We’re back! I honestly have so many crazy updates for you, but we’ll hold on the news for a bit—I just want to get you some strong writing again first. I’m pretty excited about this newsletter because we’ve got: |
My cheat sheet for how I interview social media professionals A new resource for social media case studies Some kinda crazy data about LinkedIn Ads
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Let’s just jump into the goodness. |
—Jack Appleby |
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Brands: you gotta put more $$$ in marketing. Especially B2B brands. |
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Dreamdata's 2026 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report found that 81% of the B2B buying journey happens BEFORE anyone talks to sales. The average deal takes 272 days, with 10 stakeholders involved. |
Translation: by the time your sales team gets the call, marketing already won (or lost) the deal. So stop judging marketing on a 30-day clock when buyers are deciding on a 272-day one. |
A few other things from the report: |
It takes 88 touchpoints to close a B2B deal Selling to a big company (250+ employees)? Plan for 326 days Likes and comments show up just as early in a deal as form fills LinkedIn is the single biggest line item in B2B ad budgets (41%)
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And that's before you get to which ad channels actually make back what you spend (spoiler: only one). Download it here, then send it to whoever signs off on your budget. |
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I’m building a huge list of social case studies. |
You get this newsletter once a week, but there is so, so much great social media out there. I wanted to find a way to highlight more work, write more mini-case studies, and just show off really cool creative things.
So, I’m posting every day on Instagram about social media, marketing, and content. Kicked things off with some fun round ups & analysis like: |
The latest weird brand collabs How Pumpkin Spice took over a famous brand Why brands are hiring influencers as fake employees
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Give me a follow over there for new + deeper content! |
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How I Interview Social Media Professionals |
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So, plot twist—I’m actually working in social again. |
I’m now the Fractional Head of Social over at Luma AI. Started as a toe dip into consulting, then they kept calling me their fractional head, then it became a thing. Now it’s part of a larger play I’m putting together to build my own consultancy / agency / think tank thing (more on that another day, but yes, it means I’m taking on social clients). |
Order #1: build a social media team. |
Which means I’ve spent the last two months interviewing director-level candidates, social media managers, creative strategists, hell, I hired an ad agency so we can go down the social series rabbit hole. |
Figured it’d be worth documenting how I actually interview social professionals for jobs—the questions I ask, the vibes I want to give & get back, and how I decide who to actually hire. |
"Tell me about yourself" |
It’s the most basic question in the world, but man… you’d be surprised how many people struggle with the broadness. |
I want personable, bright team members who can confidently share without a defined prompt. Whether you’re a day one coordinator or a Director of Social, you’ve gotta be able to think on your feet, sell ideas to stakeholders, explain social to people who don’t get social (even if they think they do), and be a joy to work with. We’re professional yappers, and I wanna hear you yap about yourself, confidently. |
The best answers tell me a little about you as a person, about your career, about the work you like to do. Don’t read me your resume, gimme the human answer. |
"What’s the dream right now? What kind of work do you want to be doing?” |
This one’s probably my favorite, because I’m not even thinking about whether you’re right for the job yet. |
I want to take the gamesmanship out of the interview process. Yeah, you’re here, I know you want the job. Yeah, I’m here, I’m interested in you for the job. We’ll talk about the job! But before that, I just want to talk about you.
I wanna hear what kind of work you want to be doing. That matters a whole heckuva lot more than if you can do the job I’m interviewing you for—I’m trying to figure out if you’d be happy doing this job. And the best way to figure that out is you telling me what kind of work makes you happy. |
If it’s a match? Fantastic, I’ll probably ask even more, start introducing some of what this job entails. And if you’re looking to do something different? I’ll probably explain this gig and directly ask you if it’s the type of work that excites you.
Not only does this get more honest answers, it shows me who’s curious about their own careers, who’s dreaming of doing great work. I want to be surrounded by people fascinated by social, who want big careers for themselves. |
"Tell me about some work you’re proud of” |
This is the same philosophy, just extended. Last question was directional, this one’s about specifics. I wanna hear you talk about the work you made that you love. |
What they pick will tell you what they value. Some will go for big numbers, talk about their most viral moments. Others might hit strategy & how they solved business problems through content (my personal fav). Again, no wrong answers, I just wanna hear what you’ve done without you thinking about how it gets you this job. |
Then I dig in. "How did that get made? What was your role?" Social media teams blur credit constantly, so I need to know what they personally contributed. I’ll usually drop in a “well that sounds fun” or “oof, I bet that wasn’t easy” depending on the work, get more of their energy about said project. |
The rest of the interview |
Honestly, those three questions kinda cover the bases. Go check your usual list of questions—I bet you’d naturally get the same answers with these ones, and have a much more pleasant interview process. |
But hey, here’s a few bonus questions I’ll throw in from time to time: |
"What brands do you think do great work right now?" Juniors will say Duolingo, and that’s fine. Seniors, I expect more specific answers and more analysis on what you like & why it works. "How do you stay up to date on social?” I wanna hear if you’re self-educating. Thought leaders? Trade pubs? Reading the glorious newsletter Future Social? "What do you think of our current social?” Not a trick question, but always a fun one. Most find a way to both compliment + suggest something they’d want to add themselves. “Any crazy ideas you’ve always wanted to make?” Gives them a chance to pitch me that thing their boss or budget or any other limitation killed (and judge for myself if it’s reasonable it never got made).
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Let’s be real, management training doesn’t happen anymore, so none of us know the best way to interview someone. This is my way, but hey, reply right to this email with your thoughts. What’s missing? What would you add? |
