Spiraling Up — Marketing For Professional Services

Intern TAKEOVER: Will Gen Z Put Marketing in Jeopardy? with Sabrina Alperin

• Hinge • Season 1 • Episode 12

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In this special Intern Takeover episode of Spiraling Up, the 2025 Summer Intern, Sabrina Alperin, hosts an exciting gameshow very similar to (but definitely different than) the popular gameshow, Jeopardy!

Austin, Mary-Blanche, and Joe compete to answer questions in categories like 'Everything Sabrina,' 'Marketing Mayhem,' and 'Hinge Story.' Sabrina also shares insights from her internship at Hinge, discussing the importance of SEO, social media strategies, and the role of AI in marketing. The episode wraps up with Sabrina's plans for the future as she returns to Vanderbilt University.

Connect with Sabrina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinaalperin/

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome
02:32 Intern Puts Marketing in Jeopardy
22:36 And the winner is...
23:31 Gen Z Perspective on B2B Marketing

Austin McNair:

In today's episode of Spiraling Up, it's the intern Takeover episode and hinges intern. Sabrina Alperin is going to channel the spirit of Alex Trebek for an episode of Hinge Jeopardy. What are the questions? What are the categories? We have no clue. We're gonna find out together. Welcome everyone. This is spiraling Up with Hinge. everyone to Spiraling Up the podcast for professional services marketers and business leaders. My name is Austin McNair, and as always, I'm joined by my colleagues and co-hosts, Mary Blanc Kramer, a MB, and Joe Pope. How you doing, Joe?

Joe Pope:

I am so glad that I talked to you all into doing this episode.

Austin McNair:

Well, this episode is gonna be brought to us by a special guest. I'm excited to introduce someone who's been helping us a lot behind the scenes recently. Sabrina Alperin. Welcome, Sabrina.

Sabrina Alpern:

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here today.

Austin McNair:

We're excited too. The, we have no idea what's about to happen. Uh, hinge Jeopardy. You've been planning this, you know, all summer long. You've been learning, you've been kind of involved in a lot of things going on here at Hinge, and a lot of that I imagine has worked its way into this, uh, upcoming episode of Spiraling Up I just want to ask as we get started, you know, are you excited? Have you enjoyed the internship so far? No pressure. You know, everyone's listening and thinking about him, you know, so make, make sure you only say, only say like nice things about us. you know, how, how are you feeling going into this?

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm super excited for this episode, especially because it's a great way, I think, for me to show all three of you exactly what I've been doing so far in this internship. There's a bunch of different categories covering all the, all the different things that I have learned so far in my time here in addition to one bonus category that's of everything about me. So it'll definitely be fun, full of lots of surprises, and I can't wait to see how it goes.

Mary Blanche:

I love this.

Austin McNair:

All right. Well, I know that I'm excited, Joe Mary Blanche. You guys excited?

Mary Blanche:

Yeah, let's do it.

Joe Pope:

as a lifelong Jeopardy fan, uh, religiously watched it, uh, had watch parties in college with friends. this is a dream come true, guys. Finally getting to participate in Jeopardy.

Mary Blanche:

That's what we're here for. Making dreams come true.

Joe Pope:

Making

Austin McNair:

I'm here, I'm here to crush those dreams. Joe, if you, if you, if you thought this was your moment to win Jeopardy, I am here to, uh, try to stand in the way of that. So, uh, let the competitive spirit begin and, uh, Sabrina Yeah, let's get going with Hinge Jeopardy.

Sabrina Alpern:

Now entering the digital studio are today's contestants. First, a business operations executive from Richmond, Virginia. Mary Blanche Kramer, also a marketing wizard joining all the way from Southern Brazil, Austin McNair. And lastly, a professional talker and business developer extraordinaire from Alexandria, Virginia, Joe Pope. The game rules will feel very similar to standard Jeopardy, but have been altered slightly to accommodate the digital environment. While there are no set timers, please refrain from buzzing in until I've finished delivering the clue. Now this also means that for every question I can determine how much time to give. So please be warned. As always, answers must be in the form of a question and to streamline the process, the daily double will simply double the point value. Today's categories are everything, Sabrina, data due diligence, marketing, mayhem. Contents New Frontier Hinge story and lastly, marketing jargon. Austin, how about we kick it over to you to start us off?

Austin McNair-3:

All right. I'll take marketing jargon for 300, Sabrina.

Joe Pope:

You would go to the middle of the board.

Sabrina Alpern:

This critical component of a brand is not the entire brand itself nor a portrait of the business yet it plays a key role in identification, differentiation in aiding. Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

What is a logo?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is a logo? It's still yours.

