In the last decade, social media marketing has become integral to any brand’s marketing strategy. As a result, the social media manager has become a critical position supporting several business departments, including marketing, commerce, and care. Social media managers must wear many hats — the strategist, the storyteller, the community builder, the customer care whiz — all while inspiring followers to become customers.
Emplifi’s Social Superstars celebrates those who have made a big impact for their brand and left a positive impact on the social media industry. All of our nominees shared valuable insights on topics ranging from technology to skillset to advice to young professionals aspiring to start their social media careers. Learn more about each of them below.
Emplifi's Social Media Superstars of 2022
Aura Antonia García
Creative Manager at Penguin Random House Mexico
Aura's involvement with social media began as a trainee at Prodigy MSN, where one of her first assignments was promoting Bing, the search engine. She has worked as a web editor for a magazine, as a communications analyst for a banking institution, and later as a social media manager for several brands, which helped her understand the need for creativity in the social space.
Check out our full social media superstar profile with Aura to learn what she feels is the most challenging (but exciting) part of her job, the role of technology in driving results, and the key characteristic that each social media professional needs to be successful.
Connect with Aura on LinkedIn and learn more about Penguin Random House here.
Aminta Iriarte
Senior Manager, Global Social Media Strategy at Crunch Fitness
A fan of EDM shows and Venezuelan cuisine, Aminta got into social media while working as a fashion stylist in New York. She crafted a fashion blog and began exploring ways to increase engagement on social media. It didn‘t take long for an Ecommerce luxury brand to notice, giving her opportunities to master a number of digital marketing roles. After many years of working with fashion brands, Aminta began looking for opportunities to combine her personal passion for fitness with her passion for social media marketing. Crunch Fitness, where she’d been a personal member for years, presented the perfect opportunity – and the rest is history.
Check out our full social media superstar profile with Aminta where she shares her thoughts about experimenting on social media, and the key tools all social media managers need in their day-to-day toolkit.
Connect with Aminta on LinkedIn and learn more about Crunch Fitness here.
Stacy Oularis
Social Media Community Manager at ANZ
Stacy has a long history in service, starting off working in a call center before moving into digital service, where she says she really got a feel for what social media can offer. She began shadowing marketing teams, and when the pandemic hit, jumped on opportunities to explore and learn other areas in social media marketing and community management to bring her to where she is today. Stacy knows social media changes rapidly, which fits well in her life. She’s known to embrace change, from a rotating list of favorite foods to a wide variety of music, all dependent on the setting.
Check out our full social media superstar profile with Stacy where she shares advice on the key skills that lead to social media success, and how to create effective visual experiences on social.
Connect with Stacy on LinkedIn and learn more about ANZ here.
Kseniya Mahileuskaya
Digital & Social Media Senior Executive at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi
Kseniya's current role combines her passion for traveling with her love for what she proudly claims is one of the best destinations in the world. Her professional journey began in college where she used social media to gather, engage, and communicate with local and international students and potential guest speakers for a series of educational courses. She’s also worked with a social media agency where she built her own team of successful creative professionals.
Check out our full social media superstar profile with Kseniya to see what advice Kseniya has to share about creating effective social experiences, the importance of a strong work-life balance, and what people who are just starting out in social media management need to know.
Connect with Kseniya on LinkedIn and learn more about the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu-Dhabi here.
Our other social media superstar nominees for 2022
David De la Garza O.
Social Media Coordinator at Grupo Xcaret
He got his start in social media in 2014, joining a small digital agency in Mexico City where he managed digital marketing campaigns inviting people to become nano influencers by doing reviews and recommending some local products or services. He credits being creative and patience as keys to being successful, as well as keeping your mind open to new ideas from a diverse cast of people.
Connect with David on LinkedIn and learn more about Grupo Xcaret here.
Hussein Abdallah
Senior Product Manager at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi
Hussein started his career in 2012 in the UAE, right when social media began to disrupt the marketing scene. At the time, he remembers brands being able to post just about anything they wanted and could get great results. Today’s audience has expectations of highly-relevant content tailored to their interests, a point Hussein makes to young social media professionals: "You are the first generation who are native to the digital world we live in. You are the perfect person to speak the language of your generation through your brand."
Connect with Hussein on LinkedIn and learn more about the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi here.
Stephanya Correa
Digital Insights Coordinator at NBCUniversal (Latin America region)
Stephanya's career working in digital began in 2013 when she joined a startup company selling beauty products online. She then shifted to social media and digital insights, following her curiosity to scrutinize information and highlight insights that built deeper understanding and connections with her brand’s audiences. She describes social platforms as places that "allow us to connect with people, enrich ourselves with valuable content, be influencers and agents of change, lead, and raise our voices."
Connect with Stephanya on LinkedIn and learn more about NBCUniversal here.
Ivonne Lewis
Regional Business Intelligence Director at AMC Networks Latin America
Ivonne is a 15-year veteran of the entertainment industry where she’s led media research, business strategy, and more. She encourages today’s rising social media professionals, in any industry, to embrace analytics as an essential skill, in addition to being both creative and a great communicator.
Connect with Ivonne on LinkedIn and learn more about AMC Networks here.
