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Why “Real-Time Social” Is Too Late for Twinspires

Posted Under: Social Pros Podcast
Hosted By
10XMarketing

Daniel Lemin

Convince & Convert
10XMarketing

Hannah Tooker

LaneTerralever
10XMarketing

Leanna Pham

Convince & Convert
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Listeners get inside stories and behind-the-scenes secrets about how teams at companies like Google, Reddit, Glossier, Zillow, Lyft, Marvel, and dozens more, staff, operate, and measure their social media programs.  With 600+ episodes, the Social Pros Podcast brings the humanity of social media to the forefront, while providing incredibly useful marketing strategies that listeners can immediately implement.

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Leah Schultz, Senior Director of Brand & Social at TwinSpires Racing, Sports & Casino, joined the Social Pros podcast to discuss a winning real-time social media strategy.

Stay Ahead of the Game on Social Why “Real-Time Social” Is Too Late for Twinspires

Leah Schultz, Senior Director of Brand & Social at TwinSpires Racing, Sports & Casino, is on the Social Pros podcast to share the secrets of TwinSpires’ success.
Social media never sleeps. And in the world of online gambling, sports, and racing, social pros need to have their finger on the pulse. Part of what makes TwinSpires’ social content so engaging is that it pops up exactly when the fans need it – in real-time.
Leah and her team don’t delay when it comes to pushing out content. Someone just won their 7000th race? Her team will push out recaps, graphics, and copy, right there and then. Leah explains why this is especially important in this industry and what other social pros can do to stay ahead.
She shares the strategies behind social listening, community management, and why a trusting, close-knit team is key to making fast decisions for social content. Leah also shares a little about the challenges of promoting racing and gambling content, including the regulations and how they differ by state.

In This Episode:

  • 4:34 – Leah shares a bit of background on TwinSpires Racing, Sports & Casino
  • 5:50 – How Leah navigates the different regulations for social content
  • 7:30 – How the TwinSpires team manages national vs. state-specific social content
  • 11:20 – What Leah learned from her time with Papa John’s legal team
  • 13:30 – Why online casino and racing are a 24/7 business for the social team
  • 16:55 – Why having a social team with passionate sports fans is so important for TwinSpires
  • 20:19 – Where community management fits into the social team
  • 22:05 – How TwinSpires manages age gating with its content
  • 26:14 – Leah shares how she talks to leadership about social media and how that’s changed over the years
  • 29:41 – Leah gives her take on how VR and AR will play into the future of online casinos and sports
  • 32:40 – Why Leah prefers Twitter over audio-only platforms like Clubhouse
  • 35:52 – Leah’s top tip for those looking to become a social pro

Quotes From This Episode:

It starts with building a team of people who are super passionate about the sport. If you have someone that's not passionate about it, then it shows. Click To Tweet
“We have to be selective with what we cover. And the way we choose that is based on what is of interest to our players and what they’re betting on. We don’t want to cover a sport if they’re not interested in it.” @MackeyLeah
“By doing social listening, intelligence, and engagement, it’s really the best open forum, case study, or customer interviewing that you can do.” @MackeyLeah

Resources:

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Episode Transcript

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Leah

Schultz:

My

social media manager last night she was doing some live coverage of a MBA and she sends me a message. She goes I’m a minute and a half faster to get this update out than ESPN was, or, or faster than you know, this, this team getting the footage out. So it’s always kind of like a little thing. Like how fast can we get this footage out?

Adam

Brown:

Well,

I guess when you’re beating ESPN with clips real time is too late. And that’s exactly what you said in response to Leah Schultz, senior director, Brandon social twin spires on an amazing podcast. It’s a very, non-traditional very special podcast this week because we talk about everything from the metaverse to Papa John’s, to gambling and wagering and casinos and real time broadcast, artificial intelligence, crazy show.

Anna

Hrach:

Yeah.

This is a crazy show. It’s definitely a little bit different. Because of course we talked to Leah Schultz, who is the senior director brand and social for twin spires racing, sports and casino, which most people probably recognize Churchill downs and Kentucky Derby. So definitely in the same vein, they’re all one part of the same universe that Leah is involved in. And yeah, when it comes to sports betting and racing and sports in general real time is too late. And it is amazing the foundation that Leah has put into place with her team, the, how they operate the way that they, Adam, as you’ve mentioned, beat ESPN with replays and recaps, it is crazy. It is such a fun episode. And even if you are not in the world of sports, in sports betting and horse racing, this is a great episode just in terms of you know, setting up your teams, really building that trust.