Austin McNair-3:

I'll go for, uh Marketing Mayhem for 400.

Sabrina Alpern:

This practice refers to maximizing the reach and pact and efficiency of their content investment. Oh, it looks like we have a tie, but Austin took the lead. Austin, this one's yours.

Austin McNair-3:

What is ROI

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry, but that was incorrect,

Austin McNair-3:

Damn.

Mary Blanche:

sound.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe.

Joe Pope:

What a brutal buzzer. you, did you build that sound effect in Well, that, I mean, that was what I was gonna guess, so I'm, I'm just gonna go ahead and pass at this point. It's, oh, I still get it wrong. That's not fair.

Sabrina Alpern:

Okay, time's up. The answer for this is, what is repurposing?

Austin McNair-3:

Oh, okay.

Joe Pope:

makes sense.

Sabrina Alpern:

Austin, it's technically still yours.

Austin McNair-3:

Okay, we'll go to Marketing Mayhem for 500.

Sabrina Alpern:

Top marketing priority for high growth firms in 2025 focuses on distancing themselves from competitors in the minds of target buyers. Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

What is differentiation?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is brand differentiation

Joe Pope:

How is your internet better than mine?

Austin McNair-3:

We're all the way from Brazil. The Internet's better.

Sabrina Alpern:

back to you

Austin McNair-3:

let's go to Hinge Story for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

Beyond the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the debut of Toby McGuire's Spider-Man. This pivotal moment also happened in 2002. Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is the founding of Hinge or the creation of Hinge

Sabrina Alpern:

that is correct. One was Hinge, founded

Joe Pope:

on the board? Baby?

Mary Blanche:

Man.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe, it's yours

Joe Pope:

I will do 200. Same category?

Sabrina Alpern:

daily double.

Joe Pope:

And I can't, I can't just bet up to a thousand.

Mary Blanche:

Oh,

Sabrina Alpern:

classic toy figurine was the unofficial mascot of Hinge early on in the agency's development.

Joe Pope:

Is scuba Steve?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. Oops.

Austin McNair-3:

Okay, so we're not doing

Joe Pope:

mb mb you knew that one,

Mary Blanche:

No, I did, but I thought that that's, I thought the daily was where you, um, you

Joe Pope:

if you get to

Austin McNair-3:

No, that's final

Joe Pope:

No, that's final

Mary Blanche:

Oh gosh. See you guys. I don't even.

Sabrina Alpern:

Who is scuba? Steve is correct.

Joe Pope:

oh yeah. What is it? Who is whatever.

Austin McNair-3:

RIP Scuba, Steve.

Joe Pope:

Yeah.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe, this one's yours.

Joe Pope:

let's do Hinge story for 500.

Austin McNair-3:

Wow. Skipping ahead.

Sabrina Alpern:

This lightly sweetened whipped French treat is also the namesake of the town in which hinge originated Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have buzzed in. Uh, what is Chantilly?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct.

Austin McNair-3:

Oh, yeah, let's go,

Mary Blanche:

What.

Joe Pope:

Chantilly, Virginia.

Austin McNair-3:

dude.

Joe Pope:

is, that's a thing, ice cream or French like, what is that?

Sabrina Alpern:

It's like sweetened whipped cream Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

All right. Uh, everything, Sabrina for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

This specific date marks the beginning of Sabrina's internship with Hinge.

Joe Pope:

Mary Pledge could know this solely because she's the one who did the

Mary Blanche:

No, I, it's, it was in, it was in June. I'm like quickly going to, like on the calendar. I don't know. I don't know the specific date

Joe Pope:

That's all right. We could, we could give her, we can give her time to figure it out. Hold

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is May 20th?

Sabrina Alpern:

that is correct. What is May 20th?

Joe Pope:

I know my intern.

Mary Blanche:

Guys, y'all are just gonna have to let me get on the board. This is really sad.

Austin McNair-3:

your buzzer work?

Mary Blanche:

Like, does it? Let's test it.

Sabrina Alpern:

Um, Joe, this one's yours.

Joe Pope:

All right, everything. Sabrina for four.

Austin McNair-3:

dude's hopping around.

Sabrina Alpern:

My favorite annual observance is a unique celebration of harvest and gratitude. It's state anchored, not to a specific calendar day, but to a recurring weekday within late autumn Mary Blanche.

Mary Blanche:

Thanksgiving

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is Thanksgiving?

Joe Pope:

What is Thanksgiving?

Mary Blanche:

Thank the Lord.

