In addition to being a self-professed Facebook nerd, I’ve been a longtime online marketer, and have had the privilege of working with several iconic brands along the way.

ONLINE GURU

I launched my marketing career as a global online marketing and mobile product manager for AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), which provided me with a solid, digital foundation.  There, I worked with tech powerhouses like HP, Dell, and Microsoft.

SOCIAL MEDIA MAVEN

After AMD, I moved on to social media company Powered Inc. (acquired in 2010 by Dachis Group), and led the Hewlett Packard global account team in managing HP’s Learning Centers. Our company was instrumental in introducing the PC giant to the world of social media, through user ratings and reviews in their learning centers for HP customers.

RESEARCHER

As an insights fanatic and trained qualitative researcher, I’ve gotten up close and personal with brands like Lean Cuisine, American Greetings, and Nestlé – which, as a little side perk, involved endless amounts of cookie sampling. Not a bad gig. This training helped me understand the “why” in how people buy, and what makes them connect powerfully with their chosen brands.

ENTREPRENEUR AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

I’ve launched two previous businesses prior to Jen Smith Social. In 2010, I teamed up with my husband on a commercial real estate business, and met with over 100 local entrepreneurs just starting out on ventures of their own. Interacting with these individuals helped me understand exactly what small-to-medium companies are looking for (besides killer office space): A way to turn their passion into a business.

SEARCH MARKETER

Using SEO for lead generation for our commercial real estate business quickly became my favorite pastime. So in 2011, I launched my own successful Search Marketing company with a biz partner. The power of organic and paid search is incredible, and utilized correctly, can lead to massive traffic and sales from your website. I still have a passion for search, so much so that I’m still partnering with Return On Now to help them with business development.

FACEBOOK MARKETER

Meanwhile, Facebook was expanding in its marketing and advertising options, and the worlds of search and social media began colliding. Social is the new search, and with the introduction of Graph Search especially, Facebook is revolutionizing the way we search for brands, interests, people and places online. I started seeing potential from every angle to merge my love of search with social media, and it wasn’t long before I dove right in and immersed myself in all things Facebook. Voila! Jen Smith Social was born.