Anna

Hrach:

Just

all the cool stuff that they’re doing. It’s a fun episode. But before we get into this amazingly fun episode, and before we hear from Leah, we have a few things we want to chat with you about. Did you know that today 84% of marketers say customer expectations are changing their digital strategy. Despite the harsh challenges of the past year and a half marketers have found innovative ways to connect with their customers and each other. The seventh edition of the state of marketing report from Salesforce presents the insights of over 8,000 marketing leaders across 37 countries. This year’s report reveals the biggest priorities and challenges that will shape the future of marketing strategy in 2021 and beyond download your free copy today at Bitly slash state of marketing report, that’s B I T dot L Y forward slash state of marketing report, all lower case.

Anna

Hrach:

Did

you also know that 265 million people per day use Snapchat snap reaches 90% of gen Z in America and 75% of millennials. This high value audience is 150% more than non snap users to prefer communicating with pictures. Instead of words, if your business isn’t advertising on snap, you absolutely should explore it because it’s a big opportunity, especially for e-commerce and DTC brands. In fact, snap ads provide 300% ROI on average, and now that Jay is a snap ambassador, we’ve got a special offer for you that you cannot refuse. If you spend $500 on a new snap ad campaign, they’ll give you $500 free, spend a thousand dollars, and you’ll get a free $1,000 and spend $2,000 and you’ll get that’s right, $2,000 in free ad credit to learn more and get rolling, go to Bitly slash snap, J that’s B I T dot L Y forward slash snap. J thanks now, and now let’s hear from Leah Schultz, senior director, brand and social for twin spires, racing, sports and casino.

Speaker

4:

[Inaudible]
Adam

Brown:

From

pizza to ponies, Leah Schultz, senior director bread and social twin spires racing, sports and casino. We’ll get to that pizza part, but Leah Schultz has probably tweeted more pictures of Derby hats than every one of our listeners combined. Leah. It is great to have you on the show.

Leah

Schultz:

Thanks

so much. That was an awesome intro.

Adam

Brown:

Well,

we try to have fun here and we’re going to have fun in this podcast. First off the brand behind Churchill downs and the Kentucky Derby. Tell us more about twin spires racing and sports racing, sports and casino.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

So twin spires is the leader in horse race wagering in the industry. We call it ADW advanced deposit wagering. So if you’re not at the track or if you are at the track you can place your bets via twin spires. We’re live in about 40 plus states. Earlier this year, we’ve expanded into sports betting and online casino as well. So in about seven states for sports betting and about three states for casino. So slowly entering that, that space and you know, it’s, it’s been really fun to take the brand to the next level and kind of extend beyond you know, our heritage of just horseracing.

Adam

Brown:

I

can only imagine. And I think one of the things I think Anna and are so fascinated about is this world of social that you work in. We work and talk to lots of guests who are in regulated industries, but this is a very regulated industry. And I’m curious, first off, any special restrictions, I’m sure there’s probably something around age gating. There’s probably something, just, just anything talking about gaming and parimutuel gambling, all those other topics. Talk a little bit about kind of how that world looks and how different that is from, from the worlds of, of social media leadership that you’ve had before.

Leah

Schultz:

Sure.

So first off it’s different for racing than it is for sports and casino. Racing is parimutuel with a sports casino you’re really playing against the house, right? So also there is regulation by state. So every single state is different. The reason that we are only in as many states as we are while it’s legal in many other states, is that there’s many regulations and regulators that you go through approval process for. And there’s only so many operators that can be live at a time when they apply for their licenses. And so it just takes time, you know, it’s, it’s a lot of politics, a lot of you know, red tape, a lot of regulations there. And it’s, it’s something that I didn’t anticipate being as challenging as it was. I’ve worked in some regulated industries in the past with healthcare and tobacco, but I will say gaming is by far the most complex that I’ve worked in. You know, there’s, there’s some regular ager regulators that will even get out a ruler to measure that your disclaimers are large enough on your, on your billboard or on your ad or, or whatever it might be. So take that three different verticals by all the states that you’re in, that’s all the different regulations we have to be compliant with.

