Nationwide's Kristi Daraban on the Critical Role of Digital Media in Marketing

Leah Marshall: Describe your role and responsibilities at Nationwide.

Kristi Daraban: I'm the AVP, social media at Nationwide. I oversee B2C strategy and execution of our branded accounts, community management and influencer marketing. Additionally, my team is responsible for B2B social media strategy, thought leadership, training and maintenance of our social selling programs. We've launched an associate advocacy program called Nationwide Engage that empowers our employees to publish on their own social channels with guidance and tools for ease and reporting. To supplement all of our efforts we do social listening and social intelligence reporting to inform our recommendations and support our business partners. Prior to Nationwide I led digital and/or social at Abercrombie & Fitch, Disney Channel, Nestle (ice cream and beverage) and Universal Studios Production/Post Production. I have a bachelor's degree in Communication, a minor in Sociology (Santa Clara University) and a Masters in Communication Management (USC). At home I'm a mom of two boys, Bennett (7) and Tavasz (3) who are both baseball and hockey players and avid swimmers.

Marshall: How has COVID shifted Nationwide's digital marketing strategy?

Daraban: Digital tools became exponentially important when people began working from home. The demand for social selling tools, training and support from our intermediaries shifted our resources to bring more content, webinars and communication to our sales teams. Our customers also increased their social outreach which allowed us to use community management and social listening to provide more assistance digitally and in real time.

Marshall: Which sessions are you most looking forward to at the 2022 ANA Digital & Social Media Conference and why?

Daraban: I'm very excited to see the themes of diversity and inclusiveness, the metaverse and content creation throughout the conference. I've seen Justin Parnell speak before and I love what Oreo does to stay fresh, relevant and engaging. Marriott has been a brand that has done some great things and I look forward to learning how they're diving into the Metaverse and gaming. Denny's has also been a social brand I often refer to for creative inspiration. I love their approach to creators and TikTok and can't wait to learn more.

Marshall: What are key areas within Digital & Social that you think will become increasingly more important to be skilled in over the next year?

Daraban: So many trends collide when it comes to social, but I think one particular one I see deepening in the future is social commerce. Optimizing the social shopping experience by integrating paid, organic and influencer tactics will drive better measurable results and increase sales. Personalization, localization and journey mapping all help make commerce successful and rely on a highly integrated strategy rooted in data. We are all trying to get to know our customers better, but as the environment changes it is becoming more challenging to attract and reach them. I also see immersive experiences continuing to grow. This includes the Metaverse, AR/VR, live interactive social and virtual/IRL (hybrid) events. Giving people as much as we can in the space they want to be is critical to nurturing relationships and building engagement between brand and customer.

Join Kristi Daraban July 18-20 along with speakers from Activision Blizzard, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Denny's, Forrester, Google, Lexus, Marriott, Molson Coors, Mondelēz, Needham & Co., Sephora, Verizon and Walton Isaacson at the ANA's 2022 Digital & Social Media Conference, presented by Meredith. Registerhereto attend either in person or virtually.

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