UMD AMA x Twitter

Julia Lienhard, October 27, 2019.

This past week, the University of Maryland (UMD) Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) had the pleasure of hosting guest speaker and UMD alum Lexi Neaman. As an undergraduate student, Neaman pursued a degree in communication studies with a concentration in public relations and an additional minor in leadership studies. Her effortless charisma and candid speaking style exemplify that her studies have served her well beyond the four years that she spent at UMD. After graduation, Neaman began her next chapter with Twitter and she has worked tenaciously over the past six years to become a Client Partner at their Washington D.C. metropolitan office. The members of AMA were delighted to gain insight on the interconnectedness of social media and digital marketing campaigns from an experienced professional.

In the past few years, Twitter has evolved into an incredibly valuable tool that savvy brands can use to make an impact in as few as three seconds. Neaman expounded on the value of this social media platform by explaining that it has single handedly changed the field of advertising because advertisements can blend seamlessly into the background. Today, Twitter users don’t see advertisements as an intrusion but rather as a part of their daily feed. Neaman reassured students that the field of digital advertising is not only dynamic but organic because it allows people to interact with different groups according to their interests and demographics. For instance, big brands such as Nike and Dominos use keywords and phrases like ‘sports’ or ‘late night snack’ to build, maintain, and grow their audience over a period of time. Last year, the International House of Pancakes ‘IHOP’ promoted their inclusion of burgers on the menu by tweeting that they were planning on changing their brand name from ‘IHOP’ to ‘IHOB’. Thus, companies have the ability to generative an enormous amount of buzz for their brand if they can strategically plan a marketing campaign or thoughtfully execute a public relations stunt via Twitter.

According to Neaman, if you are willing to learn the technicalities of brand marketing, working for a company like Twitter is a great way to influence consumer culture and feel a part of a larger conversation.