The Future of Social Media with Jason Keath of Social Fresh


jason keath on brand

“You learn more by doing than by watching.” Jason Keath knows a thing or two about learning and doing. As CEO and Founder of Social Fresh, he helps marketers stay on top of the latest, greatest, FRESHEST digital marketing insights through their Social Fresh Conference as well as their blog, podcast, and emails. Recently, they raised the bar on their mission even further by releasing the Future of Social research study. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

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About Jason Keath

Jason Keath thrives on ideas and inspiring others to build something new, to take chances. As the Founder and CEO of Social Fresh Conference, he curates some of the smartest voices in online marketing. Graduating from UNC Charlotte with a fine arts degree, Jason’s roots are firmly in the creative arts. Jason lives in New York City, where you can find him blogging from a local coffee shop or roaming the streets of Manhattan as a full time tourist.

Jason is a keynote speaker, presenting to thousands on digital marketing, creativity, and how to make organizations more innovative. Jason has consulted with Fortune 500 and Inc 5000 companies on social media strategy and development. He is routinely quoted by media in the NY Times, USA Today, MSNBC, the LA Times, AdAge, the Washington Post and other outlets.

Jason is the editor of SocialFresh.com, where Social Fresh Conference shares free social marketing tips. He also cohosts of the Social Toolkit Podcast. And each week, Jason publishes the Social Fresh Tip, a social media email newsletter.

Episode Highlights

Social Fresh has built a brand on content curation. But how do you do this? Content curation is easier said than done. I asked Jason Keath what was most important in curation. “Paying attention to your audience and delivering value to them.” That’s how they noticed that there was a trust gap in social media.

What about the Future of Social? Social Fresh raised the bar on their educational brand by launching their first industry report recently. The Future of Social gives marketers an idea on where we stand today and what marketers are planning for down the road. For example, “Instagram is third on resources today but second in resources next year.”

Short video is coming on fast. “There’s also a trend of short video. Brands are going to have to get better at this. We actually had more data than we could report on.” You can access the Future of Social report here.

What surprises did Keath and team discover? “Sixty three percent of marketers report seeing a positive ROI.” While it’s hard to define that as most marketers are still making educated guesses, it’s still an impressive vote of confidence. “Those with bigger budgets, bigger teams report even higher rates.”

What’s one thing brand builders should focus on? Considering he just completed a study on the latest digital trends, Keath was a good source for our weekly question. “Facebook advertising — you can do so much for a local business or even targeting a congressional district.” Keath also recommended keeping an eye on Instagram’s advertising platform as well.

What brand has made Jason smile recently? “I hate to say it because everyone probably does but Amazon consistently impresses me and makes me happy.” From same-day delivery to exceptional customer service, Amazon is an expert in the smile business (heck, it’s on their boxes!).

To learn more, check out the Future of Social report and Social Fresh Conference (there’s a special rate at that link!) and follow Jason on Twitter.

As We Wrap …

Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …
This week I want to give a shout out to Mack Collier, who let me host a recent #Blogchat on Twitter about how to #GetScrappy with your blog.

Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show.

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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!