Building a standout brand
Social media wizard Emma Glubiak ’18 is the mind behind some very recognizable Instagram feeds.
As director of social strategy for Dotdash Meredith, Emma Glubiak ’18 spends her days cultivating the online presence of the company’s 40-plus brands, which include PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, and Travel + Leisure.
“In every role I’ve had in my career, every day is different,” Glubiak says. “That’s the fun part and also the stressful part of working in social media. A typical day could be working with a brand on its social video strategy, or maybe there’s a viral moment we need to respond to in a way that makes sense for the brand.”
Glubiak first found a love for food and lifestyle media while serving as the editorial director of Lafayette’s now-defunct branch of Spoon University, an online food publication with content from college students.
From a social media internship with the Food Network to Webby Award-winning work for Apartment Therapy’s Instagram, Glubiak saw several sides of the business before landing at Dotdash (later to become Dotdash Meredith) and working her way up to the director role.
Want to boost your social media branding? Here are a few of Glubiak’s tips.
Know your audience.
Glubiak’s biggest piece of advice is also the simplest: Find what works for your brand and its audience.
“There’s so much noise out there,” Glubiak says. “If you Google the best length for a TikTok video, it might say 30 seconds, but if the 30-second videos aren’t working for you, then you shouldn’t be doing 30-second videos.”
Instead of worrying too much about industry expectations, Glubiak says, pay constant attention to what your audience is responding to—and build on that.
“Experiment in a way that makes sense for your brand,” Glubiak says.
Create a signature look.
According to Glubiak, visual cohesion in a social media feed is important for keeping an audience engaged. When scrollers see your trademark look, they’ll think of your brand right away.
“Whether it’s a signature graphic design quality, color palette, or maybe a format of video you iterate again and again, any of those repeatable elements that make the audience think of you are a good thing,” she says.
Experiment with what’s available.
Glubiak knows the value of utilizing different types of engagement across platforms.
“With social media, especially when there are so many new features and tools coming out every single day, it’s important to experiment in a way that makes sense for your brand,” she says. “Taking big swings and trying new things or content types are really good ways to grow.”
Learn from others in your niche.
For anyone not sure about the next step in their brand growth, Glubiak recommends turning to other successful accounts in the same area of business.
“The nice thing about many of the social platforms is that you can see how many views a video is getting or how many ‘likes’ a post has even when it’s not your post,” she says. “Following other brands or other individuals who are in the area you want to thrive in can be helpful.”
