This one’s for every marketer stuck between corporate red tape and social content that’s, well… silent. In this episode, I respond to a note from Marion — a B2B pro caught in a swirl of approval layers and stiff content rules. We break down how to:

• Deal with leadership fear of "being human" on social
• Turn internal wins into conversation starters
• Prove the ROI of behind-the-scenes and low-barrier content
• Pitch a content pilot without asking for permission to rebrand the whole thing

Whether you're in B2B tech, manufacturing, or any "boring" space (psst: you're not boring), this is your permission slip to stop the scroll with real stories.

👉 Want help making content that connects? Join my free course: Creating Conversational Content that Connects

Stop Chasing Trends. Start Leading Culture.

You’ve seen the ick. Brands trying too hard to be cool — hopping on memes, dropping TikTok audio, and leaving their audience wincing.

But here's the thing: 93% of consumers want you to participate in the cultural conversation. The catch? Only 27% believe trend-hopping works beyond 48 hours.

In this solo episode, I'm breaking down how your brand can show up with cultural fluency — not forced trend-chasing. We’ll cover what actually makes brands stand out in 2025, how to build a culture radar, and why your community doesn't care about polish — they care about presence.

If you're ready to ditch the cringe and create content that connects, this one's for you.

🧠 Inside this episode:

• The stats behind cultural relevance in 2025
• 3 tactical shifts to build cultural fluency
• Why “engagement” is not a vanity metric — it’s velocity
• What to post instead of trend templates
• Why your brand voice might need a glow-up

🗣️ Mentioned in this episode:

• Sprout Social 2025 Index
• Blog Post: What Is Social Media Engagement Velocity? (And Why You Should Care)

📬 Wanna turn casual connections into raving fans?

Join my Lost to Loyal newsletter — your monthly guide to mastering social media care and creating unforgettable customer experiences. I’ll send you actionable tips, proven strategy, and the latest trends straight to your inbox.

👉 Sign up here

“White-glove care doesn’t require a massive team. It requires the right team, the right tools, and a commitment to connection.”

Is your team running on fumes while trying to deliver top-tier social care? In this episode, I’m breaking down what “white-glove” really means in 2025 — and why it doesn’t have to mean over-the-top or over-budget.

You’ll learn:

• Why fast + human is the new baseline for social care
• How labeling conversations as acquisition vs. retention changes everything
• Three systems every team needs to scale without sacrificing sanity
• Why “time to empathy” might be your most overlooked CX metric

If you’re tired of chasing comments, missing DMs, and watching your team burn out — this one's for you.

🎓 Ready to future-proof your social care strategy? Get 60% off the online course Mastering Social Media Customer Care using the code SMCX at checkout.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Sprout Social Index 2025
• Learn more about Sprout Social
• Blog Post: How to Analyze Buying Intent from Social Media Engagement

What’s Inside:

[00:00] White-Glove Social Care is not just about speed or empathy — it’s both

[01:57] Why white-glove doesn’t mean luxury anymore

[03:04]  A system you can use to scale (without zapping your team)

[03:27]  Step One: Label all of your social media conversations

[04:23]  Step Two: Build out escalation workflows.

[05:14] Step Three: Create a Smart Schedule

[05:49] Ad: 60% off Mastering Social Media Customer Care Online Course

[06:34] Why tone-matching and empathy training matter more than ever

[07:53] Engagement isn’t a vanity metric — strategy is the issue

[09:25] Rapid fire: what to stop, start, and rethink in 2025

[10:10] Final word: Your brand shouldn’t just be seen, it should be felt

Is your social media team focused on vanity metrics and viral trends — or building real customer loyalty?

In this episode, I sat down with Steph Hermanson from Sprout Social to unpack what was reported in the 2025 Sprout Social Index — and spoiler alert: it’s not more content.

We dug into fresh insights from the latest Sprout Social Index, revealing:

• Why 73% of customers will bounce to a competitor if you don’t respond on social
• The difference between community management and true social listening
• How overproduction is killing ROI (and what to do instead)
• What “white glove social care at scale” actually looks like
• How brands are leaving revenue on the table by ignoring care data

If you’re still measuring followers and hoping for viral wins, this one’s a wake-up call. And if you're ready to stop guessing and start connecting, don’t miss this convo.

👉 Join my Lost to Loyal newsletter to get more CX and social media strategy insights like this every month.

Resources Mentioned:

Content Jam: https://www.contentjam.com/

2025 Sprout Social Index: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/index/

Connect with Steph Hermanson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanienissen/

After her talk at Social Media Marketing World, Brooke Sellas stayed behind to do what she does best: connect. In this special “hallway” edition of the show, you’ll hear real questions from real people—nonprofits, restaurants, educators—seeking better ways to engage, grow, and lead their communities online. Brooke answers in real time with sharp, strategic, and refreshingly human responses.