Sabrina Alpern:

Blanche? This one's yours.

Mary Blanche:

Okay, let's do, I'm liking the Sabrina. Let's do everything Sabrina for two.

Sabrina Alpern:

If you read my Bio and hinges website, you would know that I play this fast paced team sport with zero referees,

Mary Blanche:

Frisbee.

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is Ultimate Frisbee?

Joe Pope:

You gotta say the question.

Sabrina Alpern:

It's still yours

Mary Blanche:

Oh, let's see. Let's go marketing jargon for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

refers to commerce transactions between businesses. Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is B2B?

Sabrina Alpern:

that is correct.

Joe Pope:

Let's go with marketing jargon for 400.

Sabrina Alpern:

A platform to maintain information about individuals. You are currently or planning to do business with Mary Blanc.

Mary Blanche:

CRM,

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is a CRM still yours?

Mary Blanche:

Um, let's do marketing jargon for 300.

Sabrina Alpern:

An instruction to the audience to provoke an immediate response, Austin,

Austin McNair-3:

What is a call to action?

Sabrina Alpern:

that is right on. What is a call to action or CTA,

Austin McNair-3:

These, these, these we're buzzing in a little earlier than, uh, now that we're getting the hang of it.

Sabrina Alpern:

Austin Yours?

Austin McNair-3:

marketing jargon for 200.

Sabrina Alpern:

Strategically updating elements of a webpage or website to dominate a search engine results page is also known as what Key Practice Mary Blanc? That's correct. What is search engine optimization or SEO.

Joe Pope:

When is she gonna get in trouble for not saying the what is at the front? I feel like we should be,

Austin McNair-3:

Yeah. Yeah. Next one.

Joe Pope:

out.

Mary Blanche:

Technicality.

Sabrina Alpern:

Mary Blanche is yours.

Mary Blanche:

Let's do marketing jargon. Four, 500.

Sabrina Alpern:

When a user types a query into Google, the page that displays organic and paid results is commonly referred to by this four-letter acronym, Joe.

Joe Pope:

Serp, what is serp?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What is a ser.

Joe Pope:

I, I like how I almost missed the, what is after I just called out Mary Blanc for it.

Austin McNair-3:

I, I, I, we need to get another referee in here about this. Uh, wait until she finishes talking

Joe Pope:

Yeah, I don't, I think that rule's gone now. It's just buzz when you wanna buzz.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe category.

Joe Pope:

Uh, content's new frontier for 300.

Sabrina Alpern:

The overwhelming presence of this Google feature has the side effect of making it challenging for websites to be noticed and generate click through Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

What is an AI overview?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is right on. What are AI overviews?

Austin McNair-3:

Yes. We hate those. We love them. We hate them. All right,

Joe Pope:

Love to hate.

Austin McNair-3:

Contents New Frontier. I like this category for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

This technology has drastically lowered the barrier to content creation, but also made authenticity. The scarcest resource, Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is ai?

Sabrina Alpern:

that's correct.

Austin McNair-3:

Is it ai? Is that specific enough? Oh.

Sabrina Alpern:

What is artificial intelligence

Joe Pope:

Sure looks specific enough. Austin,

Austin McNair-3:

Good stuff.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe, this one's yours.

Joe Pope:

Uh, let's go with data due diligence for 200. Now I'm gonna really jump all over. This is what you all get.

Sabrina Alpern:

These two vital SEO indicators often evaluated together, quantify the average monthly searches for a keyword and its relative competitiveness on a scale of one to 100 Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

Uh,

Sabrina Alpern:

the time is ticking.

Austin McNair-3:

Okay. What is domain authority?

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry. That's incorrect.

Austin McNair-3:

So scale one of 100 mess me up. I.

Joe Pope:

I think that's one of them.

Sabrina Alpern:

Mary

Joe Pope:

go. And B,

Mary Blanche:

Oh no, I don't know the other one. It's like volume and Oh, man.

Sabrina Alpern:

The correct answer is what are search volume and difficulty?

Austin McNair-3:

I should have read that question better.

Joe Pope:

You should have Mr. Seo.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe,

Joe Pope:

let's go with Content's New Frontier for 500 big fake dollars.

Sabrina Alpern:

according to the 2025 high growth study. The top marketing challenge of professional services firms Austin?

Austin McNair-3:

Uh, and what is incorporating AI into your business?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What is incorporated in AI and automation?

Austin McNair-3:

Joe's jumping around. Strategy was starting to work against me. I think

Joe Pope:

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm really trying to get him on tilt.

Austin McNair-3:

Let's get, uh, let's go to everything, Sabrina, for 300.

