SocialMedia.org celebrates 15 years as a community

SocialMedia.org — the longest running community for senior social media leaders — is celebrating our 15th anniversary together, and we’re highlighting the milestones that members helped us achieve in our confidential, vendor-free community.

“SocialMedia.org is a true community that helps to inform and inspire myself and members of my organization every day.” 

Board Chair Rob Hanson, Senior Manager of Social Listening and Operations at Keurig Dr Pepper, said it best (quote above). SocialMedia.org has grown into an incredible support system. 

Currently, the community is made up of 1,294 social media leaders from 307 billion-dollar companies, but over the last 15 years, 7,900+ leaders from over 900 companies have been a part of this organization. 

A special thanks to the 69 member companies who have been in the community for over ten years:

3M, Whirlpool Corporation, Abbott, AbbVie, Ace Hardware, American Family Insurance, Ameriprise Financial, Analog Devices, Avery Products, Boeing, Bosch, Bridgestone, Brother International, Cambia Health Solutions, Canon USA, Capital One, CenterPoint Energy, Chevron, Cigna, Citrix, CME Group, The Coca-Cola Company, ComEd, Corning, Costco Wholesale, Dell, Discovery Inc., Duke Energy, Embridge, Enterprise Holdings, Farmers Insurance, FedEx, Ferguson Enterprises, Fidelity Investments, First Republic Bank, Georgia-Pacific, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Hilton, Honeywell, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, The J.M Smucker Company, JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, Keurig Dr Pepper, Medtronic, MGM Resorts, Navy Federal Credit Union, NCR Corporation, Nestle Purina PetCare, Northwestern Mutual, Novartis, NRG Energy, Nissan North America, PerkinElmer, Principal Financial Group, Publix Super Markets, Thrivent Financial, T-Mobile, Toyota, Travelers, T. Rowe Price Associates, United Airlines, UnitedHealth Group, UPS, U.S. Bank, Vanguard, Voya Financial, Wells Fargo, and Zurich North America.

We also want to give a special shoutout to the following 25 members who have been in the community for over ten years.

14 years:

• Laura Lee, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at Nestle Purina PetCare

13 years:

• Meg Wright, Executive Director, Associate General Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary at CME Group
• Karen Gutiérrez, Social Media Director at U.S. Bank
• Julie Horns, Social Business Director at U.S. Bank
• John Nelson, Vice President of Communications at Kaiser Permanente

12 years:

• Olivia Harting, Manager of Brand, Advertising, and Social Media at Chevron
• Robin Ross, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing at Costco Wholesale
• Vince Golla, Director of Social Media at Kaiser Permanente 
• Tom Buchheim, Executive Social Media Advisor at American Family Insurance
• JoDee Taylor, Director of Social and Digital Media at Costco Wholesale
• Chris Chaudior, Senior Copyright and Trademark Counsel at Chevron

11 years:

• Meara Ranadive, Head of Social Media at T. Rowe Price Associates
• Maria Corrales, Director of Digital Marketing at Delaware North
• Evan Peterson, Director of Editorial Communications and Content Strategy at CME Group
• Fara Goldberg, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at PerkinElmer
• Steve Rioseco, Social Media Manager at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
• Josh Feyen, Field Digital and Social Media Administrator at American Family Insurance
• Debra Hermsmeier, Social Media Administrator at American Family Insurance

10 years:

• Julie Hesson, Senior Social Media Manager at T. Rowe Price Associates
• Jeremy Humphries, Online Marketing Manager at Farmers Insurance
• Kristen Variola, Senior Vice President of Multiplatform Production and Digital Media at Discovery Inc.
• Meghan Baker, Director of Content Marketing and Brand Public Relations at Enterprise Holdings
• Emily Andre, Director of Digital and Social Content at Discovery Inc.
• Katie Campos, Lead Social Media Strategist at Navy Federal Credit Union
• Lisa Caputo, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Best Buy

There have also been 128 members who have held a SocialMedia.org membership at more than one member company — we’re always excited to welcome back alumni. 

Among those alumni is Brodie Bertrand, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at Grainger. 

I was part of SocialMedia.org 12 years ago and didn’t hesitate to boomerang back to the community a decade later. There’s a ton of value in having a benchmarking team at our fingertips, as well as best-in-class moderation to manage the information flow to our inboxes. I always feel “in the know” and well equipped to find answers to our most pressing social media questions.

Brodie Bertrand Grainger

“SocialMedia.org is a place where I can ask my burning questions and receive responses from like-minded individuals with endless amounts of advice and support.”

Board Chair Andi Gladstone, Senior Social Media Manager at Hasbro, continued her statement above by saying, “In SocialMedia.org we are all in it together — no matter the issue, platform, etc. — and I so appreciate having a community where I can learn new things and discover helpful resources in such a fast-paced industry.” 

It’s testimonies like Andi’s that prove what a special group we’ve grown to be. 

Thanks to our members, we’ve had over 5,100 leadership discussions in our confidential forum and over 700 confidential calls to dig deeper into those critical social media topics such as brand reputation, channel strategies, user-generated content, audience targeting, and much more. 

We’ve also had urgent members-only conversations during crisis moments like the Roe V. Wade decision and the invasion of Ukraine, plus a “Grill the Vendor” series where we share feedback on vendors like Sprinklr and Khoros. 

In order to get members the support they need, on demand, our Membership Directors have made over 4,000 peer-to-peer connections among SocialMedia.org members. 

But more than just the numbers, SocialMedia.org is a family.

Over the past 15 years, SocialMedia.org has served as a support system for thousands of social media leaders. 

Board Chair Susan Chang, Head of Social Media at Dropbox, told us that despite how “social” social media is, behind the scenes the job can feel pretty isolating. We know the challenges of being a leader in a field that’s in a constant state of evolution — SocialMedia.org members help each other navigate the waters. 

We’re expected to lay down the groundwork and be the trailblazers of our field (which is incredibly exciting, but also really scary). SocialMedia.org provides the community that we need so we don’t feel so alone. We push each other to make our ideas 10% better, and we support each other when the work gets too overwhelming. This type of community is invaluable and ensures the longevity of our careers.

Susan Chang, Dropbox

“SocialMedia.org is a support system like no other in the professional sense today.”

Jeremy Humphries, Online Marketing Manager at Farmers Insurance, concluded his statement above by saying SocialMedia.org, “offers a network of peers to foster candid, vendor-free conversations ranging from timely topics to strategic imperatives.”

See what else social media leaders have to say about the community, including an original founding member: