Your questions, Michael's (ex-Ryanair) answers

If you missed last week's newsletter breaking down our juicy talk with Michael Corcoran, Ryanair’s ex-Head of Socials, you can catch up here.

But that wasn't the end of the conversation.

We had a jam-packed, insightful Q&A session to top it all off – so good we just had to share.

So here they are. Your questions on all things socials, Michael's answers (part one, because one newsletter wasn't enough for the Q&A – stay tuned for part two).

🗣️Q1: "What do you actually think the role of social is for a brand? And do you see any common misunderstandings from founders or teams?"

💬 Michael’s answer:

The role of social should be based on the problem you’re trying to solve.

Can it be a full-funnel engine? Yes – social can drive awareness, trial, consideration and even conversion, all by itself. But you shouldn’t assume it should do everything for your brand. That’s where people go wrong.

Some brands already have reach from out-of-home and TV, so they don’t need organic for awareness. They might need social to build trust, show personality, or convert.

Others like early-stage startups might not have media spend, but they’ve got product. Ben Francis (Gymshark) started by giving product to creators because he didn’t have marketing budget. He used what he had.

So it comes back to these questions:

What’s your biggest problem?

What time and resource do you actually have?

And how else are you showing up in the world?

Then decide what role social should play. It might be organic, or paid, or creators.

🗣️Q2: How do you get senior buy-in when you're a solo social lead or small team trying to do brave work?

💬 Michael’s answer:

Start with strategy. Don’t go into the room talking about memes and formats. Speak their language – business language. Make a strong recommendation, commit to proving one thing, then ask for more.

If that doesn’t work, sometimes you have to take the risk and beg for forgiveness. Or trick them. I know someone who faked a competitor’s campaign to get sign-off. It worked.

You won’t always get permission up front. But if you prove impact once, you’ll earn the right to do more.

🗣️Q3: If you're a new brand with no traction yet, what’s the best way to start building on social?

💬 Michael’s answer:

Founder-led storytelling is one of the best ways to start. People connect with people – especially when the founder is in the trenches building something from scratch. We’re seeing this across loads of great DTC brands.

Once you start showing up, look for what lands.

If a certain format pops off, double down. Don’t dilute it with random content.

Consider spinning up a satellite channel just for that series or style. You’ll signal to the algorithm what your content’s about – and it will reward you.

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That's all for this week, but we'll be bringing you four more juicy Q&As soon.

Stay tuned.