If you work at a large organization, you know the challenges of corporate complexity firsthand. From navigating compliance to coordinating global and local marketing initiatives, it can be difficult to build a comprehensive social media strategy. In our new eBook How to champion social media in large organizations and complex markets, you’ll discover how three professionals became internal social media experts and drove change across their organization.

1. EBOOK
The All-in-One
Social Media
Strategy Workbook
How to champion
social media in
large organizations
and complex
markets
Stories from 3 professionals who became
internal social media experts

2. In Bain & Company’s study of 1,208 global
executives, 63% said that excessive complexity is
raising costs and hindering growth.¹
Complexity, of course, can’t be completely eliminated. The
more successful organizations become, the more segments
and regions they have to serve. This can create a competitive
advantage. But it also can fracture marketing efforts and dilute
the core brand.
Social media offers many opportunities to help contain corporate
complexity.
From helping to organize new business initiatives around
the voice of the customer to educating employees with best
practices, a comprehensive social media strategy can help lessen
the impact of complexity.
1“Management Tools & Trends 2013,” Bain & Company - Used with permission from Bain & Company.
How social media can help contain
corporate complexity

3. Meet the social
media champions
Courtney Fischbach,
VP Social Media,
Legg Mason
Alex Malouf,
Corporate Communications
Manager, Procter & Gamble,
Arabian Peninsula
Heather Bisset,
Manager, Corporate Affairs,
Pfizer Canada Inc.
We asked three professionals to share how they
championed social media in large organizations
and complex markets.

4. Courtney Fischbach is VP of Social Media in
a highly regulated industry at one of the top
investment firms in the world, Legg Mason.
In order to receive more executive buy-in and drive the program
forward, Courtney needed to secure engagement and show real
business results—especially to the Compliance team.
While onboarding Hootsuite Enterprise solved many of these
challenges, Courtney wanted to become a subject matter expert
on driving SEO, measuring analytics, and managing content and
crisis communications.
But above all, she lacked the formal training, knowledge,
and confidence to identify social tactics and create a secure
organization-wide social media strategy.
Courtney Fischbach, VP Social Media,
Legg Mason

5. As the Corporate Communications Manager at
Procter & Gamble, Arabian Peninsula (based in
Dubai), Alex Malouf turns business objectives into
a reality.
When P&G executives decided to refocus global spending to
ramp up social communications, Alex recognized his personal
and professional need for a fully comprehensive view of social
media and the impact it could have.
“There’s a shift in consumer attitude toward digital,” said Alex.
“And our executives understand the impact that social and digital
have on consumers and they’re fully supportive of what we do.”
With corporations slower than consumers to adopt social in the
Middle East, Alex saw an opportunity to drive the new market
and develop strong brand relationships.
Alex Malouf, Corporate Communications Manager,
Procter & Gamble, Arabian Peninsula

6. Social media offers pharmaceutical companies
many opportunities—including corporate and
product reputation management and supporting
patients throughout their health journeys.
But early concerns around pharmaceutical marketing
regulations, confidentiality of patient health data, and adverse
event reporting meant that many organizations have been slower
to adopt—and benefit from—social media.
Heather Bisset, Manager, Corporate Affairs at Pfizer Canada, has
found a solution to help her navigate compliance and regulations
in order to build an active social media presence and develop
customer relationships.
Heather Bisset, Corporate Affairs Manager,
Pfizer Canada Inc.