Adam

Brown:

I'm

going to geek out here on some of those regulations, because unlike, as you said, healthcare and things like that, those are, those are really related, are regulated at the national level. So you’re in 40 different states, you have different racetracks and casinos and sports books in different states. Does that mean that as you write different posts for different Twitter handles that actually operate in different states, or you physically are at the Kentucky Derby in Louisville or Lexington and having to actually text and tweet there, what do the different regulations look like? I mean, you probably have to have an entire staff just to deal with those legal things or you have an entire floor of lawyers that assist.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

So what we do is, is for organic social, since that’s, non-targeted we consider that to be like, treat that like a national post. So we call that non-jurisdictional. So we would treat that as if it was targeting anyone that could be seeing that from any state for horse racing, it’s, it’s a lot you know, easier to kind of fit in all the right regulations are more standardized. But when it comes to sports in a casino, those are really state by state. So we’ve got big blocks of texts that we use. That’ll say, you know, here’s the non jurisdictional language that we can use on any post. But say we’re targeting a specific state for say a launch. We might have very specific language that is for Arizona or Colorado. And so depending on what the content of that post is, we select if we use a blanket statement or if we use one target for the state,

Anna

Hrach:

That's

insane. I mean, even as you’re talking, I same, I’ve worked with so many pharma brands and even products that have had you black box warnings. I’ve literally never had anybody break out a ruler to look at the size of the disclaimer. That is insane. So how do you make sure you’re staying on top of all of this, especially with the many different states that you’re in and then constantly changing legislation and different rules. How do you actually keep on top of all this and then also train up teams on when to include what disclaimer, when and how

Leah

Schultz:

Sure.

Well, I’m very, I’m a rule follower, number one, just like who I am in my nature and my time at Papa John’s. We had an amazing attorney there that service the marketing department, and she taught me a ton of things about just advertising regulations in general. And so I had a really great base when I came over here. And when I started here meeting our attorney here, learning, you know, what does this mean? Because not only do you have to be compliant with advertising regulations, you also have to be compliant with gaming regulations. So things have to have a legal check and then they also have to have a compliance check and those are different. So there’s two different areas. We do lots of training, lucky, lots of documentation. And at first the the team gave me when I said, Hey, I need to know how to, like, I need to learn all this.

Leah

Schultz:

And

also how to train our teams on it in the marketing team. And they said, well, here’s a bunch of documentation. It was a bunch of novels written in lawyer language, right? And I’m like, this is a lot. I’m going to miss something. I’m going to misunderstand something. How do we distill this down in a way that people can, can understand this and feel confident? And so we basically have made tables. Here’s what it is for non-jurisdictional, here’s what it is for every single state. Here’s the must haves. Here’s some little caveats. Here’s what it is when you include something like apple or Google, weren’t talking about our apps. And so we have some very clear documentation and then we also have trainings. A lot of times I’ll lead those with our legal and compliance department, and it’s all about continuing to make sure everyone is clear on it. And what I tell everyone on our teams from the creative team to the social team to editorial and beyond is it’s really everyone’s responsibility to make sure that we’re educated on it. We understand it. And then we’re always checking each other’s work.

Anna

Hrach:

Beautiful

also that level of organization and presses me. I mean, I guess you would have to, to make sure you’re, you’re staying on top of everything, but I feel like even brands or social media pros who are listening right now, like that level of organization should be there anyway, not just when you have a very highly regulated industry, but also the other thing I love too, in addition to your organization is you mentioned when you were at Papa, John’s how you, it sounded like you had a very positive experience with the legal department there and that you bring up a really good point, which is that it seems like a lot of times, especially in social it’s so legal can be frustrating, right? Like, especially like it can squash creativity or it can kill campaigns or, you know, it just is what it is. And a lot of times we see it as a barrier, but it almost sounds like you really learned from them almost developed like a really

Leah

Schultz:

Great

working relationship with them. And that kind of made things easier. Let me know if I’m reading a little too much into that, but it sounded like it was a really positive experience for sure. And I would say that my rule when I start a new job is the people that I want to build a positive relationship first with first, is it any, any administrative folks and the attorneys, because those three groups are going to make my life easier. Or if I mess up, they’re going to be the ones that make my life more challenging, right? So they’re the ones that can help me. I can help the team by having that relationship with them. So I’m going to try to stack the deck in my favor as much as possible by building those relationships and learning about the organization and how to, you know, basically get any projects, move forward that we want to get forward. You know, and those are the people that hold the keys and can help you get that done