Sabrina Alpern:

This specific measurement represents Sabrina's height, Mary Blanc.

Mary Blanche:

Five, four.

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry, that's incorrect.

Joe Pope:

Uh, I don't even know why I busted into this. Five seven.

Sabrina Alpern:

Sorry, that's Austin incorrect though. I wish I could reach those heights. Austin,

Austin McNair-3:

Uh, five three.

Sabrina Alpern:

The correct answer is what is five feet, five inches?

Joe Pope:

All right.

Austin McNair-3:

This is the downside of never

Joe Pope:

I knew you weren't. like five feet tall. I knew you were taller than that.

Austin McNair-3:

All right, uh, let's finish the category, everything, Sabrina for 500.

Sabrina Alpern:

Daily double.

Joe Pope:

Oh wow. That's a thousand points.

Austin McNair-3:

this

Sabrina Alpern:

A perpetually challenging dance with gravity. This three object activity is a skill that I have mastered Oh, Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

What a.

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What is juggling

Austin McNair-3:

Uh, let's do data due diligence for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

This two word term frequently discussed at the Association for Accounting Marketing's 2025 Summit as something institutions should abandon, refers to simplistic indicators like number of followers, likes, and subscribers. Austin.

Austin McNair-3:

What is vanity metrics?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct.

Joe Pope:

He is running

Sabrina Alpern:

What are Vanity metrics? Austin,

Austin McNair-3:

Uh, day due diligence for 300.

Sabrina Alpern:

This three word business term and commonly used acronym describes quantifiable measures that serve as crucial benchmarks. Allowing an organization to gauge its progress and make targeted improvements. Mary Blanc?

Joe Pope:

Oh.

Mary Blanche:

Uh, what are KPIs?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What are Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPIs, Mary Blanc. This one's yours.

Mary Blanche:

Let's see. Let's do data due diligence for 400.

Sabrina Alpern:

Marketers and data scientists refer to this term to describe information held in separate systems causing integration problems. Joe.

Joe Pope:

What are data silos or data silos?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What are data silos? um, Joe, this one's yours.

Joe Pope:

Let's go with content's. New Frontier for 400.

Sabrina Alpern:

Due to AI increasing skepticism in the digital realm, marketers should be aware of the resurgence in this. Mary Blanc,

Mary Blanche:

What are traditional marketing techniques?

Sabrina Alpern:

that's right on answer is what are traditional marketing techniques?

Joe Pope:

Miss? Miss Networker knows everything

Mary Blanche:

All right, so it's to me now, right?

Sabrina Alpern:

Yeah it is.

Mary Blanche:

Let's do Marketing Mayhem for 200.

Sabrina Alpern:

It's finger licking good. Eat fresh, and just do it. Are examples of short phrases that reinforce a company's brand, often appearing with its name and logo. Joe.

Joe Pope:

What are taglines?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct. What are taglines? Do you all have any favorite taglines in particular?

Joe Pope:

Uh, just do it. I think that's iconic with Nike.

Sabrina Alpern:

Agreed.

Austin McNair-3:

Good one.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe, this one's yours.

Joe Pope:

Let's go with hinges story for 400.

Sabrina Alpern:

This annual piece of content was a longtime tradition at Hinge, beloved by employees and clients alike. Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is the high growth study?

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry. That's incorrect.

Joe Pope:

Oh,

Sabrina Alpern:

Mary

Joe Pope:

you know what it, I know what it is. Damnit.

Mary Blanche:

Hmm, hold on.

Joe Pope:

I wanna buzz back in.

Mary Blanche:

Well, Joe's answer was gonna be my answer. I don't know. You guys are the worst.

Sabrina Alpern:

Austin?

Austin McNair-3:

What is a meat log?

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry. That's so incorrect.

Joe Pope:

I know

Sabrina Alpern:

The correct answer is. what is the Hinge Holiday

Joe Pope:

Damnit.

Mary Blanche:

Oh, but we don't, but we don't do it anymore, which is the

Sabrina Alpern:

That one got a little help from Producer John.

Joe Pope:

yeah. That was so good by him because the was was the key piece there because we haven't done a holiday video in two years.

Mary Blanche:

It's so long.

Austin McNair-3:

I.

Joe Pope:

that was brutal. Let's go with Hinge Stories 300.

Sabrina Alpern:

This restaurant nearby to hinges Rest in office was often the location of happy hours and company lunch and dinner gatherings, Mary Blanche.

Mary Blanche:

Uh, what is Reds?

Sabrina Alpern:

That is correct. What is Red's table?

