Lack of gimmicks important to have genuine impact, says Disney EMEA head of social
The balance between creative and analytical thinking is what drew Shira Feuer, head of social media EMEA at The Walt Disney Company, to the sector.
Having previously worked in banking, Feuer, a judge at this year's Social Buzz Awards in association with iomart, also said that the sector's innovation was something that made her turn to social media marketing.
Feuer praised the 'rich heritage' of storytelling as one of the best parts of handling social for a well known company like Disney.
"The best part is working with the fantastic content we've got. We have a rich heritage in storytelling and the business continues to create new, innovative content that is perfect for social media.
"The challenge is ensuring that we continuously run social activity that is entertaining and relevant for all of our various audiences," she added.
Prior to Disney, Feuer worked on the agency side of social. On the differences between working for an agency and for a client itself, she said: "The benefit of working agency-side was having exposure to many different industries and different types of thinking. When working client-side, you can get much deeper into planning and ideas because you are working with people across the entire organisation and get a much stronger understanding of how the business works."
It is this exposure and experience that Feuer will bring on board while judging the Social Buzz Awards. When asked what she will be looking for from entries, the targeting of audiences in meaningful ways was a priority.
Feuer also suggested that a 'lack of gimmicks' is important - "campaigns that have real impact and actually reach genuine consumers, not just the industry".
She believes that this is something that is happening more recently: "The best change over the past year has been brands starting to use social platforms as more serious media channels to reach target audiences in meaningful ways."
This even applies to campaigns where it may seem that the targeting is spur of the moment.
"There's no such thing as 'off-the-cuff real-time advertising' in social' - when done well, all of it is meticulously planned, even when it doesn't look like it – so the planned approach always applies," she suggested.
If you feel that your brand or agency has created a meaningful social campaign that would impress Feuer, enter it into the Social Buzz Awards before 13 August.