Adam

Brown:

With

all the hurdles that you have to, to undertake and different states with different commissions, with different lawyers. It it’s, it’s hard to believe that you actually have fun and kind of broadcast fun, but you do. And that’s one of the most amazing things you are in the entertainment industry, and you are encouraging people to come to to your trucks, come to your casinos, whether virtually or in person with with online gaming. One of the things you told us before the show was how you are really cranking up broadcast and video, and actually being able to take, for example, seconds after an actual horse race, take content, repackage it, I mean, you’re almost running a live broadcast studio. It sounds like.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

The wild thing about racing and sports and online casino, isn’t never closes. And online casino is open 24, 7, 365. You know, we think about horse racing or sports. We think about when the NBA is on or when NFL is on or when Churchill downs is running. But guess what we have racing from all over the world to international tracks. So we might have it in the middle of the night, definitely on the holidays, all of those things. So we are always on, and that’s for our social team, for our editorial team. There is no shortage of content that was definitely challenging when COVID was happening in live events. You know, we’re, we’re not happening sports specifically. What’s interesting is horse racing was happening then. So a lot of people who are spending time watching sports, betting on sports were migrating over betting on horse racing.

Leah

Schultz:

So

that was great for that part of the business. But now that things have kind of shifted back to being more normal you know, racing is still like core to us. And I’m very proud of the work that our team has done as far as these racing replays and recaps. And we build these quick little shows. We have this software that we use that basically is used by all of the big leagues out there to be able to push out recaps and replays instantly, it’s got some AI built into it and we’re actually the first ones in the industry to do it for horse racing. So it analyzes a bunch of a bunch of footage and it can tell when there’s, you know, like a you know, photo finish or done in the wire, someone has a fast break or whatever.

Leah

Schultz:

It

might be, same thing when they do it for basketball. If someone hits like an amazing three or you know, whatever the hot play might be. And so it looks at that and then it’s like, we’re able to pump it out very quick. So we’re the first and the only ones in the industry doing that right now. And it’s funny cause I was talking to my social media manager last night. She was doing some live coverage of a MBA and she sends me a message. She goes I’m a minute and a half faster to get this update out than ESPN was, or, or faster than you know, this, this team getting the footage out. So it’s always kind of like a little thing. Like how fast can you get the footage out? And, and that’s the beauty of, of social and especially Twitter where we spend so much of our time sports, Twitter, obviously a thing didn’t know that horse racing Twitter was a thing, but there’s a huge community of racing Twitter as we call it out there. And they’re really hungry for action. They’re, they’re hungry for pics, they’re hungry for a recap replays and then you’ll see the jockeys owners. Everyone is like really in on it too. So it’s a really cool community that didn’t really know existed before I started getting into it.

Anna

Hrach:

That

is phenomenal. My mind is still blown about the technology that you have to post those replays and recaps. So it’s so funny because so many times when we talk about real-time engagement that’s like almost too slow for you. Like your real time is lightning it’s it’s lightning fast. So how does that work with the team? Because obviously not only do you have to keep all these regulations straight, not only do you have to make sure you get the content up and you get everything posted, but you have to do it super fast. So how does this work from an operations perspective? Like, do you just have crazy fast? Twitter’s like, how does this work? Cause I’m so, so fascinated by this entire process.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

It starts with building a team of people who are super passionate about the sport. So on the racing side, we have people who have been racing analysts, handicappers just super passionate, you know, horse people on the sports side, we’ve got sports fans, people who have been a sports reporters before or worked at at you know, ESPN or other publications that, you know, this is like their, their dream is to like work in sports. So you have to have that passion. If you have someone that’s not passionate about it, then, then it shows. So we’ve, we’ve built teams that are passionate about those sports. And then we are just extremely in tune to what’s happening. So you know, O being owned by Churchill downs and, and you know, the, the team behind the Kentucky Derby, I mean, we’ve got 146 years of wait wagering and racing experience.