Joe Pope:

I missed that. Missed that lakefront property.

Sabrina Alpern:

Mary Blanc, this one's yours.

Mary Blanche:

Let's do marketing Mayhem for 100.

Sabrina Alpern:

This marketing term describes online material that requires users to submit information like their email address before they can access it, Joe,

Joe Pope:

What is gated content, and I keep getting the a hundred dollars questions, but not the big ones.

Sabrina Alpern:

That's correct.

Joe Pope:

All right. Well, let's go with the 500 data due diligence.

Sabrina Alpern:

This business behavior, although vital for optimizing performance, is often a significant struggle for professional services firms to adopt.

Joe Pope:

I. Oh

Austin McNair-3:

There's a, aren't there a lot of these?

Joe Pope:

yeah, there's quite a few.

Austin McNair-3:

What is CRM adoption?

Sabrina Alpern:

I'm sorry. That's incorrect.

Mary Blanche:

Do you have a guest, Joe?

Joe Pope:

Um, no, I don't.

Austin McNair-3:

All right. Let's skip this one to see the answer.

Sabrina Alpern:

No answer. Well, the correct one is what is tracking marketing metrics?

Joe Pope:

Yeah, I figured it was something

Austin McNair-3:

that that was like our signature finding from this year's high growth study that basically nobody knows how to track their marketing ROI or marketing metrics.

Joe Pope:

They either over complicate it or they don't do it at all.

Austin McNair-3:

Correct. Good question.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe, this one's yours, I believe.

Joe Pope:

Yeah. Let's clear out the board content's new Frontier for 200.

Sabrina Alpern:

This type of content is favored by algorithms on platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, because users connect to it leading to a more impressions and longer engagement. Austin

Austin McNair-3:

What is video content

Sabrina Alpern:

right on.

Austin McNair-3:

All?

Sabrina Alpern:

​and it's now time for final Jeopardy. Today's category is the row two success. Contestants wager up.

Austin McNair:

Joe, how much are you wagering?

Joe Pope:

I am not telling you.

Austin McNair:

Go big or go home.

Joe Pope:

You're gonna have to wait and see. Wager is entered. I'm feeling good

Sabrina Alpern:

is locked in This phrase encapsulates the upward trajectory. Hinge aims to help professional services firms achieve, and it also serves as the title for their biweekly segments of spoken insight.

Joe Pope:

Kinda like the music. That was pretty nice. Austin, do you just struggle at typing?

Austin McNair:

Yeah.

Joe Pope:

He's like checking Twitter. He's like, God, hold on. I'm screaming at somebody in the comments right now. Let me finish.

Sabrina Alpern:

Joe. Let's see what you guessed. Spiraling up. Big surprise. That is correct. Which

Joe Pope:

Yeah.

Sabrina Alpern:

total yeah. Let's see what Mary Blanche has. What is spiraling up also correct. And Austin, will we be three for three? We will spiraling up again, the correct answer,

Joe Pope:

Bonus points for Mary Blanche who didn't say what is for the entire round is the only person who wrote what is in final Jeopardy.

Mary Blanche:

I was gonna make sure I didn't get points deducted.

Sabrina Alpern:

Answer time, what is spiraling up, and the winner is.

Mary Blanche:

Austin.

Joe Pope:

Team Austin, what's our scores?

Sabrina Alpern:

Austin Wagered 1,499 points, which brought his grand total to 2,999. In second place, we have Mary Blanche with a wager of 300, bringing her score 15 and a wager of 69. Joe with a final score of nine. Nine. Great game contestants.

Joe Pope:

Congrats Austin.

Austin McNair:

Thank you and well, I think the real congrats should go to Sabrina. Sabrina, thank you so much for, uh, organizing that for us and for, you know, writing all those questions. Um, yeah, round of applause for you. That was, that was really fun and uh, great job.

Sabrina Alpern:

Thank you. I had so much fun working on it.

Joe Pope:

All right. Well, thank you Mary Blanche for giving me the distinct pleasure of introducing today's pivotal story, which is what terrifies the baby boomers more than anything. Gen Z and who better than to talk about Gen Z's perspective on the professional services marketing place or market space marketing space place than Sabrina Alperin our intern. Sabrina, thank you for sitting in the hot seat. Also, thank you for sitting up Jeopardy. That was a blast. As Austin said, great time. Um, sorry that it ended the way it did, mostly that Austin won. But, uh, you know, I'm excited to kind of talk through some of your takes specifically and what it's been like to work here at Hinge.

