Jessica Phillips is the Founder and CEO of The Social Standard, a full-service influencer marketing agency she created in 2014 to set the standard in the influencer space. Starting as a one-woman agency, it has now grown into a thriving company with Fortune 500 clients like Adobe, FiatChrysler, and Hinge. With a background in investment banking and private equity, Jessica's entrepreneurial journey led her to become the COO and employee #2 at HelloSociety, a Pinterest influencer agency that achieved multi-million dollar success and was eventually acquired by The New York Times in 2016. 

Alongside her professional achievements, Jessica is also a devoted mother to three young children and actively participates in discussions and programs empowering aspiring female entrepreneurs. 

Known as a thought leader in the industry, she frequently speaks at conferences, sharing insights on social media strategy, content creation, and building brand communities. Jessica's expertise in digital marketing, deep understanding of consumer behavior, and ability to balance entrepreneurship and motherhood make her a trailblazer in the influencer marketing landscape, sought after by brands across industries.

Jessica Phillips

Here is how I'd pitch influencers to a B2B company whose senior team doesn't get it...

📍  Call them evangelists
📍  Don't call it social media. Call it channels.
📍 Refer to them as megaphones for company messages, but with built in content.

Removes:
❌  biases that influencer aren't authentic or are just for B2C
❌  gives them a pathway to new audiences 
❌  any bias about social media not being a real place for marketing when you say channels (podcast, radio, mag & social media are all channels.) 

It's not trickery. 
It's the truth, just repackaged. 
Afterall, that's what marketing is...

#socialmedia #b2bmarketing #b2binfluencers #influencers #influencermarketing #marketing #digitalmarketing #evanglists

Helping businesses navigate influencer marketing | 2x entrepreneur | Founder at The Social Standard | Top Voice in Influencer Marketing and Social Media | Host of Reclaim Your Magic Podcast

REMINDER: Influencers are part of your MARKETING STRATEGY BUT...

We hear it all the time...what's the return on each influencer post?

A year ago, we had a new client (an old school media agency) who sold in influencers as part of the plan...and put a 15x return on each influencers.

No content, no rationale, no paid support.

Hold the phone, folks. It's not that simple.

If those returns were guaranteed all money would immediately move to influencers and marketing departments would shut down.

Effective marketing involves strategy. Influencers are part of it.

But please, please. Think before your pitch.

#marketing #influencermarketing #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #influencers #digitalmarketing

5 Stats You Need To Get More Influencer Budget...

💥 Influencer content out performs branded content 17X*
💥 Social media marketing outpaced Search Marketing in 2024** 
💥 42% of ads use influencer content* 
💥 Social Media is the world's largest advertising channel with $247B in ad global spend***
💥 143 mins/ day were spent on social media in 2024***

Net-net. We spend more time on social media than with our friends. Influencers are master marketers on social. Partnership isn't optional - it's smart strategy.

#socialmediamarketing #influencermarketing #marketing #digitalmarketing #searchmarketing #influencer 

*CreatorIQ
** IAB
***Influencer Marketing Hub 2025

Dear Influencer Managers,

For 2026, can we all agree to stop sending those automatic Quickbooks invoice follow-ups? 

Sincerely,
My very overwhelmed inbox. 🫠 

#influencermarketing #2026 #socialmedia

This is your reminder that Influencer Marketing is on getting warmed up...plan accordingly. 📈 💥 

#influencermarketing #influencertrends #socialmedia #marketing #influencer #b2bmarketing #socialmediamarketing #b2c

B2B vs B2C Influencers...the marketing strategy for both is ultimately the same....

Access.

Access to new products
Access to exclusive events
Access to the brands they love

It's what they get that the general populations doesn't. It fuels their brands while building yours.

The way it comes to life might be different for both segments, but ultimately influencers want / need the same thing.

#socialmediamarketing #influencermarketing #b2binfluencers #digitalmarketing #marketing #influencers

#1 Tip for Companies Starting A Podcast...

Don't sleep on that pre-call interview. It will take your podcast from good to great.

Even if you know your guest will be great, the pre-call gives you the opportunity to really hone in on your storyline and how they can support it.

It will save you lots in editing time too.

Want more tips from an expert?

Britt Kahn is a professional booker for incredible media properties like Conan and Friends and she shares all her tips & tricks.