Leah

Schultz:

So

that’s a big legacy to live up to. So I think there’s an as well that we do kind of set that standard, that we are a leader in the space. And the thing is like, our teams are always online. They’re, they’re, they’re tapped in, they know what’s up. I mean, we have umpteen million slack channels that are talking about like what’s happening. Great example is, is yesterday around like five o’clock. I think we had a jockey who hit like 7,000 wins. We instantly pushed out a a recap of that, of his win, had a graphic that was made right there in real time. And it was all done like in the moment. And that’s how the team that’s at the team doesn’t they just, they work together. They’re passionate about it and they, and it’s, I think really fun for them to see that work, come to life and kind of see like the numbers go up, the engagement’s happening, the conversation about it.

Anna

Hrach:

That's,

that’s truly amazing. It also sounds like there is such, because there is no time for editorial review. It sounds like there’s an incredible amount of trust. And just like you mentioned, like highly, highly trained this isn’t your average casual sports fan, right. It sounds like there’s just so much trust built into the team and really letting people just do what they’re best at.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

In addition to knowing sports, you have to know wagering, which makes it even more complex. You know, it’s not about just saying, Hey, I’m such and such player scored X, Y, Z points. It’s also posting the lines there talking about what bets Matt might hit or, or where the money’s being spent. So, so it’s more complicated than just like giving you an editorial update.

Adam

Brown:

Yeah.

And did you beat the spread? And, and that’s, that’s the easy one before you start getting into all those other you know, prop bets and crazy stuff that, that, that I even get confused with yet. Bring out your calculator, you have a passionate team, you have passionate guests and customers. One of the things I’m curious about that we see in, in, in me working with, with, with casinos and things like that, they want to know everything they can about, about their customers. And they want to make sure anything they do in social media to a customer is very much personalized. Are you kind of looking at that in terms of here are your, you know, your VIP customers, here are the people who are visiting your casino. We need to make sure that we treat them differently, whether it’s in the customer care world, which you may or may not, we’ll get to that here in a second cover, or just general, you know, banter from, from your team. How does that work at your organization?

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah,

I’d say on the social front you know, community, community management is a big part of what our social team does. We have a full-time community manager on the team who engages the racing chatter engages on the sports chatter. We’ve got some contractors that help us do the live tweeting as well. So, I mean, there’s so many sports to cover, like right now, for example, there’s NBA, NHL getting ready for the world series a million things happening, right. That we could cover. So we have to be selective with what we cover and the way we choose that is based on what is of interest to our players and our betters. What are they betting on? We don’t want to go cover a sport if they’re not interested in it. So we’re probably going to look at match ups that are happening in the states that were alive, for example.

Leah

Schultz:

And

then beyond that when it comes to how we’re marketing to these players, we want to make sure that we’re marketing them in a personalized way. So of course we have our first party customer databases, and we’re able to understand like, you know, Hey, where are they based if they live in Michigan, they’re probably really going to be interested in you know university of Michigan match up. If they’re in Tennessee, are they going to really care about an Eagles matchup? No, they’re going to care about a Titan’s matchup. So we looked at those things to try to send them offers that are specific to what we do know about them. And then once they start playing with us, we can look at their behaviors and say, you know, we want to give you value. We don’t want to be filling up anyone’s inbox with irrelevant things. So the more value that we can offer I think, you know, the more that they’re going to want to play and you know, work on creating that lifetime value and building a positive relationship with them, because like you said earlier, we’re in the entertainment business and you know, wagering and makes sports and racing more fun. Okay.

Adam

Brown:

And

talking to all these these guests and people who are just following you and liking you in different states with different regulations, but I’m assuming ages is probably a universal challenge that, you know, they’re, you know, I think 1821, I think it’s mostly 18. You can’t, you can’t gamble. And you know, under that particular age, curious if that has to kind of hit your rubric for how you manage content, age gating whether you’re paid or organic or both.