Juan Manuel Farías Salas
Director of Communications at Betterware de México
Juan Manuel worked in traditional media for many years before beginning to experiment with digital media on the web, radio, and television. Since then, he's been involved in social media in a variety of ways, always working to personalize content as much as possible to precise target audiences. He says today’s social media professionals "have to be strategic thinkers, think like the audience, and have a piece of creativity."
Connect with Juan Manuel on LinkedIn and learn more about Betterware de México here.
Karla Ramírez
Head of Content Management at El Diario de Hoy (El Salvador)
Karla started working in the world of social media 10 years ago and loves how change always keeps things interesting: "I love that nothing is constant, and I never do the same thing. I may be in front of a computer every day, but that day will never be the same as the day before."
Connect with Karla on LinkedIn and learn more about El Diario de Hoy here.
Eduardo Caldera
Social Media Manager at Didi Mexico
Eduardo's career began with an internship at a social media agency, giving him the experience to join a larger agency with an international scope, doing what he loves. He says today's social media professionals need to be a mix of both creative and data-driven: "In social media, you need your creativity to be backed by data in every project to know where you are standing and where you're headed."
Connect with Eduardo on LinkedIn and learn more about Didi here.
Evelyn Girón
Project Coordinator at Banco Industrial Guatemala
Evelyn's career in social media started as a Community Manager. While managing customer service teams, she began looking for tools to help better manage comments coming in from social media. Now, as a project coordinator, she leans on collaboration technologies with different features that help make real-time social decisions and develop innovative solutions for customers.
Connect with Evelyn on LinkedIn and learn more about Banco Industrial Guatemala here.
Daniel Chávez
Social Media Specialist at BBVA Peru
Daniel's career began as a community manager for a small agency providing marketing services to gaming and tech brands before moving on to work for BBVA. Today, he’s proud of creating content that answers people's needs, and tells rising social media professionals "don’t be afraid to try new things."
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn and learn more about BBVA Peru here.
Analy Zárraga
Content Experience Leader at Latam Digital Marketing
In her current role, Analy thrives in her passion for designing strategic plans adapted to help brands evolve to the challenges of the future. She says today's social media professionals need creativity based on digital insights, and technology can be a big help: "Technology supports our crazy ideas and allows us to become success stories by learning how to do it better next time."
Connect with Analy on LinkedIn and learn more about Latam Digital Marketing here.
Boris Israel Lizana Barrios
Social Media Analyst
Boris Israel Lizana Barrios is a Social Media Analyst with Entel. Throughout his career, he's always participated in projects that help improve marketing or services across digital, using data as his guide. He says today's social media professionals need to constantly learning, including everything they can about the brand they work for and the audience they're trying to reach.
Connect with Boris on LinkedIn and learn more about Entel here.
Erika Apellaniz
MarTech Lead Middle Americas Zone at Anheuser-Busch InBev
Erika has worked in marketing since 2002 and folded in social media as part of overall strategies in 2012, working with a variety of brands to build key personalized social media strategies. When asked what makes a social media team, she said, "In one word, 'passion', to love what they do. That passion will be reflected on the connection between brands and followers."
Connect with Erika on LinkedIn and learn more about Anheuser-Busch InBev here.
Citlali Amaranta del Valle Alonso
Insights Manager at The Hershey Company
In her career, Citlali has turned to social media insights to guide decisions, working to define the most relevant information to create actionable plans for the short- and long-term. In addition to being curious, creative, and flexible, Citlali says today's social media professionals also need to be comfortable with change, as "change is the only constant thing in this new world of information."
Connect with Citlali on LinkedIn and learn more about The Hershey Company here.
Joseph Tlachi
Media & Digital Marketing Manager at The Hershey Company
Joseph has worked in a variety of roles in his career, using data and technology to implement new and innovative digital business strategies. He tells today's rising social media professionals to not be afraid to try new things, even if they fail. "Failure is the key to learning to do the things better in the future... keep moving forward meditating about what went wrong, what went well, and what could be better next time."
Connect with Joseph on LinkedIn and learn more about The Hershey Company here.
Clip
Team Nomination
Clip’s content team is one of our team nominations. We asked them what makes a great social media team: "One of our company values is ‘We are trustworthy’, so communication it’s everything! It is fundamental to have a team with strong creative skills with expertise in design, copywriting, community management, and social media, and being hardworking team players."
Clip is a Fintech company that believes technology can be affordable to anyone and everywhere. Learn more about Clip here.
Piaggio Group
Team nomination
Piaggio Group’s digital marketing team is one of our team nominations. They credit their success to their team's ability to be engaging, collaborative, and professional. Their simple advice for people looking to work in social media: "Follow your dreams!"
Piaggio Group is the largest European manufacturer of two-wheel motor vehicles. Learn more about Piaggio Group here.
Viñedos La Redonda
Team Nomination
Viñedos La Redonda’s social media team is one of our team nominations. We asked them for their advice for social media professionals just starting their careers: "Be organized professionals, work by objectives and not by time, and above all, stay constantly updated!"
Viñedos La Redonda is a vineyard located in the semi-desert lands of Queretaro, Mexico. Learn more about their tradition of more than 40 years as winemakers here.
