Social Media Trends

Join our sponsor and this expert panel as our President Lorne Solway moderates this session on social media trends. This pandemic has changed many things, including how people are interacting with social media. Topics we will cover include :

• How Covid has changed the playing field, recognizing shifting consumer behaviours?
o Social Media – messaging etc.
o Increasing Role of Influencers
o Social Commerce i.e Tik Tok
• Impact of technologies – Augmented / Virtual, AI
• Data – Privacy Laws, Best Practices
• Eroding trust on social media platforms
o Content for Good
o Self Aware Marketing
• Social Media Spend
o Spend Variance since Covid
o Lifecycle stage of platform – decision criteria for organic vs. paid
o Optimum Social Media Mix – based on targeted demographic profiles
• Biggest Myths of Social Media
• Brands that are optimally harnessing Social Media i.e Wendy’s
• Social – political messaging

Moderator: Lorne Solway, president of RMA
Lorne is President & an Executive Board Member of the Response Marketing Association, is Global VP Marketing & Customer Experience for Kognitiv Corporation and is Managing Director of Upper Post Consulting Group – a boutique Strategy and Marketing Consultancy. Lorne has 25+ years experience as a Senior Marketing & Loyalty/CRM Executive, having worked with a number of leading brands, including McDonald’s, HBC, Bell Mobility, Superior Propane, LoyaltyOne (Airmiles), Enercare Home Services, Carrot Rewards & Kognitiv Corporation.
Lorne has an MBA in Marketing & Finance from the Schulich School of Business, a Leadership Designation Certification from The Niagara Institute of Leadership Development Program, and is a registered Chartered Marketer.

Guest: Andrew Jenkins, President of Volterra, a social media marketing agency.

He has spent the last twenty-five years working in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spanning social media, wireless, and e-business. Over his career, Andrew has worked with a diverse list of companies in North America and Europe, including Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA); Rogers; Bell Canada; InfoSpace; Compaq; and RBC.

He holds a BA in Economics from Laurentian University, a BFA in Film Production from York University, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He has taught social media strategy for enterprises at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies for that last seven years.

Guest: Sury Kim

Sury is currently the Director of Strategy at The Fourth Agency, leading advanced efforts in engaging social/digital content for brands across North America.  She is also helping to build the next brands of the future through The MRKT venture studios.  With over 10 years+ experience working for some of the world’s most-loved brands in the industry and building progressive new brands from the ground up, she has worn many hats throughout her career and delivered on many complex and integrated projects across the board.  Her passion for research and problem solving is deeply rooted in curiosity, her creative spirit and passion for making new things that breakthrough.  Career highlights include successful campaigns and support leading to multiple awards and the acquisition of Cholula Hot Sauce (twice!) in recent years.  Sury has a demonstrable history of identifying new opportunities in content as new innovations emerge and cultural trends shift.  Her background in industrial design brings a fresh perspective to building breakthrough brand narratives & creative executions deeply rooted in data, cultural insights and deep consumer analysis for her clients today.

Guest: Laurie Dillon-Schalk, Founder, Social Wisdom

With a background in e-commerce,  digital & social media strategy, Laurie brings over 15 years of digital strategy & insight leadership within advertising & marketing landscapes. Laurie has led the strategy behind large scale end to end social media activations for over 12 years including some of the most well known brand social media efforts including Cholula Hot Sauce, Country Crock, Ricola, Canopy Growth, OREO, Dove Men + Care as well as deep patient journey studies in covid, asthma, mental health, chronic illness and cancer.  Today, Laurie runs a boutique data intelligence agency called Social Wisdom – using advanced data intelligence to identify shorter paths to growth for brands and organizations.

As a volunteer, in 2020, Laurie co-founded a non-profit called Conquer Covid19 to get desperately needed PPE across the country.  Her volunteer efforts helped raise $2.38M and distributed 2.3M items of PPE.