🎙️ The Social Standard Podcast

(Available on Spotify, Apple & YouTube)

#podcast #podcastmarketing #influencermarketing #marketing #digitalmarketing #b2bmarketing #influencers

Steve Jobs was using influencers in the 80s... 🤔 
He just called them Evangelists.

Apple needed to move beyond selling technology....
....to selling the belief in a dream that anyone could be more creative & productive.

Evangelists, not salespeople, were their weapon of choice.

And it worked. Really, really well.

Full story with Guy Kawasaki, Apple's former Chief Evangelist Officer, on the podcast.

🎙️ The Social Standard Podcast
Available on: Apple, YouTube & Spotify

#evangelist #influencer #influencermarketing #socialmediamarketing #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #influencers #b2binfluencers #socialmedia

This is the thing B2B Marketers get wrong...

When people start spreading the word about your product / service / business, you freak out. 🤔

You think - "We have to control the message"

When in reality you need to think:

👉  My product / service is so great, people are evangelising it for FREE!
👉  What are they talking about, what's interesting to them? 
👉  What can I learn from this?

Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist at Canva and formerly Apple is on the podcast today talking about evangelism & influencers in B2B. Tune in for his advice & experience.

🎙️ The Social Standard Podcast
(Spotify, Apple & YouTube)

Link to full episode in comments 👇 

#b2b #influencermarketing #b2binfluencers #b2bmarketing #marketing #influencers #socialmedia

I provide research and advisory services to help advertisers and media leaders understand how consumer use of AI is changing marketing and paid media. I also publish The AI Ad Economy, a free newsletter on Substack and LinkedIn that delivers practical, clear-eyed analysis of AI’s impact on advertising. 

I've spent my entire career at the center of massive digital shifts. From the rise of the ad-supported web to the dot-com boom to the social media era — and now generative AI — I’ve helped marketers, agencies, digital platforms and the investor community anticipate what’s next. 

I believe AI’s impact on consumer behavior will define the next decade of marketing. My goal is to deliver research, strategy sessions and thought leadership that positions my clients to lead the industry conversation about the impact of AI on marketing and consumer behavior. 

What I provide: 
☑️ Custom research to guide your AI-era strategy 
☑️ Executive briefings and presentations to educate and inspire 
☑️ Thought leadership content that builds authority 

Why work with me? I was one of the first analysts to identify the power and potential of social media. I wrote over 120 reports about social media marketing, social advertising and social media usage during my 19 years as an analyst at EMARKETER. I can confidently say the disruption caused by social media was nothing compared to the impact of AI. 

I started my career as a journalist. I co-wrote the business plan for The Industry Standard, the legendary weekly newsmagazine for the dot-com boom, and served as its first executive editor. At AdAge, I and my team of reporters covered the first marketing opportunities on online platforms, the first internet banner ads and the birth of interactive ad agencies.

I love talking to reporters about how AI is changing marketing and consumer behavior. I've been lucky to be on TV dozens of times, including BBC, NBC and Bloomberg.

I live in Seattle and I am your best friend if you want to know what to eat here. (Tip: Watch the Pike Place Market fish throwers with everyone else and then go across the street and up 3 flights of stairs to Matt's in the Market for lunch.)

On LinkedIn, I share about consumer AI behaviors and the future of marketing in an AI-driven world.

Debra Williamson

Called it! 

It's Jan 13 and one of my  predictions about ads in AI media has already come true. Google just announced Direct Offers, a new ad format that it says "allows advertisers to present exclusive offers for shoppers who are ready to buy — like a special 20% off discount — directly in AI Mode."

Subscribe to The AI Ad Economy on Substack and stay ahead of the news.

Debra Aho Williamson

BREAKING: ChatGPT is testing ads. 

Fidji Simo is leading the initiative. Ads will appear at the bottom of chats and advertisers will not have access to chat data.

If today's news about ChatGPT advertising has you thinking, "Should I have an AI media budget?" the answer is probably yes. 

But how, you say? I'm answering that question in my new Substack, The AI Ad Economy. 

Start here: https://lnkd.in/gDRpxfFt

Then go here: https://lnkd.in/evrdDejc

And then subscribe, so you get next week's issue - where I break down which industry categories are the best fit for AI media - in your inbox next Thursday.