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah,

for sure. So on the sports side of things, it’s, it’s 21 and up and for racing it’s 18 and we’re always trying to follow responsible gaming laws and practices. So you know, w we’re not targeting individuals who are under age or where, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not legal. So that that’s definitely number one. But of course, you know, our, our channels are public. When you sign up to bet with us, you have to go through a registration process that vets you for, you know, are you in the proper location where it’s legal? Are you old enough, those types of things? So again, that’s all built into the regulation piece and you know, you can’t you know, anyone can maybe see a billboard when they’re driving by, but you can’t actually play with us unless you pass through those, those kinds of regulation. Gates,

Anna

Hrach:

Leah,

you are obviously steeped in all things, sports and racing and bedding every single day. But as Adam had mentioned before from pizza to ponies, you, this is not your first brush with anything sports related, you

Adam

Brown:

Know,

another

Anna

Hrach:

Analogy,

good one, Adam, I can’t believe I missed that opportunity. That’s good. Credit where credit’s due you actually spent four super bowls with the Papa John’s team. So how did that prepare you for your current position today? And then also, how did that experience compare with like being at the super bowl and then, you know, having to work through it, to now having to kind of live this, this world of sports and all things betting a gaming?

Leah

Schultz:

Sure.

when I was at the PO at Papa John’s you know, Papa John’s was the official pizza of the NFL for a long time. So my first, my first year on the team was super bowl, 49. I’m actually out there by you in Arizona, in Phoenix. And then we had super bowl 50 in San Francisco the next year. That was probably my favorite. But having that experience working on, you know, such an iconic moment in culture it really prepared me because I went from Superbowl the best of the best for NFL. And now I’m like, oh, I guess I’ve already worked to Kentucky Derby’s, which, you know, might be one of the most iconic sporting events in the country. You know, I think it might be with the oldest actually. And, and being there as an official sponsor was really cool because there’s a ton of huge sponsors there.

Leah

Schultz:

We

would always have a big up in, in Superbowl city being able to talk to consumers. And the thing is that everybody loves pizza and it was a great, easy thing to market with that audience. So no matter what we did, it was fun. It was an opportunity to interact with a lot of athletes. I did my first Facebook live stream at super bowl, 50 with Peyton Manning. That was really cool. And then of course, when Papa John’s brought shack on, we did a ton of stuff, you know, working with him. But I think working on the super bowl was, was one of my highlights because every year it was similar, but a little bit different. And, and really trying to activate around how do you take this cultural moment and turn it into a pizza moment was something that we try to do every year. And it was really fun. And it’s, it’s one of the fondest memories I have from that time.

Adam

Brown:

Yeah.

I can only imagine. I mean, you think of Superbowl and those are social media moments. We all remember the super bowl in new Orleans where the lights went off and in the Superdome and Oreos you know, you can eat them in the dark. I can’t remember the actual post, but I remember dark. That’s what it was. Thank you. Thank you. Genius. You have been in this industry for a little while and you have seen the evolution. Certainly there are Papa John’s of social kind of being in the, in the back office. You know, it’s, it’s back there. The CEO is probably not that interested in what’s going on to today, socials at the, at the big table. It is an integral part of communications during good events and crisis and issues. Talk about that journey that you have seen. I mean, and, and kind of today, what does your rapport look like with the leadership in terms of providing insights from social listening to here’s the engagement to, you know, here’s how we actually kind of pivot from being a cost center to even a profit center and in driving revenue?

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

I started doing social in 2010. At the time I worked for a Xerox which ran a bunch of you know, call centers for different clients. So I got my start in social care and that extended into social listening and intelligence, which really was not even a thing at that point. But I I thought, you know, this is really interesting. The first, the first thing is, is how do we connect with customers and solve their issues once you solve someone’s issue? How can you elevate that to becoming an opportunity to sell to them and increase that value that they have with the company? So, you know, I kind of doubled down on that and then social listening and intelligence became a passion area for me. And after I left that role, I came over to Papa John’s and I really wanted to get some high powered software to be able to deliver on that.

Leah

Schultz:

I

knew I was going to be able to deliver insights on how much people are talking about things like dough or pepperoni or delivery and what the sentiment was. So I was slowly kind of building this infrastructure in the background that no one ever really understood or even knew what I was doing when I was, I was building it, but I knew that I was going to be able to provide Intel back to the business. If nothing else just around like product and consumer opinion. But when Papa John’s was in the news for you know, some, some big brand issues the company, you know, looked at me and they said, you know, wait, you’re able to report on, on product issues. Can you also report on brand issues? I’m like, absolutely. So fortunately I’d had all this built out ready to go.