Sabrina Alpern:

One of the things that I have loved right off the bat of this internship is that. I've been involved in so many aspects of the company, from the podcast side to client work, to social media, to SEO stuff, which is all new to me, and I'm really, really grateful for this opportunity to learn more about this. On the podcast side, one of the big. Epiphanies that I think I had, and which also might be a big epiphany for some of our listeners and some of our viewers, is that there's a lot of work that goes into making a podcast, both on the pre-production and the post-production side, which has been really fun to experience from identifying who the guest will be. I was lucky enough to be on this episode, um, having an intro call with them, identifying what area of expertise they have, how they present on camera. All of that works into figuring out what game will showcase all of that in the best way possible. And then all of that plays into the actual recording, which is a super, super fun experience. I know this is my first time being on this side of it, but I've luck lucky enough to have been on about three or four sitting in on them to see what that looks like. But I've actually had a lot of fun working on the post-production side. One of the things that Hinge really emphasizes is repurposing content. So I've had a lot of fun repurposing, clips from the podcast, which I have identified, and turning them into shorts and reels, which we push through different channels, including YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Joe Pope:

So just to pull the curtain back a little bit here, and I think any regular follow of the podcast recognizes and have heard of us, refer to producer John John Tieman, who. Leads a lot of our backend production efforts on the podcast. Well, Sabrina has been able to really kind of sit side by side with John and working on a lot of these different elements of what he's talked about, uh, over the duration of the last few months in, uh, her internship and, and gotten to really see a lot of these details come through. Sabrina, one, one thing that I. Just in general, I know when you reached out and when you started having initial conversations with us about what this internship would look like in terms of how you've seen these different tactics come to play, like what we've learned from our high growth study, the types of ways that we can communicate with audiences, what really kind of surprised you in a sense we're you're on, you're running a podcast in the backend, right? Or you're creating shorts, but like what's really stood out to you in terms of those tactics?

Sabrina Alpern:

In terms of stuff I've seen appear a few times in the high growth study. A lot. Of its centers around search engine optimization. I've worked with one of our lucky, um, colleagues, Kelly, who has had, I've had the pleasure of learning from her. And one of the things that I've seen on the client side. Is that a lot of clients haven't fully incorporated SEO techniques. So on one hand you might have this beautifully created website. Thankfully our creative team is really good in that area, but it's only one step of the process because if you look for that website online and you don't see it pop up because you haven't implemented proper SEO techniques, you're not gonna see. All that lovely information. You're not gonna see the design, you're not gonna get to learn about the company, all because you haven't incorporated the right keywords. So I think that was definitely something that stood out to me and that I've learned a lot so far.

Austin McNair:

So Sabrina Joe kind of led into this with like mentioning kind of the generational difference, right? And I, you know, I'll, I'll let the baby boomers off the hook. You know, as a millennial, I, I find even, you know, chatting with my younger friends, family members, et cetera. I think Gen Z even has a lot of distinct, um, of traits compared to millennials, even though. We were all kind of raised in the era of internet. It's kind of like the, the saturation of it was different, the different, you know, the kinds of content that was available on the internet when I was young. Completely different than you were. Sabrina. I'm just curious, you know, how do you think that you and kind of your peers when you are consuming advertising or marketing, like what, what do you think are some like, distinct traits of, of Gen Z that maybe a millennial like myself wouldn't know about?

Sabrina Alpern:

I mean, gen Z we're the first digital generation who grew up with technology at her fingertips. I mean, I've had one of these for forever. I remember. I was four years old, I think when I got my first iTouch, not the iPod, but the iTouch, which was before it in a bright pink case. But growing up with that has, I think, really contributed to how we consume media, how we learn about new brands, how we learn about new companies, and at least from me and my experience, a lot of that primarily falls to platforms like Instagram, from reels, from posts to stories. I often find that I might be scrolling on Instagram and I'll come across a new product. Now I'll click onto that page to learn more about that product. And one of the great things with Instagram itself is that you can quickly learn about a company. Very efficiently. And I think Instagram's a great tool that companies can use to highlight who they are, what they stand for, what they're proud of. And once I've gone through their Instagram page, I'll then open up their actual website to learn more about them. But I think a lot of people in my generation fall first to Instagram is that source. And I think one of the key things that companies. consider when looking to craft a successful digital marketing strategies to stay nimble and be aware of all the different things that are happening around them and successfully incorporate that into their content. I'm just thinking back a few months ago, I go to school in Nashville, there was a zebra on the loose. A local pancake joint that's favored by a lot of people capitalized on this and turned this into a few different social media posts with zebras eating pancakes. I just think stuff like that is what makes a company truly stand out, and that's what people talk about.

