Adam Azor, Executive VP of Global Marketing at SportRadar, introduced himself as the moderator of the panel at a recent talk titled: How to score big with paid social.

The firm has assembled a panel of experts who shared their experience and knowledge on social media.

Ross Hartnett, Head of US Real Money Gaming at Snap Inc.

Jessica Lee, Director of Brand Strategy at Fanduel Casino

Joseph Peel, Client Partner, Real Money Gaming- America (Meta)

Brendan Tinnelly, Head of Paid Social Ads at Sportradar

“For me, social media, over the last decade, has been one of the most effective marketing channels in regards with campaign performance. I’ve been running campaigns on social media from 2008. At that time, it was like “The Wild West”, and the algorithm was more generous,” Adam Azor said.

He added that social media has been one of the most undervalued marketing disciplines when it comes to effectiveness. He remarked that it will be boosted by AI, machine learning, which will power the next evolution of social media. “The combination of performance, technology and brand building will power the conversation that we will have today”, he remarked.

Then, he made several questions:

When it comes to integrated marketing campaigns, can you tell why social media should be a central part of the campaign?

All speakers talked about the fact that mobile devices bring customers the access to social media all time, no matter if they are travelling, customers are constantly checking their media platforms. So this activity combines the ability of a relevant one-to-one connection, and also has this mass scale.

How can social media be used effectively to raise brand awareness but also brand affinity?

They all agreed that you have to think from the consumers’ standpoint and not just as a platform for marketers.

“A consumer doesn’t see an ad in the feed or wherever you are, as think of it as a brand ad or performance ad, they just see an ad. So I think it is important having a diverse portfolio, as a traditional brand, video assets, but also having a good mix of more engaging fun things, encouraging all to play more: pools, questions, that drive that engagement,” said Joseph Peel,

What are the common challenges to consider when developing paid social strategies?
“Test and experiment” in order to find new strategies, was one of the answers in which they all agreed.

When talking about AI, how do you think this technology should be applied?
Speakers value AI as a tool to be more efficient at work.

Tinnelly recalled his experience with Meta. He said that important companies had a large team of experts in ad campaigns, but as Meta deployed more of this AI technology, the optimization campaigns became completely automated.

Then, Ross Hartnett commented about some of the advantages that AI will bring to future features at Snap, in order to bring more exciting experiences to users.

How do you see this topic from the brand side?
Jessica Lee said she is very eager for AI to help her to create a process more efficient, however, she said that they need a person to refine AI work, to make it a little better.

How can media and creative teams better work together?

One of the issues companies struggle with is that the marketing team on one side and the content creators on the other.

To conclude the debate, speakers agreed on the fact that the marketing team has to be closer to the creation process, so collaboration is crucial.

Lee: “Why do people come to Fanduel casino? It’s for entertainment and it is for fun, so any piece of content we put out needs to show what people feel when they stand at a casino: the lights, the sound and the thrill.”

Brandan: “Even the US and the UK industry and public are different, companies are focusing on the fun and the social aspects of betting”, he concluded.