Month: August 2021

The iOS privacy changes have had an impact on the amount of Facebook’s available data for media buyers. How has that impacted your job? 

I feel like we’re back to this needing to prove the worth of Facebook again, which was like a big part of 2015. It’s making one ad account feel like two or three. It’s doubled our workload in a lot of places. Clients just don’t think Facebook is working so we’re having to spend hours creating reports on how Facebook is having an impact on their business. 

Why’s that?  

It’s because the Facebook platform performance has dropped and we’re losing a lot of visibility of what’s working and not working. We’re using Google Analytics to tell us how well Facebook is doing. We would do this before — we’d check in here and there — but now we’re using it to make decisions about Facebook. With some accounts we’re seeing almost a two-to-one of Google Analytics conversions versus Facebook conversions.

What do you wish clients’ understood about Facebook now? 

How Facebook drives traffic across all channels. It increases organic search, branded paid search and direct traffic — a lot of Facebook traffic shows up as direct traffic — and how it works with the full ecosystem. [Clients] are seeing that smaller Facebook number but then blended ROAs is the same or better so we’re having to show them how Facebook is adding value in other areas. It should be the growth director’s job to do that. We’re kind of coaching them on how to prove the worth of it. Facebook contributes to the overall awareness and lift of everything. You need to think about it as an ecosystem rather than a single channel. 

Would you say the way that brands think about Facebook needs to shift because of the privacy shifts?

Facebook contributes to the overall awareness and lift of everything. You need to think about it as an ecosystem rather than a single channel. [Clients need to] invest in their brands. Add value to their communities. Invest in influencer marketing, organic social, and find ways to partner with other brands. 

DTC brands relied heavily on Facebook ads for years to build brands. Clearly that’s not the case anymore. How are you managing that?

For us, we’re trying to focus on more brands that are doing retail. Brands that have the omnichannel presence already get it, they know about the ecosystem and how investing in the brand can drive those retail sales so we’re trying to find more opportunities to work with those types of brands.

It’s a move We Are Rosie hopes will create a frictionless transition not only for the departing employee, but also for the incoming talent, said chief of staff Nikki Coleman. Digiday caught up with Coleman to talk about commencement pay the gig economy and the future of work. 

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

What is commencement pay and what made We Are Rosie start offering it to full time employees?

We started thinking about how to celebrate that [departure] without judgement or shame for going into the next phase. We want to thank them for their time and contribution here, so we offer everyone two weeks of pay to help them lean in and fill the gap if they’re looking for a new job or as they start their next journey.  We already had a team member that’s gone through the process.

It’s just a new way of thinking. We follow up with people like, “What are you doing now? If you ever want to come back, you can do this.” 

[It’s] going beyond the status quo. Most companies say, “Oh, we pay severance to people that we terminate.” Like, what about the people that have contributed so much to your [company’s] growth and they want to leave, but they want to leave on good terms? There’s no question or concern about the bottom line.

(In an email follow up, Coleman confirmed We Are Rosie’s commencement pay is two weeks of continued salary pay on top of the departing employee’s final paycheck.)

This seems like a service that could double as an investment in hopes to expand We Are Rosie’s network.

It’s a little bit of that too. We fully recognize that sometimes even our consultants in our community, sometimes they become our clients and they may take a job somewhere else. By talking about it, we really want to open up the minds of other employers to make them realize it’s not a bad thing [when someone leaves for another job]. Of course it might take a toll on your team if someone leaves. But if you treat your people with dignity and respect, they’re more likely to give you more of a notice and help your team transition out and to give all the information that’s needed rather than waiting until the last two weeks to give a notice.

Has that been the case so far?

That’s what we saw. Instead of leaving the unknown with the team, everyone was really prepared. It makes a much smoother transition. It also eases the stress for the team as a whole and for that person that’s made the decision. They might help interview. They might help give a really good glimpse of what it is that the job would be for the person coming in. For them to be able to share, ‘Yes, I made the decision to leave. But this is how We Are Rosie handled it and you’re in good hands here’ is really important to us.

What do you hope the rest of adland can do to curb burnout and create more flexible work environments?

I don’t think people should be shamed or judged if they’re seeking professional and personal fulfilment. I think those two things go hand in hand. With the pandemic and the way the future of work is going, people are less willing to sacrifice. They know what they want and got a glimpse of what’s really important to them. If companies don’t start to lean into that more, they will have a hard time getting the best talent in their doors.