We are so back.
After many comments, messages and DMs politely requesting “more!”, I’m very excited to be bringing back my favourite series: The people changing B2B social 🎉
Earlier this year I was looking for an excuse to chat to the smart humans behind my favourite brand accounts, which is exactly how this interview series was born.
I’ve been lucky enough to talk to the people redefining what “B2B” can look like - including Slate’s Christina Pearo, Asana’s Symmadar Schand, and Slack’s Casey Smith.
And today, we’re kicking things back off with a bang, because our first guest is none other than the wonderful Bella Rose Mortel.
Bella Rose first flew onto my radar while she was at Beehiiv, and is now part of the social team at Zapier.
In this chat we dive into her "would I actually read this?" litmus test, what an improv class taught her about B2B social, and the story behind AL - the AI mascot that started with a Super Bowl ad and became one of my favourite LinkedIn moments of the year.
Hi Bella Rose! First things first, how did you end up in B2B social?
By accident! As I'm sure is the case with most of us in B2B social. I spent a lot of time on content teams, whether it was ghostwriting newsletters or social posts, working on branded content and ads, or even making UGC content.
My network led me to my first role in B2B social: running beehiiv's brand channels for 2.5 years. Then I moved to Zapier and have been there about 5 months.
Zapier as a product is fairly technical, but your content feels distinctly human. How do you strike that balance?
On social, you're competing with memes and people's friends and a million other things, so a lot of times my litmus test is: Would I actually read this? Would I actually watch this? Does this have too much technical jargon? How can I make it make sense for as many people scrolling the feed as possible?
That's why I lean into humor and internet native formats and phrases, because it makes all the technical stuff feel less foreign, and more like AI is something everyone can learn.
As AI-generated content floods social feeds, we want Zapier to still feel like a genuine connection, so our team continues to invest in larger IRL brand productions (like much of the work we do with AL). Part of our brand philosophy is that automation is unlocked with human touch. We're dedicated to helping the people behind the screens succeed!
TL;DR: our product automates tasks so people can do more thinking. If we sounded robotic or corporate while making that promise, no one would believe it.
We have to talk about AL. Can you tell us where the idea for that campaign came from, and what it took to bring it to life?
AL was the star of our Superbowl commercial earlier this year! I have to give credit to the team for that because all of that happened before I even worked at Zapier. But our audience (and Zapier employees) loved him SO much that we decided to go all in on AL this year, and try our hand at making him one of Zapier's mascots.
Since the Super Bowl commercial, we've had him come to our IRL employee summit, filmed a music video to "You Can Call Me AL," and most recently tested out a social-only mini series with him as a 90's workout instructor, but he's really teaching you about AI. Super excited to keep building content with him this year. Plus, the actor, Sonny, who play's AL is just THE BEST!
Many B2B marketers worry that leaning into humour risks looking “unprofessional”. Should more B2B brands be funny, and how do you make sure the humour lands?
This is such a valid concern! Any B2B marketer will get feedback from other teams in the company that a casual, humorous brand voice is what's getting in the way of Enterprise deals.
While I don't believe that's always the case, and it's not social's job to close a deal, you have to try to strike a balance between leaning all the way into internet culture and going all the way to the other side of boring corporate brand slop.
I think any brand should have a voice that is true to who they want to be online, and an identity that their customers are resonating with (whether that's funny or not). But at the end of the day, people are scrolling social while lying on their couch on a Friday night, so they just want to enjoy or learn from what they see on their feed.
My advice to any SMM in any role is to think about how your brand can blend into that Friday night dopamine-scroll.
What do you think is an underrated skill for B2B social marketers?
Improv or comedy classes! Last year I went to an improv comedy class because I thought it would make me funnier (obviously), but it also made me better at social.
It helps with creativity under pressure. You never know what your brand might run into on social, but it's always good to have a quick, witty reply. Improv also helps with storytelling: it forces you to listen, build on other ideas, AND keep an audience engaged. Finally, it helps you think on your feet without overthinking. I wrote all about this in my newsletter here.
What’s your biggest B2B ick?
When the brand is doing what every other brand is doing! I think the best brands say things only they can say, in a way that only they can say them.
Easier said than done, but I love seeing brands taking swings and getting super creative and unique with messaging.
If there’s someone reading this who wants to be more creative with social, but doesn’t know where to start, what advice would you give them?
Take a walk! Take a shower! Read a book! Hang out with your friends! Log off for a bit. A lot of times my most creative ideas have come when I least expect them.
Remember that inspiration can come from anywhere and that "scrolling for inspo" is fake...if you do have to scroll, you can get what you need in 15 minutes max.
A huge thank you to Bella Rose for sharing her social wisdom with us! 💜 Make sure to go and follow her here.
Who do you want to hear from next?
Reply to this email telling me your favourite B2B brands and/or social peeps, and I’ll try to make it happen 👀
