to 9 out of 10 people in a board room but worthy of a full debate for Brand folk.
I like to make a brand a living, breathing personality so you can always have a guide on how to approach things. When you know how a brand would smell, dress, and talk you get a deeper into the psychology of communicating with your customer. It might be a slower acquisition but it will be a lifelong one! Brand Marketers make decisions based on what makes sense for the character of their brand.
RK: Why is it important for a brand to have someone who is, as you referred to it, "the glue"?
RN: The person who can liaise across all teams outside of Marketing and manage project timelines, budgets, all while understanding a Founder or Creative Director’s intentions really saves a team so much time!
It’s super easy to inadvertently dilute your brand when there are so many team members, freelancers, agencies, and more involved. Every one of them adding their own POV and “best practices” to the brand.
The glue is there to maintain and protect brand guidelines and brand vision at every touchpoint. From packaging to emoji selection, copy choices, or seeding lists—everything matters to the Brand people.
RK: What are some of the tasks or projects you work on in brand marketing?
RN: Oversight of all marketing channels—anything the world sees from your brand, someone in Brand Marketing had a hand in. It could be final eyes or from the ground up involvement, but it’s rare that something ever gets posted or shared without a Brand Marketer’s sign off. While some team members may be trying to answer to a sales goal or a trend in marketing, someone like me is trying to answer how this launch/activation/post/email/copy aligns with the goals and core messaging of the brand.
Creative project management and feedback to Creative teams is a huge part of my day-to-day. Overseeing graphic designers, copywriters, and creative production teams.
My biggest focuses, which might differentiate from a more standard marketing role, are creative strategy, copy work, and the cross-functional component. I work equally with Sales teams, Ops teams, Accounting, Product Development, and Retail teams to make sure key Brand messaging remains consistent across them all.
Brand is kind of in your gut! It’s what sets you apart—you see things other people might not see right away. It’s why I think you have to be in love with the product or the company to take on this kind of role.
RK: I've noticed it's common for social media managers to move into brand marketing roles—why do you think the experience of working in social translates so well?
RN: Social is the most demanding role—if you have worked in Social you can take on anything. It’s really easy to get burnt out working in Social though. It’s a 24/7 job, with a daily demand to create and innovate.
People in social are being told to innovate and produce newness nonstop—they are naturally operating as an embodiment of the brand so the transition to want to explore other avenues of bringing a brand to life or reaching customers makes a lot of sense.
RK: What advice would you give a social media professional who is interested in moving into a brand marketing role? What skills should they hone?
RN: The most valuable thing working Social that no other team (other than Customer Experience) gets is the direct access to customer conversations and feedback. Especially if you are at a brand that engages and replies to every message. You have valuable insight into what people want and can bring that with you to the Marketing team at a wider scale. Prove you know the people that drive your brand better than anyone else!
Don’t be afraid to pitch! Always share your ideas and speak up in meetings.
I also think knowing your area of interest and what your strength is can really get you on a better growth path within a company. Marketing is so general! Do you love offline moments and planning community meetups and events? Putting together emails? Thinking about the best ad ideas? Are you really interested in how to shine in retail and on the shelf? What gets you excited?
RK: Can you talk a bit about your own career growth?
RN: I am one of the lucky ones that started off at Glossier. That role introduced me to so many influential people that helped me grasp what roles were out there and where my skills may be best utilized.
My biggest moment of growth was at Ghia. I was trusted very early on to work across our small team and explore the brand’s identity and really do something different. Classic start up phrase, but I wore many, many hats. I got to explore copywriting, owning a social account, sales pitching, and what it takes to start a strong brand from scratch.
I started to really thrive when I was managing people and dedicated to maintaining the brand vision—editing emails, ideating content, drafting and editing press releases, tasting newness—but I still wanted to dive deeper into the Creative.
I worked at Perron-Roettinger for experience within a creative studio—to better speak the language and understand the timelines of production and the budgets behind creative. It took me a very long time to realize not everyone can work with designers and give feedback clearly—that was a huge asset I left with.
I spent time in-house back in beauty at Rhode. There is not a more-high functioning Brand team out there, it was incredible to witness and be a part of. The talent there is like no other.
Rhode and Ghia really shaped my approach to Brand Marketing in every way. A light bulb went off seeing how people really connect with Brands that are telling stories and investing full-heartedly into their Creative. These offices are hiring curators, not just marketers.
I’m currently working with a brand called Vuum—a new sparkling protein drink. The health and wellness space is new to me so I like the challenge!
RK: Are you able to share a project you've worked on that you're proud of?
RN: You’ll probably need to edit the amount of times I mention Ghia in here!
But truly Ghia is one of the things I’m most proud of. We launched the day the pandemic closures rolled across the US and, as a small team, we held hands and pivoted.
Everyone was told this will never work, and look at them now. A founder with a strong brand vision and brand personality is one you want to be around! Every time I see a spritz or bottle behind a bar I get a little thrill.
I also just visited the Glossier store in Vegas and it made me a little emotional seeing the pink jumpsuits for the first time in a while! I got to train and work with a lot of the retail employees at Glossier and it was just as exhausting and magical as it sounds.
RK: I'd love to hear a bit about your own brand marketing philosophy. Are there any rules you live by?
RN:
I really love a slow burn—brands that are committed to sticking around and avoid hopping on trends, reactionary content, and invest in working with the best creatives.
Personality is huge for me! I don’t want to see perfection all the time, I want to know there’s a real human behind the account, email reply, etc. I think this is a leftover Glossier thing but I know how much that impacts experience. I would rather a brand be kind of silly, snarky, out-there than use the same generalist, world-peace tone of voice.
Do you love your community? Cool, that should literally be step one. I find internal convos about community so trite these days—I think it’s much more interesting to let your community organically shape itself and explore smaller subcultures.
Good copy is worth investing in. It’s not something anyone can do, stop underestimating its power.
RK: What do you love about working in brand marketing?
RN: I love offline moments—meeting the people who support the brand, send DMs, and buy the merch. Hearing firsthand how the work you have done has left an impact (no matter how small!) on someone.
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Anyone who wants a career long-term in marketing and thinks they don't need to pay attention to social media marketing anymore is going to end up having a short-term career in marketing.
loved this, specifically the pov that the best marketers are curators!