Mary Blanche:

Sabrina, one question I had, um, when you were kind of first thinking about, you know, what you wanted your internship to, to look like this summer or even where you wanted to, um. Where you wanted that internship to be? What are some of the things that you, that you looked at to, to evaluate Hinge that you know, like this would be the right, the right fit for you?

Sabrina Alpern:

There's so much that went into that. To be honest, one of the things that I was really looking for was getting client experience. And on my first call with Liz, she promised me that I would definitely get that, but so much more. And I've definitely seen that from the research side, from the client facing side to people being so eager to chip in and teach me more about what they do. I mean, on the first day of my internship, I had already seen a cult. I booked, booked on my calendar for a client, presentation from like two to 4:00 PM and I was like, wow, this company really listened to what I was saying. They're really trying to help, and all of that. I guess that wasn't directly how I evaluated it, but from the very get go, I knew that I made the right decision.

Mary Blanche:

When you were looking at us, did you, um, did you go to our website? Or did you find us on Instagram? Like where was that kind of go-to place to kind of do a download of information about us?

Sabrina Alpern:

It was a mix. I looked at Instagram, I looked at the website. I really, really enjoyed looking at the different design case stories. Um, on Hinge website, there's a whole. Page dedicated to the design side and the case story aspect. And I really enjoyed scrolling through those, seeing the products. Um, and then I also checked out the blogs. There's a lot of blogs posted, um, at least once a week, if not more, reading up on that. And I thought that was a great way to learn more about the company and then also the bio pages to learn more about the people behind the company.

Joe Pope:

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm glad you asked that question, Mary Blanche. Uh, one thing that I think stands out from some of our high growth studies, when you do talk about how people evaluate. The, whether it's the company they're gonna buy from or maybe even the company, that they'll be an intern for the different channels that they utilize. And I you, you mentioned social media, you mentioned Instagram. You know, for the longest time, professional services was just absolutely dominated by. LinkedIn so much that it became a parody on itself. But you know, as additional folks are entering the workspace, uh, folks that are growing up with iPads or eye touches from when they were four or five years old, uh, these other platforms and the type of content that they wanna consume at video, for example. Continues to become more and more important. And we've seen some of that start to eek in with high growth organizations making investments in things like YouTube and Instagram and uh, you've been such a great help in helping this marketing agency really up our social game as well. And, uh, you know, I think one thing that I'd love to kind of hear is when you've gone through that process, what are some of the things that you've had to balance in taking our stories and putting them into a more, uh, visual medium?

Sabrina Alpern:

That's a good question. I think one of the things that I always strive to balance is a mix between. Video and, um, graphic content are still images. Um, one of the things that I really think is great when a company has, is a balanced Instagram feed, um, to really showcase all their different areas of expertise so that at the top of their page there's, in just one technique being, um, exemplified, but you can see all of them. So I've created so far a content tracker where we can track what we're posting. Is it going to be. Related to the podcast, will it be related to some of the case stories? Will it be related to a blog post? All of this so that when a user arrives on the Instagram page, they can see a whole big array of all the different stuff that Hinge does right off the bat.

Mary Blanche:

I wanna go back to Instagram for for a minute.'cause you have been just so instrumental on our own Instagram page. Uh, talk to us a little bit about that. What's your, been your favorite part of, um, kind of the, the social work that you've worked on, um, since you've been here? Definitely.

Sabrina Alpern:

collaborating with the creative team. We have some incredible graphic designers and artists who are working at Hinge and being able to articulate the types of templates or what my vision. Is for hinges Instagram. And then seeing them process that and create an incredible either template or a cover for an Instagram post or reel Just getting to see the process of it, getting to see the final product has been just an incredible experience and it's really, really cool to see, everybody at Hinge works together to create this overall brand image.

Joe Pope:

Yeah. Yeah, that's uh, I appreciate you even just kind of sharing that with the audience. I think it is one of those unsung type things that happens in the background where you've got designers that are. Very much billable and focused heavily on working and supporting our clients, but for any agency, our own ability to talk about ourselves and show ourselves is a key evaluating piece. If if we look like crap, then why would anybody expect us to be able to deliver success? So it's, uh, you know, shout out to the design team. We, we had Christian on, uh, one of our more recent pods and, uh, Kristen and one of our other lead designers, uh, two awesome, awesome heads of that department and, and getting some of the shine they deserve. I do have one thing I'd love to kind of bring out though, and it, it goes directly to what our high growth study has identified as the top challenge, cross professional services, and that is ai. Now, Sabrina, when you. We'll say interviewed, but mostly just chatted with me because it was pretty clear after you met with Liz that you were somebody we'd love to have the opportunity to work with. But when you chatted with me, you talked about your experience of using AI tools, uh, already at such a young age and when you're in college and coming outta high school and so forth. I'd love to kind of hear what your take is on how AI is gonna kind of. Be a piece of what your, the remainder of your education is, and then as you join the workforce, what's that gonna look like for you?

