Facebook's pioneering sales executive and among its first ten employees, Kevin Colleran was an integral part of the social networking behemoth's sales force. As the company's Global Partnership Lead, he was responsible for creatively monetizing the site without hampering user experience. He was named one of New York's 100 Coolest Tech People by Business Insider.
While at Facebook, Colleran helped guide major corporations - including such Fortune 100 companies as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, and Coca-Cola - through the process of becoming present and engaged in the online space. By inserting themselves into the conversations that were already being had about their brands, these corporations found that they could engage their existing customers and capture new ones by cultivating brand loyalty and a sense of community.
Having cut his teeth at the largest social networking site the world has ever known, Colleran created many of today's mainstream digital marketing and branding practices, effectively rendering "old media" practices obsolete. In his view, there are only a handful of companies that really understand how social networking and real-time digital media affect the bottom line. Those companies are the ones that will survive and thrive in the constantly evolving business landscape; the rest will fall behind and eventually fail.
Prior to his six years at Facebook, Colleran was a self described "lifelong entrepreneur" who opened a baseball card shop at age 14 and created such internet businesses as LiveService, which outsourced customer service, and Photo Masterpiece, which put photos on canvas and boasted such creative marketing campaigns as the "Erase Your Ex" special for divorced couples who wanted to remove their ex from wedding photos. A savvy businessman, Colleran would often create a story around his business for the express purpose of writing a press release and building his own personal brand. This strategy worked for Colleran; after creating Blabberforce, a college marketing force, while a student at Babson College, he soon branded himself as a college marketing expert, appearing as such on national media outlets. He was named College Entrepreneur of the Year by several national organizations and at 17 was one of the youngest people ever to work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Colleran is a board member of several companies in the social media space, including Buddy Media, a Facebook brand platform, and Facebook Causes, one of the largest applications on Facebook, which focuses on generating awareness and donations for over 240,000 causes and nonprofits in the United States. Prior to working at Facebook, Colleran was a consultant for RCA and Arista Records, where he created corporate sponsorships between brands and musicians. He is a graduate of Babson College.
An engaging storyteller with an infectious sense of humor, Kevin Colleran offers an enlightening presentation on sales, marketing, and branding in the digital age. He offers corporations the hard-won insights for reimagining and reenergizing their sales and marketing strategy and, ultimately, improving their bottom line.
Keynote Presentions
Join the Conversation Because It's Going on Without You: The Importance of Understanding Your Customers' Online Habits
As one of the first ten employees at Facebook, Kevin Colleran intimately understood what made the social networking giant so successful: a focus on user experience that was unhampered by intrusive ads. What may have seemed like a difficult, even insurmountable, task - monetizing a site that had a fundamental aim to not bother its users fell to Colleran, who put his sales and web savvy to use in developing the novel ad strategy wherein Facebook's ads and brand pages are tailored to people who actually want to see them.
In this presentation, Kevin Colleran helps corporations understand what too many do not: the conversation about your brand is going on whether you are online to represent yourself or not. With wit and amazing industry insight, he espouses the importance of going to where the customers are and shaping your own company's narrative - before a disgruntled customer or bloodthirsty competitor does it for you.
The Eyes Have It: Getting the Most Out of Your Ad Dollars
Eighty percent of ad dollars are allocated to demand generation ads - a space that has always been dominated by television. But with the rise of DVR and smartphones, it's becoming easier and more convenient to ignore the ads you don't care to see - either by fast forwarding through them or looking down at your phone or iPad instead.
Kevin Colleran argues that this shift in consumer attention is a golden opportunity for advertisers if they simply follow their customers' lead and go to where the eyes are. Citing the importance of "living a day in your customer's media mix," Colleran explains how most executives have never actually tried to live like their average consumer and, as such, fail to truly understand how many distractions, ads, data, wireless devices, and other clutter is out there. In this fascinating talk, he explains how companies can enhance their advertising and brand narrative by thinking outside the box... literally.
The History of Facebook
Make the Connection, Get the Meeting: Controlling Your Own Destiny as a Salesperson
Testimonials
"Now I understand". This was what I repeatedly heard from our students following the presentation delivered by Kevin Colleran at Fordham's Graduate School of Business. The standing-room only crowd has experience in the end-user side of Facebook, but Kevin's presentation gave a dynamic look at the business side of social media, how companies can attract and engage with customers, and how precise targeting can be done in such a large space. If you are looking to have your company better leverage Facebook and social media, and to understand how to create a solid online presence, Kevin is the ideal speaker to get you towards your goal.
- Fordham University
As we built our strategies around social media, clearly Facebook was to play an integral role in connecting CVS/pharmacy retail to our target customer. Kevin attended and presented at several meetings with our entire marketing team (CMO, VP-Advertising, Marketing and Media Directors and their teams) and became the "face of Facebook" for us. So much so that we asked him to come to a group meeting with colleagues at all levels and present his wisdom, thoughts, insights and even start-up stories. The feedback from every level of the marketing organization was positive and gave us more positive internal traction around how social media would play into all future marketing strategies and plans. Kevin has a keen ability to connect with a diverse audience (which seems right - isn't Facebook all about connecting with others?). He knows how to "teach" the fundamentals that include everything from how to run an ad yourself (nuts and bolts) to gaining insights as to how the target consumer connects with not only your brand, but other brands that influence them, as well (future connection strategies).
- CVS/pharmacy
Kevin Colleran is an engaging and enlightening speaker. His knowledge of social media marketing along with his dynamic delivery make his presentations a must see for the business world. Kevin also has significant experiences in entrepreneurial endeavors, which make his presentations all the more appealing. Babson is fortunate to have Kevin visit on a periodic basis. One student remarked after hearing his recent presentation, "This is why I came to Babson." Kevin's presentations are a must see every time.
- Babson College