7. Courtney, Alex, and Heather knew that with the
right tools and education they could drive new
initiatives and empower fellow colleagues to
engage on social.
But to navigate corporate complexity, they needed to become
internal experts, driving training and strategy and implementing
secure, yet simple workflows.
They found a strategic solution in the
Advanced Social Media Strategy (ASMS) Certification from
Hootsuite and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of
Public Communications. This certification supported their
need for professional growth and gave them the confidence
to navigate the social landscape through knowledge, skills, and
understanding.
The Newhouse-Hootsuite Advanced
Social Media Strategy Certification

8. As Courtney’s strategic skills, knowledge, and confidence grew,
so did the company’s acceptance and executive buy-in of social
media.
But Courtney’s biggest takeaway was how to develop crisis and
risk management protocol.
During the certification, Courtney learned how to:
1. Integrate social across the organization
2. Develop corporate strategies
3. Secure engagement
4. Enhance content marketing
How Courtney Fischbach applied her
ASMS learnings

9. Today, Courtney leads effective and secure social strategies
across every major social platform. As Legg Mason’s social media
expert, she knows where teams and departments should invest
time and resources to effectively drive results.
Using Hootsuite Enterprise, she creates content and advertising,
analyzes competition and campaigns, builds targeted
relationships, drives engagement and traffic, and listens and
engages on social. Social media helps her business secure
million-dollar deals through real-time marketing campaigns.
Courtney used her course learnings to inform
her own social media guidelines and to put a risk
management and crisis protocol in place—one
that worked with Legg Mason’s existing workflow.
Crisis management and strategic
planning at Legg Mason

10. “The ASMS Certification has helped me become a more well-
rounded communications practitioner,” says Alex. “I’m no longer
talking from a theoretical point of view, but with hard facts
supporting my recommendations.”
How Alex Malouf applied his
ASMS learnings
During the certification, Alex learned how to:
1. Leverage various channels to support
different business goals
2. Confidently contribute to
communications strategy
3. Navigate social media best practices
4. Generate and aggregate content
5. Drive SEO

11. As a regional subsidiary of an American-based company, it’s
important to be regionally aligned on marketing efforts and
understand the global landscape.
“It was a real eye-opener to learn just how much social media
is impacting organizations around the world, and that’s the
message that I am sharing with my colleagues across all
functions of our business,” says Alex.
Since taking the certification, Alex has mastered social media
best practices and now knows how to leverage various channels
to support business objectives.
For Alex, this education enabled him to look at
every aspect of the social media landscape. For
example, through integrated case studies within
ASMS, he learned how businesses, consumers,
and organizations are using social media.
Regional team better understands the
global marketing landscape

12. “Today, we’re building out integrated plans that include social
media strategy, so that colleagues have time to review, add
input, and feel confident that our social media efforts are within
regulations and results-oriented,” Heather says. “The course has
helped me better understand how to strategically fit social into
the strategic planning process.”
During the certification, Heather learned how to:
1. Reinforce comprehensive crisis management
2. Include social media in strategic planning
3. Harness the power of online influencers
4. Drive engagement through owned content
How Heather Bisset applied her
ASMS learnings

13. One way that Pfizer Canada is leading the market on social media
is by allowing for longer planning cycles for key initiatives. That
way, key members from across the organization can collaborate
to develop strategies that include social media. Another way is
through more intentional information sharing among internal
teams to feed a Hub and Spoke business model.
For Heather, on-the-job experience and integration of outside
training opportunities, such as the
Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification, ensures her
ability to be an internal expert on social media. Combined, this
experience enabled her to act within this business model and
drive content and social strategies that engage online influencers
and increase engagement.
As Pfizer Canada evolves as a company to lead
the digital market, Heather has equipped herself
with the knowledge to support this growth.
Pfizer Canada leads the market on
social media and remains compliant

14. In large organizations and complex markets,
social media initiatives can help unify brand
presence and organize the business around the
voices and needs of customers.
But to realize these benefits, organizations need to ensure that
social media doesn’t add new complexity in terms of workflows
and coordination between teams.
As shown, these three professionals are successfully driving
social media across their organizations—helping to make
them more agile and competitive and lessening the impact of
corporate complexity.
Learn how the Newhouse-Hootsuite Advanced Social Media
Strategy Certification can help mitigate corporate complexity
and drive employee engagement.
Using social media education to
manage complexity