Salesforce’s Ebony Beckwith ends each interview in her #BossTalks collection with the identical query: “What’s your superpower?”
So I requested her that query.
Her response? Properly, it’s a bit meta – and really correct.
Ebony’s superpower is bringing out the superpowers in others.
“This comes by way of in my mentoring and the way in which I handle my management crew. It brings me a number of pleasure to see them shine,” she explains.
It additionally manifests in her position as Salesforce’s chief enterprise officer and chief of workers to co-CEO Marc Benioff. Ebony can be the CEO of the Salesforce Basis.
However this story focuses on how she scaled her mentoring superpower right into a smash hit on LinkedIn and the brand new Salesforce+. That stay interview collection, #BossTalks with Ebony Beckwith, additionally earned her a spot as a finalist for 2022 B2B Content material Marketer of the 12 months.
@EbonyBeckwith turned her superpower – bringing out the superpower in others – into the smash hit #Content material collection #BossTalks, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
The superpower origin story
Ebony joined Salesforce in 2008 after spending 10 years within the monetary sector. Her first Salesforce position was senior director of expertise enterprise operations at Salesforce.com, and she or he ultimately took on a collection of roles on the philanthropic aspect of the enterprise. In 2021, she was named the corporate’s chief enterprise officer – the identical yr #BossTalks launched.
“I do know I wouldn’t be the place I’m right now with out my mentors’ steering and assist. Not everybody has somebody of their nook, cheering them on, so I attempt to be that individual when and the place I can,” Ebony explains.
Ebony started mentoring to pay again what had been given to her by mentors through the years. Ultimately, she had so many requests for mentoring she launched group classes, which she known as Mentor Moments. Members may ask profession questions, and she or he candidly answered them from her private expertise.
Scaling her mentoring by way of Mentor Moments labored, however it wasn’t sufficient. Ultimately, Ebony took that work to LinkedIn with a collection of posts tagged with #BossNotes. (You possibly can learn all of them, together with the October 2020 submit that kicked off the collection, at BossNotes.com.)
“I write the whole lot down, particularly relating to profession recommendation, and I stumbled upon an outdated pocket book (aptly titled “Boss Notes”) with a immediate a profession coach had given me on what recommendation I’d give a 12-year-old lady,” Ebony says. “I noticed how a lot of what I wrote down was additionally related to adults.”
That content material resonated on LinkedIn, with some posts hitting over 1,000,000 views and incomes tens of 1000’s of likes.
With an viewers response like that, Ebony and Salesforce noticed the potential for an interview-based video collection with leaders “mentoring” viewers. They created the video collection #BossTalks, which launched on LinkedIn in 2021, out of that concept.
Ebony says LinkedIn was an “obvious-but-not-so-obvious alternative” to be the house #BossTalks. She explains, “I used to be already constructing an viewers on LinkedIn by way of #BossNotes, however Salesforce was not producing a number of content material for the channel on the time.”
Since then, Salesforce has added its personal streaming service, Salesforce+. The primary #BossTalks is now out there on demand on the streaming platform. (Season 4 will likely be underway shortly on each LinkedIn and Salesforce+.)
Some #BossNotes posts by @EbonyBeckwith on #LinkedIn attracted over 1,000,000 views, and led to the thought for #BossTalks, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
Creating the stay video collection
The #BossTalks crew is lean, totaling between 5 and 6 folks. Along with Ebony, it consists of two producers, a technician who handles recording and enhancing, and social leads. “I’m so grateful for his or her laborious work and drive to create one thing particular for our viewers,” Ebony says.
The crew produced 22 episodes in season one, airing one each two weeks. “It featured leaders I knew would give folks the true discuss they had been craving,” Ebony says.
Visitors included folks in her personal community and people she admired and hadn’t met, like Thasunda Brown-Duckett, president and CEO of TIAA, who talked about letting go of perfectionism. Different interviews embrace:
- Karlie Kloss, supermodel and founding father of Kode with Klossy, on work-life stability
- Mona Kattan of Huda Magnificence and Kayali Fragrances on authenticity
- Kyra Kyles, CEO of YR Media, on private branding
- Karissa Bodnar, founder and CEO of Thrive Causemetics, on turning into your individual boss
The matters relate to what the neighborhood asks for, trending office matters, and the visitors’ experience. For instance, when burnout and the Nice Resignation was a sizzling matter, they invited Karlie to speak about psychological well being and work-life stability – matters she’s obsessed with.
“The relationships are actual, and the chemistry our viewers feels after we’re laughing and making jokes or getting susceptible with one another is genuine. It’s what I really like in regards to the present probably the most,” Ebony says.
The facility of the #BossTalks video collection wasn’t restricted to LinkedIn and Salesforce+. They repurposed on different channels, together with Salesforce’s The 360 Weblog (over 13,000 natural web page views) and replays on Salesforce YouTube channels (practically 200,000 views).
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Getting in actual life with the neighborhood
The have to be part of the neighborhood – not simply speaking to the viewers – has been a necessary lesson in Ebony’s #BossTalks journey. Within the feedback, she solutions viewers’ questions or replies to what they share. It deepens the reference to the viewers and helps the #BossTalks crew produce content material folks need to have interaction with.
And the crew doesn’t additionally restrict interplay to feedback. In October 2021, Marissa Kraines, Salesforce’s vice chairman of social and content material advertising and marketing, and her crew got here up with a #BossTalks giveaway. The packages included a branded #BossTalks cape, pocket book, pen, pin, mug, and a bag of Crimson Bay Espresso.
Can’t wait to strive the espresso! Thanks a lot! @salesforce @gofooji #bosstalks pic.twitter.com/iNBo5VCBMN
— lisa lawton (@lisalawton3) November 4, 2021
Actual-life superheroes, together with Workforce USA gymnast Nastia Liukin and two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis, delivered among the watch kits to viewers.
“The superhero activation got here on the good time. Whereas we’d cultivated an unimaginable on-line viewers, what folks had been lacking most was that IRL connection,” Ebony explains.
The marketing campaign resulted in 8.2 million video views, 100,000-plus engagements, and #BossTalks trended at No. 7 on Twitter in the USA.
A superhero-themed giveaway helped #BossTalks rise to No. 7 on #Twitter in the USA, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
Ebony says, “I liked seeing all of the stunned seems to be from folks and the pure pleasure on their faces. It was an effective way to each join with our core #BossTalks neighborhood but additionally entice new viewers.”
So what’s the superpower of #BossTalks?
It delivers content material the viewers desires, when and the place they need it, whereas making a neighborhood with digital and real-life interactions.
What content material marketer wouldn’t need that superpower?
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Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising Institute