Sabrina Alpern:

AI will be here forever. And I honestly have a lot of mixed feelings about it. I've used it a lot. Um, from an academic standpoint. I know Joe and I have talked about this, but. I did some research at Vanderbilt and I had used a specific research-based AI tools to sift through research papers. They might have been 30 plus pages that would've taken a, a reader, a long time to figure out those keywords. But with an AI source, you can quickly have it, identify certain variables, independent variables, dependent variables, pull out that abstract, and it's super efficient that way. I've also used it a lot, um, in my studies to walk through problem sets. So for example, in a macroeconomics class or a physics class, I've used it a lot to help me, identify the process for getting from a question to an answer. One of the things that I really enjoy about AI and see myself using a lot in the future is how it can easily break down a complex topic into something that's very digestible for someone who might not have already understood that topic. So I personally like to use it a lot. To learn about new things, and I can see myself using that going forward. If I'm working, um, in an industry or a company where I'm still trying to learn maybe something about a different department, maybe something about a different scope of the company, just to have a bigger, broader sense of what the company does, I could definitely see myself falling back on AI in that sense. However, and I think this is actually something that I find really interesting from the high growth study, is that companies should rely on a mix of. Digital and traditional marketing techniques. And with the rise of ai, it's super easy to output information really quickly, which also leads to skepticism about whether or not that content is truly genuine. So with ai, I honestly see the benefits have falling back on a mix of that traditional and digital content. Because AI exists, companies should be using it, should be leveraging it to. Achieve peak efficiency. They'd be missing out if they didn't. But also realize that users might not fully trust everything that they read online because of ai.

Joe Pope:

Yeah, that authenticity piece is so key. Hinge talks about how differentiators must be true, they must be relevant, they must be provable, right? Like, those are three key elements that we can set somebody apart. But the minute that you start to doubt that truth, you start to doubt whether that's something that's really, truly actuality a thing, uh, that skepticism can eat away at even like the most acceptable differentiator. So I think that's, that's great. Great insight there, Sabrina.

Sabrina Alpern:

I know I had sent a reel, um, to Joe earlier today, but I had seen last night a reel about um, whether things were real or ai and it was just going through a bunch of different things from a park bench to a bridge and it was really hard to distinguish, which. Which was real and which was ai. So it was really eyeopening to see just, I mean, I know how easily it is to replicate these things in ai, but seeing it side by side was just a crazy experience.

Joe Pope:

Yeah.

Austin McNair:

So Sabrina, tell us what's next for you. Obviously your internship, you know. We're, we're crying, we're sad. We're gonna miss you. Um, what's next for you? And I mean, tell everybody what you're studying and you know, kind of what's on the horizon for you.

Sabrina Alpern:

I am a rising junior at Vanderbilt. I'm studying a mix of economics, Spanish, and business. So come August, I'll be heading back to Nashville to enjoy some warm weather. Hopefully not too hot, but I'm involved in a number of different organizations on campus, including being a tour guide and playing ultimate Frisbee, so I'm really looking forward to get back into the pace of things with those to explore my classes. And then in the second semester in the spring, I'm actually planning on going abroad where two has not been fully finalized, but I'm definitely looking forward to the experience as well.

Austin McNair:

Wow. Um, well, I miss those days. That sounds so exciting. Sabrina, you've been such a great, um, you know, intern here at Hinge. Clearly you are a super sharp person with a, with a bright future. It's been such a pleasure for all of us on our team to kind of, you know, show you what we do get, you know, bring you in on the ins and outs of how our, our business works. And yeah, we're excited for you and all the places you're gonna go. And, uh, hopefully, uh, you'll come back and, and work with us again, uh, in the near future.

Joe Pope:

Please do, Please do,

Austin McNair:

Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, well thank you Sabrina. This has been a great episode, and thank you to all of our listeners. Um, like and subscribe, leave a comment, let us know, you know, which Jeopardy question we should have asked and why, why did we get which one's wrong, et cetera. Let us know your feedback on our, on our podcast. Give us ideas for topics, guests, So thank you so much. On behalf of Joe Mb, Sabrina, and myself, we'll see you on the next one.