Q&A: Teach For America's Stacey Jaffe on playing the paid social game

In August ClickZ Live celebrates its 18th annual event in San Francisco with a fantastic line-up of the world’s top speakers and a selection of brand new 100 minute accelerator sessions on the agenda.

We caught up with Stacey Jaffe, Vice President of Digital Content and Channels at Teach For America (TFA), who will be speaking in the ‘Boost Your Bottom Line with Social’ session on August 31.

We talked about social platforms, engagement and even received some tips on how to play the paid social game.

ClickZ: As Vice President of Digital Content and Channels at Teach For America (TFA), what are your main responsibilities?

Stacey Jaffe: I set the digital strategy and vision that enables our audience to experience a unified brand story no matter the platform from which they are engaging.

I am also responsible for evolving Teach For America into a best-in-class digital organization that unites and engages our community online. Our community consists of 50,000 individuals who have the shared experience of having taught for at least 2 years in a low-income community through TFA.

Most of our audience never planned for the path that experience set them on; today they are educators, superintendents, lawyers, doctors, policy makers, etc., all of them devoted to the students and communities they served.

We use our digital channels to connect our audience to one another, to our mission, and to the power of their collective action to create opportunities for their students.

What are the challenges with social from a non-profit perspective?

Be it non-profit or for-profit, the challenge on social media is always the same: how do we create the best content to provide a useful and relevant experience for our audience?

The answer lies in the platinum rule — treat others the way THEY want to be treated.

What are the main social platforms that TFA uses? And how do you measure engagement on each of these platforms?

Teach For America uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google Plus.

We measure engagement and success based on whether or not we achieved the desired action for each post, which ranges from a host of actions including (but not limited to) reading a piece of long-form content or applying to be a TFA Corps Member or sharing content with your peers.

What are your personal favorite social media platforms?

I love them all. At any given moment my platform of choice changes depending upon the content I’m seeking.

Are there any tips you can provide our ClickZ readers about playing the paid social game?

Here are my three best tips:

1. Create a different strategy for each individual platform that is based upon how users expect to interact with brands on that platform.
2. Create a hypothesis for how the ad will perform and why so that you are always aware of how your ads are or are not meeting your expectations.
3. Create a never-ending cycle of A/B testing and iteration throughout the lifecycle of your ad.

Can you give us a sneak peak of what will be your main takeaway at ClickZ Live?

A great paid social campaign is based on a combination of A/B testing and the Platinum rule: test and iterate your ads until you are giving your desired audience the information THEY want to make a decision and convert.

If you want to hear more insights and practical tips on how to best engage and convert your audience on social, as well as advance your expertise in other digital marketing areas, join us and Stacey Jaffe at ClickZ Live San Francisco this August 29-31. Early Bird rates are now available!