Social Pros Podcast · Convince & Convert

Challenging the Status Quo in Social Strategy with Jermaine Peguese

July 11, 2025·44 min·3 clips

Jermaine Peguese says higher-ed marketing is like 'selling a fork when they want spaghetti' — you can't promise the outcome, only the tool.

Quarterly plans get tested fast. Jermaine treats social strategy like a working rhythm, not a document that gets locked and admired until the quarter ends. If a strong idea lands on day 75, it may still deserve room. That is demanding, but it fits the host's point about higher education borrowing from startup behavior: question the old plan before the calendar gives permission. Age alone will not tell you enough about an audience. Jermaine draws the useful line there. The demographic may look familiar each year, while the interests, channels, and media habits keep moving. That puts more weight on channel research. He is less interested in constant brand refreshes and more interested in knowing where people spend time and what they are doing when they get there. Attention is the squeeze. Asking someone to read six pages now runs into TikTok-shaped behavior and second-screen habits. For higher education, that changes the job. The question is not only who the prospective learner is, but what they will actually give time to. The host then brings AI into it because it is changing work, learning, and how schools talk about job readiness. Jermaine gives the Nexford view: the founder is AI-first and wants the school positioned around that shift. The marketer side is more raised than fully unpacked, but the tension is useful. AI has to help in a media world where audience behavior is already hard to follow. The close stays personal, with Jermaine joking about analyzing commercials during a game. It fits. Once strategy clicks on, it shows up everywhere.

As heard by us

A practical look at how higher-ed marketers stay flexible as audience habits and channel behavior keep moving.

Social Pros uses this conversation to look at how higher-ed marketing borrows from startup thinking. A quarter can already be moving, a 90-day plan can still change on day 75, and strategy has to leave room for better ideas.

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Why you'd press play

For when you need a quarterly plan that can survive the next audience shift and still stay useful.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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