Leah

Schultz:

We

were doing an excellent job at customer service on social already. So the framework was already there. And when the business learned that by doing social listening, intelligence and engagement it’s really the best you know, open forum or case study or you know, kind of customer interviewing that you can do. You know, as a focus group, without this group, even really, you know, knowing they’re in a focus group or, or planning it, they’re just put speaking their truth on social. And so being able to report back on that and quantify that was, it was really you know, to me, very rewarding because I was able to say, Hey, we just launched a new rewards program. Here’s what people think about that. Also we’re in the news, here’s what people think about us. Here’s what people, you know, are saying good, bad, ugly. And then that would help focus the strategy on how we could start to repair and rebuild things.

Adam

Brown:

This

is so brilliant. Leah Schultz, senior director of Brandon social twin spires, racing, sports and casino. Leah, I’m going to ask you a crazy question here. As we record this here in the middle of October Facebook has just announced, you know, there might be changing their name. And we hear mark Zuckerberg talk about the metaverse. And if anybody who listens knows, you know, has an Oculus, they kind of see on this idea of this kind of virtual reality world. I mean, it’s, it’s kind of ready player one ish, so to speak. I have to think here you are, you’re in the entertainment business, you’re doing live events. At some point, these worlds are going to collide. What do you think about all of this and are, do you have teams and kind of the R and D space that are looking at kind of virtual reality gaming and racing and things like that. And my goodness, you, you seem to be right in the perfect seat to take advantage of that.

Leah

Schultz:

Oh

yeah. It’s wild. I think that we’re going to see the world of sports and, and this AR and VR and all of that, it’s, that’s going to be where we’re going to see the coolest stuff, because at the end of the day, it’s just freaking cool, right? Like to be able to be courtside or to be able to be like on the rail, right. At the finish line of the Derby which I have done twice in person is so awesome to be able to bring that experience to people is, is going to be amazing. Plus once they figure out technologically how to do that, then they’re going to monetize it. Right. So instead of buying a concert ticket to actually be there, then they’re going to start selling tickets for you to virtually be there and, and have different options. So I think it opens doors entertainment wise, but also for accessibility to bringing these experiences to people who can’t physically be there, which I think is fantastic.

Leah

Schultz:

But

I mean, I remember where I was when Facebook was invented and never thought that it was going to be what it is today. And while Facebook is, is, you know, is a lot of things. It’s, it’s certainly still the backbone and the social world for a lot of the way that we interact. So I’m really interested to see kind of how that comes together. But I think that we’re always going to be using technology to connect with one another, whether that’s via messaging or photos or take talks or whatever it is, I can guarantee you it’s going to be different in five or 10 years from now. But the core of it is still going to be the same. So I’m really excited to see what happens there. I can tell you, I’m not one that wants to wear a big headset. So as soon as they can figure something out, that is, you know, not so personally aggressive in my space. That’s what I would like

Adam

Brown:

For

apple glass.

Anna

Hrach:

Nice.

Maybe yeah, Google last, we’ll just have to come back. Was it Google glass? Was that

Leah

Schultz:

Time?
Anna

Hrach:

Yeah,

maybe

Adam

Brown:

It's

not like the apple Newton. It was just too, too ahead of its time.

Anna

Hrach:

Or

like the Nintendo power glove.

Adam

Brown:

Did

we just did

Anna

Hrach:

One

there? Just bring that back. Maybe we’re all going to be tweeting from our Nintendo power gloves next year. Leah, you brought up a really good point, which is, you know, when you first started working in social 10 years ago, it is nothing like it is today. So I’m just curious of all of the channels that you work in today, which one has surprised you the most in terms of engagement or where you, I know you’d mentioned that you didn’t even know like horse racing, Tik TOK was a thing, but any other surprising audience discoveries or even engagement opportunities that you wouldn’t have initially thought of when you first really jumped into this world?

Leah

Schultz:

Yeah.

I think this past year when we saw, you know, the moment happening for a clubhouse and these audio things didn’t really see that coming. And then when it came, I wasn’t surprised when it passed. I think there’s, there’s something about audio that makes it challenging, which also makes me, it’s my biggest issue with tick-tock. It’s it sound on by default, right. I can only do something with sound on when I’m at a place where I can do that. So for me, when I was listening in, on clubhouses or per participating, it was, I couldn’t be multitasking the way I can on other social media. So you know, I think that was interesting. I’m, I’m super bullish on Twitter. I’ve been, you know, Twitter has been my number one for a long, long time. I just love the real-time nature of it.

