Provide value: Bianca Spada, Red Bull social media manager

Bianca Spada recently joined Carlota Pico to talk about her role as global senior social media manager at Red Bull, the world-famous energy drink company. Bianca shared how she was recruited by the company after achieving success in her former role at music streaming service Deezer. Bianca also talked about why it’s essential to provide value on social media, what’s on the horizon for the industry, her favorite moments in her career so far, and how to drive successful campaigns on a small budget.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

Bianca’s proudest career moments are intertwined; she helped Deezer completely revamp their social media presence, which caught the attention of Red Bull, who needed help with their own channels. At Red Bull, she then spearheaded the creation of a video for social media that has garnered over 75 million views to date.

The wildly popular cooking channels Twisted and Buzzfeed’s Tasty prove that you can achieve success organically. They’ve leveraged great content, attractive design and the message that cooking is for everyone—not just chefs—in order to build empires.

It’s not always easy to convince senior management to buy into your ideas, especially when the concepts seem foreign to them. Some tips to help persuade them include backing everything up with numbers; omitting jargon and simplifying your message; and being flexible in your approach.

One authentic way for brands to support social movements is by promoting meaningful calls-to-action—like linking to specific charities, petitions and resources—and allocating a portion of their budget to back up these initiatives.

Bianca predicts that in the future, Gen Z will keep pushing for brands to be more vocal about social justice movements on their platforms, and shopping on social media will continue to evolve.

Value is the currency of social media. If you’re able to provide value with your content, you’ll see people engaging with it and sharing it. Brands that aren’t able to do that are the ones that fall behind.

Rapid-fire recs

What’s your favorite app at the moment?

I’ve recently gone through a Pokémon Go craze. It’s not my favorite app ever, but I find it really interesting. It became one of the most iconic apps in recent history by integrating augmented reality with smartphone technology.

A professional role model or influencer who you admire?

I really admire Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s opinionated, sides with the underdog and makes people accountable for things that she doesn’t feel are fair. She’s also very social media savvy and approachable, which doesn’t fit the traditional image of politicians. It’s such a nice thing to see in the current political environment, especially in America.

I also admire New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. She’s so inspiring. I’m not very into politics to be completely honest, but these two figures bring a breath of fresh air by attracting younger audiences and being vocal about the things that matter.

A valuable resource, event or group?

I’m reading a fantastic book right now called “Videocracy” by Kevin Allocca, head of culture at YouTube. It talks about YouTube’s early origins (it was initially a video dating platform!) and how it became what it is today. It also explores different trends and videos, why they went viral and the behavior behind viral trends.

Connect with Bianca and Carlota on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge, a freelance content creator based in Madrid.