If you've ever wished you could pull a strategist aside and ask your burning social media question, this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen in for:

- How to engage dual audiences (B2B2C) with purpose

- Using AI to decode your engagement data

- Creative ways to drive loyalty and fun for local businesses

- Brooke’s philosophy on comments, replies, and ROI

👩‍💼Ready to bring this kind of clarity and candor to your next event? Book Brooke to speak: https://brookesellas.com

 Wanna turn casual connections into raving fans? My Lost to Loyal newsletter is your go-to guide for mastering social media care and creating unforgettable customer experiences. Every month I'll send you actionable tips, proven strategy, and the latest trends straight to your inbox. Don't just guess. Know what works. Sign up now!

----

Engagement without intention? It's like throwing digital spaghetti at the wall. In this Care Chat episode of The Social Media CX Podcast, Brooke Sellas sits down with social media strategist Kayla Perlstein to get real about what it takes to build authentic, results-driven engagement strategies on social media.

Together, they cover the critical questions every brand should be asking: Are you engaging with purpose? Do you know who your audience really is? And are you setting yourself up for success by aligning engagement with your business goals?

In this no-fluff conversation, Brooke and Kayla break down how social media engagement is about relationships, not reactions and why knowing your audience is the first (and most important) step. They also discuss the difference between proactive and reactive engagement, handling negative comments the right way, and why follower count means nothing if it doesn't support your bottom line.

What You'll Learn:

• Why engagement is more than responding to comments (and how to do it right)
• How to balance proactive vs. reactive engagement
• Why follower count isn't a KPI that matters (and what to track instead)
• How to align your social strategy with real business goals
• The role of consistency and time in driving engagement success
• Why knowing your target audience is essential before posting content
• How to tailor content and tone for different platforms and audiences

This episode is your reality check: Know your audience first, THEN engage.

 If you're loving these conversations and thinking, wait, my team needs this energy and this strategy, then you need our Care Squared training program. It's our signature social media customer care training built to help brands turn comments and complaints into conversations that retain customers, boost loyalty, and prove a return on investment with your social. Get the training now!

--

If you’re a one-person marketing team, juggling customer care, social engagement, and strategic planning—you are not alone. In this empowering episode of The Social Media CX Podcast, Brooke Sellas shows you how small but mighty teams (yes, even a team of one!) can operate like a social media SWAT team.

Brooke walks through real-world strategies that don’t require big budgets or fancy tools—just a smart system and a heart for service. From setting up a mini command center with a spreadsheet to writing tone-perfect responses and proving your CX value with simple metrics, this episode is your permission slip to drop the overwhelm and build a social response strategy that works.

Whether you’re solo, scrappy, or just starting out, this episode will help you:

• Prioritize care tasks using urgency, not chaos
• Set up a low-cost social care system that actually works
• Write customer responses that sound human, not robotic
• Track metrics like response time and sentiment shifts to prove your value
• Use automation and autoresponders the right way (without sounding cold)
• Collect proof points for your own SWAT brag file

You don’t need a command center to make customers feel heard. You just need the right strategy—and this episode delivers it.

Negative comments on social media aren’t a CX crisis—they’re a CX opportunity.

In this episode of The Social Media CX Podcast, I share exactly how smart brands like ZoomInfo are turning complaints into trust, revenue, and long-term loyalty by building structured, thoughtful response systems. If you’re still deleting comments, ghosting unhappy customers, or responding like a robot… this one’s for you.

💬 Why negative comments are some of the most valuable CX data you can get

🧠 How ZoomInfo uses subject matter experts to deliver personal, real-time responses

📊 The 5-step framework for building a smart, scalable social response system

📢 When to respond publicly vs. privately—and what to say

🚩 What not to do: the three biggest brand-killing mistakes we still see

💡 Why how you respond defines your brand more than the comment itself

🎧 Subscribe & Review:

If this episode helped shift your mindset, leave a review or share it with someone who needs to stop hitting “delete" on those negative comments.

[00:00] The Case for Negative Comments as a CX Opportunity

[02:07] Why Voice of Customer Data Starts in the Comments Section

[02:51] Inside ZoomInfo’s Social Media SWAT Team: A Smart Response Model

[04:37] Building a Smart Response System in 5 Steps

[06:53]   [AD] Are you ready to master social media customer experience?

[07:40] What Not to Do: Deleting, Ghosting, and Copy/Paste Fails

Want to Learn More?

 Are you ready to master social media customer experience? My online course, Mastering Social Media CX, gives you a step-by-step blueprint to turn conversations into conversions. And just for you, my podcast listeners, you get an exclusive 60% off. Yeah, 60%. All you have to do is use the code SMCX as in social media customer experience at checkout.