Leah

Schultz:

I

think that they’re making some really smart strategic decisions what they did around the political season, what they’re doing around safety and their policies now, how they’re looking to monetize and, and to help out creators. I think that they’re going to be the ones that kind of surprise us in some certain ways. I mean, I was worried about them a few years ago, but I’ve been really pleased to see kind of what they’ve been doing. And I think that, you know, Pinterest is also going to be doing even bigger things. There are a sleeping giant, in my opinion,

Anna

Hrach:

You

know, what’s funny is we actually don’t get to talk about clubhouse enough. But it really good point. I actually had never thought about it that way, because it is similar. Like when I listen to podcasts, I can’t multitask. I have to focus. So I never thought about that in different ways. So social pros, when you’re thinking about clubhouse and how you want to approach it as a brand definitely something to take into consideration. Cause I hadn’t thought about that either

Leah

Schultz:

You

can do it right there and then, you know, with a podcast, I can do it at my leisure. That was my problem.

Anna

Hrach:

Leah,

this has been such a genuinely delightful conversation and I learned so much. I am, self-admittedly not a massive gambler. Like I do some video poker here and there, which I’m sure all the gamblers and people who bet on sports and horses are probably cringing right now. Cause that’s not really gambling. That’s just like video games. But I genuinely, this has been so much fun and so enlightening and you have blown my mind with all of this great, great information you’ve provided us. So thank you so much for being here today.

Leah

Schultz:

Oh,

no problem. Thanks for having me. This was a lot of fun.

Anna

Hrach:

Yes,

absolutely. But of course, you know that before we let you go, you have to answer the same two questions that every single episode has featured every single guest, almost 500 has answered, which is the big two. Leah, are you ready for the big two? Yes. All right. So first question. If you could give one piece of advice to anyone who wants to become a social pro, what would it be?

Leah

Schultz:

One

piece of advice that I would give to anyone wanting to be a social pro, it would be just start tweeting, just start doing it. You don’t have to have a formal training. A formal background have a degree in it. I mean, there were no degrees in it when I started and I wanted a job in it. So that’s what I did. I got on Twitter and just started tweeting.

Anna

Hrach:

Nice.

So just go, go do it. Yeah, love it. Yeah. Agreed. All right. Second question of the big two. If you could have a video call with any living person, who would it be and why?

Leah

Schultz:

All

right, this is going to be a controversial one.

Adam

Brown:

We

like that. I’m

Anna

Hrach:

Excited.
Leah

Schultz:

Kanye

west.

Anna

Hrach:

Whoa,

Adam, has anyone said Kamiyah before? I’m sorry.

Adam

Brown:

He
Leah

Schultz:

Changed

his name officially.

Adam

Brown:

I

don’t think so. I don’t think so. Now I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that when I was a guest on this show, many, many, many moons ago, I answered the question with sir Richard Branson. He was the one person that I wanted to meet with. You have met, sir. Richard, you have spoken to him. He has uttered your name on a video. Yes,

Leah

Schultz:

Yes,

yes. That’s back when I worked on the Virgin mobile brand I led their social care team. Like probably one of the first brands out there doing that. And you know, telco was one of the first delete that industry, but it was a huge shock to me when we got a video from, from him singing the praises of our team and shouting me out by name. And so I keep that one in my back pocket for interviews, things like that.

Adam

Brown:

Well,

here we are on the social pros podcast and you’ve mentioned him and along with Kanye. So, so two very good, very good people. I would like to have maybe together.

Anna

Hrach:

That'd

be wild. Yes. And now we just need a video of Kanye saying your praises on, on all of your social efforts and then it’ll be complete. We can just keep it going. We’re going to manifest

Leah

Schultz:

It

into the universe.

Anna

Hrach:

Done

manifesting now. Leah, thank you so much for being on the show. So, so great to have you. It was, it was a great conversation. I’m so excited that we were able to chat today.

Leah

Schultz:

Thank

you so much. Appreciate

Anna

Hrach:

It.

Fantastic. And also thank you so much to everybody else who are who’s listening right now. He is Adam Brown from Salesforce and I am Anna hurrah from convince and convert. And just thank you so much for being here too. We look forward to continuing our conversations next time on what we hope is your favorite podcast in the whole wide world, the social pros podcast.

CC

EP 498 – Edited (Completed 11/24/21)

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