At GANDT, we understand that the advertising, media, and marketing industry moves fast—that’s part of what makes our jobs so exciting and gives us the opportunity to learn new things constantly. We thrive on a steady diet of business insights on the latest tech innovations, market trends, and data-driven research.
And knowing who and what to follow on social media is a big part of what allows us to stay up to date and get news and updates as they happen. So if you’re looking to get more out of the time you spend scrolling the social landscape, here are some tips from our team on where they go for industry news and inspiration.
Find relevant content with hashtags
Greet Gleixner is our content marketing, SEO, and social media specialist. Through her former food blog and time working for various start-ups, Greet discovered the many facets of social media and SEO. This is where she goes to stay informed and finds her inspiration on social media:
“While I use social media to interact with marketing-related content, I don’t really follow specific people. Instead, I mostly follow hashtags to discover new voices and content that’s relevant to me. On Twitter, I follow topics such as Marketing, Business Media, and Tech News. By following these topics, Twitter shows me relevant tweets that don’t necessarily need to be from someone I follow. I follow marketeers in general, but I pay closer attention to what’s in the tweet rather than who sent it. For SEO, I follow:
- @johnmu, a search advocate at Google
- @timsoulo, CMO at Ahrefs
- @sengineland, marketing news
In addition, I joined the #measure Slack Channel, where we can interact with other marketeers and exchange knowledge.
It is the same on LinkedIn where I follow #digitalmarketing, #startups, #technology, or #innovation. Following hashtag helps me tailor my news feed to relevant topics while not limiting it to my own network.
Tap your LinkedIn network for news and analysis
Mike Staal is our Senior Product and UX Manager. He’s got over ten years of experience in PR, Online Marketing, and Technology. LinkedIn is his social media platform of choice:
“When it comes to finding insight and inspiration on social media —pretty much all of my sources are from LinkedIn. Either people I’m connected with share an interesting article (Product Owners, teach leads, etc.) or like a specific article. This really can be anyone, but the most influential people for me are:
- Peep Laja
- Ben Labay
- Ran Yosef
- André Morys
- Christina Gkofa (personal friend).
Otherwise, Platforms like CXL, UX Magazine, UX Collective, #CRO, #digitalmarketing, and #UX work me, too. If it’s not on LinkedIn—I tend to get my news through a Dutch news outlet (www.nu.nl) and then try to find an international version so I can share it.”
Go to the big brands for inspiration on social media
Stephanie Gerfin is a recent Marketing and Business graduate who supports our clients with their content marketing and social media activities. She enjoys looking to the big names to get ideas and inspiration on social media content:
“My input echoes a lot of what Greet said, but I don’t tend to follow as many specific people. I follow companies I find interesting, cool, and innovative, or just well-established brands. This is where I get my content ideas and inspiration. I like looking at how brands do it and drawing my own conclusions. Some of my favorites include:
- Cosmetics: ColourPop, Morphe, NYX, Fenty
- Fashion: Nike, Vogue, Prada, Calvin Klein, H&M
- Automotive: Audi, Mercedes, Porsche.
- Entertainment: Marvel and Disney
- Food and beverage: Coca-Cola and Redbull
Of course, all these brands have huge marketing budgets, but I like thinking about how the tactics and strategies they use could be utilized in different contexts.”
Find tips and tricks on TikTok
Sharon Livain is our whizz when it comes to finding social media topics. After working in education for nine years, she decided to pursue her passion: social media networks. With her educational background, she appreciates TikTok for its knowledge-sharing and learning capabilities.
“I rely primarily on TikTok for social media inspiration. I follow people who give tips and tutorials on tools or channels that I also use. Some of my favorites include:
- Canva: @rebellenutrition (also gives Insta tips)
- Instagram Stories: @enriquestory
- Instagram in general: @valerie_lisitsyna
- Social media in general: @socialjoy
- Creative photography: @sferro21
I also watch the Hootsuite videos on Facebook Live and have found them very interesting and well-executed. I enjoy the format of diving into a topic then hearing the opinions of several experts discussing it. They also have a live chat where you can ask questions and get an immediate response.”
Finding your own social media approach
As you can see, in the wide world of social media, there are many roads you can take to find news, ideas, and analysis. It is about finding the platforms you most enjoying intuitively and cultivating a network that provides you with fresh and relevant content. And, of course, we’re also here to help! If you like staying up to date on current social media trends and growth marketing hacks, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest digital marketing news.