Open article: Get Ready for AI Media by aiadeconomy.substack.com

🤷 Where's Meta? 

Back in December of 2024, I predicted 2025 would be the year ads in AI would start to make a splash. And I said the two platforms we'd be talking about are ChatGPT and Meta. I was just a bit early with my prediction, but now I'm left wondering: 

Where is Meta? 

Last we heard, they aren't prioritizing ads in their AI interactions. And we all know that the Meta AI org is undergoing lots of change. But Meta is the second largest ad seller in the world behind Google and it isn't going to let this opportunity slip out of its grasp. 

Here are 4 more questions I've been pondering: 

🥱 Will ads in AI always look this boring? 

The example OpenAI showed was so .... yawn. Like a little search ad plunked at the bottom. I get they're taking it slow and testing the waters but I have to believe a company that's REALLY good at AI will be able to use AI to create an ad format that's a lot more engaging. 

❓Which companies will be first to advertise on ChatGPT? 

This week I'm publishing an analysis in The AI Ad Economy, my new Substack, that assesses which industry categories should (and should not) have an AI media budget. I don't want to give away all my conclusions yet, but the most obvious companies to advertise on ChatGPT are retailers and DTC companies, at least initially. 

🔍 What does OpenAI's ads test mean for Google and its tests of AI advertising? 

Google is further along, since it already started testing ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode last year and it's been rolling them into more countries. Google needs to to start a full-court press to stay ahead of OpenAI.

👀 Who is leading OpenAI's advertising efforts? 

Fidji Simo is the public face, but who have they hired/will they hire to build these ad products and lead the ad sales team? Will these leaders come from search? Social media? Both? OpenAI can't half-ass this, or it won't work.

The biggest tradeoff when you link your business to a platform like ChatGPT?  Losing control of your most important asset: customer data. 

Gokul Rajaram helped build the ad infrastructure at Google and 
Facebook (that's where I first met him). He's now a founding partner at Marathon Management Partners. That paragraph above is one of the biggest takeaways from his excellent podcast interview with Patrick O'Shaughnessy on Invest Like the Best. 

Here's what Rajaram says concerns him: "Consumer behavior change, where they don't open up the apps anymore, but they use agentic interfaces. They use AI interfaces, which are not owned by my company or this company, to do their transactions."

He is talking about the risks to apps, but brands and retailers have the same set of mounting concerns: 

1)     Consumers use AI platforms or AI agents instead of opening apps or visiting websites.
2)     You lose the opportunity to show ads to consumers. 
3)     Then, you lose the relationship with the consumer.

That's a tough reality for any business to confront. 

The solution? 

Rajaram's advice: Experiment. Watch how consumers behave. And then decide if you want them to come back to your app or accept that they are now using it in another place. 

"You can't bury your head in the sand. You have to go and experiment. ... look to see these people who have connected. How's their behavior on my app? Are they going to my app or not? Are they opening the app much less frequently? Because if that's the case, then obviously this experience is so compelling that I would then have a choice to make. How do I make this experience maybe not as compelling as my app experience, or how do I incentivize them here to open up my app?"

That paragraph is giving me flashbacks to the early days of Facebook. Lots of businesses - marketers, publishers, apps - made big bets on the promise of traffic and engagement from partnering with Facebook. That didn't turn out so well. We'll see how it goes with ChatGPT.

If you're thinking about how partnerships and ads are evolving in ChatGPT and other AI interfaces, Rajaram has a lot of terrific insights in this podcast. 

https://lnkd.in/eDzrTNTy

H/T to John Ebbert for surfacing the interview in his Tipsheet newsletter.

AI ads aren’t coming all at once. They’ll show up first where consumer behavior already supports them.

The question I keep hearing from advertisers:
If my audience is using AI tools, should I already be buying ads there?

Here’s what the data is already showing:
• Different generations use AI for very different reasons
• Shopping behavior is emerging before ad formats do
• Trust (or lack of it) will shape which AI platforms can support ads first

I'm breaking this down in The AI Ad Economy, including an AI Media Action Guide by generation (sneak peek in the image).

I’ll be publishing more analysis in this series over the next few weeks.

If you’re trying to understand how AI platforms become media channels—before everyone else does—follow along.

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