Blurring the Lines with Kimeko McCoy at Digiday

This week I spoke with Kimeko McCoy , senior marketing reporter at Digiday . Kimkeko's career journey spans journalism, marketing and social media. She was previously a digital marketing specialist at Turner (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) , social media editor at ADWEEK and audience development specialist at Atlanta Journal-Constitution .

Tell me about your career journey up until this point.

I went to school for journalism. At the very beginning, it was something that I always knew I wanted to do. I always tell people two stories of how I decided that I wanted to be a journalist. The professional one would be that in high school we had to do a project that looked at different professions, and you had to explain what the profession was and why it's something you'd want to do when you got older. I followed my friend's dad who was a local 11 Alive news anchor here in Atlanta. His name was Ted Hall. I remember walking into the newsroom and there was this gravitational pull. I knew this was what I was meant to do. The non professional version is I watched Will Ferrell's Anchorman movie and was so moved that I thought journalism seems like an interesting profession. So it was destined from day one for me.?

I ended up taking a job at a local newspaper down in Florida, and moved from local paper to local paper before joining a bigger, national publication. The through line, through all of those experiences, is that I was a Millennial and I went kicking and screaming into each position about the importance of digital media and having a social media presence. I went from being a local news reporter covering city councils and school board meetings, to helping manage some of the digital properties for local newspapers. Then, I got picked up by a bigger publication and worked as a social strategist and later ended up at Adweek as a social media editor.

Agencies and brands are pitching you daily. What gets you to open a pitch and take the sender’s intended action (i.e. schedule an interview, attend the event)?

What gets me to stop scrolling is a pitch that I know was made specific for me and my beat. You could offer the CEO of a company to talk at 4:00 p.m. but if it has nothing to do with what I cover it’s not relevant for me. The ones that mean the most to me have a specific offer and make clear that the person sending is familiar with what I cover and the publication I write for.?

We are seeing a lot more journalists pivot out of the industry and going into a sector of the communications marketing space. Throughout your career you've held roles in audience development, digital marketing, social media. What advice do you have for writers looking to make similar moves?

Go where it makes sense. Everybody's got bills to pay, but I think there have been so many changes across the journalism landscape, creating more opportunities for people to write without necessarily being tied specifically to a legacy newsroom. You've got Substack and a handful of other email newsletters. So pursuing something for the sake of being able to pay your bills doesn't necessarily negate doing what you love.

Brands are investing more in live events and experiences. What do you think makes a standout activation?

On a personal level, I think people are looking for those shareable moments. Things that you can put on TikTok and Instagram Stories and Snap Inc. to show other people what you did that week. And I think that's very, very important. If brands can create that interconnectivity between that in real life moment and that digital stratosphere, that’s a win because that content then carries over and reaches a broader audience.?

What is exciting you about the marketing industry right now??

What's exciting me is that you've got a generation of shoppers that are challenging advertisers to be better at their jobs. People are challenging advertisers and marketers to get back to their roots of not just having a decent product, but also forcing brands to sell to them in a meaningful way.?

What advice would you give to someone that wants to work in journalism?

Things are tough right now. Newsrooms are shrinking. Publications are shuttering. But I do think there's still an insurmountable amount of value in the work that journalists do. And I would have to say, there is an importance that I would place on maintaining that work, even if it's outside of your legacy newsrooms, even if that’s storytelling on your own TikTok channel. While I say all that, I do say we should still adhere ourselves to the values of news journalism and journalism ethics. But that doesn't mean that you have to operate within the four walls of legacy media.?

Rapid Fire Questions:?

What’s your favorite song right now? Echo by Olivia Dean, and the Eternal Sunshine album by Ariana Grande

What’s the last book you read? All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Who’s one person in this industry that inspires you, that everyone should go follow? Ade O. , founder of WOMEN IN MARKETING COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

If you could meet one person for coffee, who would it be? Rihanna?

What brand do you love following on social media? I don’t follow many brands, but I do follow a lot of local businesses and my local library

What is one word you would use to describe 2024? Chaotic