5 From 5 Fold: Five Questions with Katharine Longo, 5 Fold’s Social Media Manager

Welcome to this edition of 5 From 5 Fold. Each month, we’ll ask a different member of the 5 Fold Marketing team five questions about themselves, what their job is like, and what they see as the future of marketing.

This month, we sat down with 5 Fold’s Social Media Manager Katharine Longo to discuss the future of social media, how she keeps up with the industry, and her long-planned travel dreams.

1. Where did you grow up, and where’d you go to college?

“I grew up in Phoenix. My parents still live in the same house my siblings and I grew up in. I went to high school at a performing arts school in Phoenix, and then I went to an arts school for college, where I received my degree in fashion marketing.”

2. What did you do before working at 5 Fold, and how did your experiences prepare you to work here?

“Previously, I worked at another marketing agency here in Phoenix. They were full-service, so we did social media, print advertising, digital advertising, grassroots stuff—we kind of did everything, including events, for each client that we had. It was stressful and a lot of work, but working with clients and their needs while also meeting tight deadlines was helpful, since I learned what to prioritize and focus on. I could get things done as needed and then handle any crises that came up.”

3. What is your favorite part of 5 Fold? What do you love most about coming into work each and every day?

“It’s fun to work with people who are fun to be around. There’s no gossiping: we just come in, do our job, and we do it well. We have fun while still getting things done. It’s good to have a job where you don’t have to complain about work and you have work-life balance. That’s really refreshing to me.”

4. Social media is a rapidly changing industry. How do you keep up with new developments and where do you think things are generally headed?

“I use Feedly. I think a lot of us use that here, just to look at a lot of different social media and other marketing news. I have tags for social media marketing, social media insights, SEO, PPC; you can add different publications that you follow on your phone and it will give you any new articles that come up, and I just check that every morning and throughout the day periodically.

I also get a lot of emails sent directly to my inbox, so I get some from [social media management software] Sprout Social, Hubspot, Social Media Today, and others like that. I’ll read any articles that seem pertinent to what I’m working on or just seem interesting to me. If I think they pertain to the whole team, I’ll send them out like I did just this morning. That’s usually how I keep up to date. Facebook posts a lot of stuff in their own feed, so I see that on my other Facebook page.”

Which social media platform has the most changes?

“Facebook. Well, Facebook and Instagram, but they go hand-in-hand, since they’re now owned collectively together. Anything that Facebook makes a change to is almost immediately applied to Instagram. Anything that they change with advertising is applied to Instagram. Twitter is very slow to the game and Google+ has struggled, but does help us with SEO.

Social media is heading in a video-centric direction. Facebook is really honing in on the live video feature that they released a year ago. They are trying to incorporate a lot into that and they see that is the future: quick videos and live videos that you’re about to interact with, and—as a business—answer questions that come through. So, for big brands, it’s really nice: it allows you to feel like you’re talking to an actual person, which has always been the thing with social media.

Facebook is also doing a lot with messaging, so they’re trying to incorporate a feature where—if you follow a brand and have interacted with them on Facebook—they have the ability, through advertising, to send you an ‘@’ messaging. That’s a specific example, but, across all social media networks, video is the main thing moving forward.”

In terms of video being integrated on Facebook, how does that impact our clients?

“Right now, we do the overview videos that are specific to industries and really fit each client. These are beneficial, but I think in the future we can start branching out and doing 30-second, bite-sized videos that are more focused on tips, employee introductions, and things of that nature. Customers want to listen to how to change an air filter or their favorite technician share fun facts about themselves. That’s how you want to be on social media: it’s a place people want to go to as a community rather than another sales tool, because there are enough of those out there.”

5. What are you most looking forward to in terms of where 5 Fold is going this year? What about your department?

“The coolest part is that we’re really collaborative. Every department works closely with the other and we communicate constantly with each other, which is really important. We don’t outsource any work, which is a breath of fresh air in this industry: a lot of the stuff I did at my previous work we outsourced developers, PPC, SEO—it wasn’t all under one roof. It was seen as two separate entities. But, here at 5 Fold, if I have a question about SEO stuff and how it affects me, I can just contact Bijo right away and get an answer about it. That collaborative factor has been really nice.

In terms of department, right now we’re trying to get a better grasp on matching our social media work with the goals for clients. If their goal is increased leads, how are we using social media to help get them to that goal? If it’s more a brand awareness or engagement goal, how are we helping them get those things? We’re honing in on their goals and finding out more about what they want to see out of social media.”

Bonus: Where have you always wanted to travel? Why?

“Italy! I know that’s no surprise. I’m Italian and my dad is 100% Italian, so his father and my grandmother are both from there and we have a ton of family from Sicily. My dad went with my sister when I was in 8th grade, and I couldn’t go, and so I’ve always wanted to go there.”