This episode is brought to you by Sendlane.   The social media industry changes constantly, says Katelyn Sorensen, CEO of Loomly and Sendible, two social media management platforms. So education and collaboration are critical for her brands to stay agile.   "Just two weeks ago, a brand new feature came out on Instagram API, and everyone was rushing to be the first," Katelyn says. "I think that Loomly and Sendible were both in the top five or six to release that."   Loomly and Sendible are similar platforms, but they have different audiences. Loomly is targeted toward brands and companies. Sendible is designed for agencies.   Two trends in social media worth highlighting are the increasing importance of video and "authentic connection," Katelyn says.   "How do you not just use ads…when you're coming up with ads using real content, highlighting things customers say about you or highlighting members of your team and showing who you are as a brand," she explains. "That's something that I think, especially during the last two years with COVID, that people have been craving - that one-on-one connection. How do you create that as a brand and show up as authentic as possible?"   Content continues to be king in social media. That's why Loomly works with customers with post ideas and provides hashtag monitoring and trending so they can point out topics that people are searching for right now.   Sendible, on the other hand, is built for agencies - a business-to-business solution. To that end, it includes features such as bulk management and brand customization.   Approaching new social channels is another advantage of using a management platform like Loomly and Sendible.   "It is essential to understand how the different channels work for you and at least give them a try and see if it works," Katelyn says. "There are some things that are a bit of a no-brainer - TikTok just shared that they just had a billion users, faster than any other social platform before them. Loomly was the first social media management platform to have indirect TikTok scheduling."   Katelyn urges brands not just to tell their story but also to respond to what people are sharing. Engagement with customers is the ultimate goal.   In Part 2, Katelyn talks about:   * Why agility is a critical skill in the social media industry. * The difference audiences for Loomly and Sendible. * The growing importance of video and authentic connection in social media. * The challenges of creating and organizing content. * Sendible's services and how it differs from Loomly. * How to approach new social mediums.   Join Ramon Vela and Katelyn Sorensen as they break down the inside story on The Story of a Brand.   For more on Loomly, visit: https://www.loomly.com/    Subscribe and Listen to the podcast on all major apps. Simply search for “The Story of a Brand,” or click here to listen on your favorite podcast player: Listen now.   *   This episode is also brought to you by Sendlane.   If all DTC companies were forced to turn off Facebook ads, they'd be dead on arrival. Why is that?   They over-invest in paid acquisition and under-invest in retention.   Luckily, Sendlane makes it easy to solve this problem. Sendlane is an E-Commerce Customer Experience Platform helping hundreds of DTC brands to tighten their existing customer relationships.   Sendlane automates personalized customer experiences through Welcome and Abandoned Cart workflows, SMS, Deep Data Integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce, multi-store functionality, and much more.   Plus, they don't stand for lazy customer support. Their San-Diego-based team has an average 1-minute response time from a live human, making sure you never get stuck in a chat queue ever again.   Curious about how Sendlane can help your DTC brand grow? Schedule a demo with a Specialist. Visit https://www.sendlane.com/story