Lisa Diaz

Let’s start simple. Who are you, and what do you do with social data that others might not expect?

I am the Director of Digital Insights for Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, where I lead the digital insights and social intelligence vertical within the broader Research & Digital Insights Team. We work closely with our counterparts on the research side to pair social listening data, social analytics, search trends and other digital metrics with insights derived from traditional methods, like survey data and focus groups, and inform strategy across the business. Prior to Lionsgate, I started working in social intelligence 10 years ago on the vendor side at Brandwatch, then moved in-house at Ralph Lauren. I also currently sit on Meltwater’s Customer Advisory Board and led a volunteer social listening program for the Democratic National Committee during the 2024 Presidential Convention from the convention floor in Chicago.
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What I think others might not expect is how much social intelligence is embedded in our process and integral to so much of what we do. At Lionsgate, social listening is not limited to campaign recaps or sentiment tracking. We use social intelligence to inform strategy every step of the way and provide real-time insight throughout the full movie-making cycle, from before a film is either greenlit or acquired, to casting decisions, to determining the audience, to monitoring conversations around production and talent, to the moment a trailer launches, to the full marketing campaign, and beyond.  

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What’s something in our industry we pretend to understand, but don’t?

The limitations of social listening. I think some in our industry often base the limitations of our work on what’s currently accessible within social listening tools and what’s available through APIs. While some API limitations can’t always be worked around, like accessing certain types of audience demographic data, one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned throughout my experience is to not always limit yourself to what you can do in the social listening tool you’re using and to get creative. This includes leveraging what’s available in-app on different social platforms, pulling data or scrolling manually, and/or doing an additional layer of analysis. More recently, I’ve enjoyed finding new ways to incorporate GenAI to help quickly synthesize publicly facing data that we previously had to scrub and tally manually. This has helped deepen the level of insight we are able to provide in real time.

In addition to the limitations, I think we’re still exploring and understanding how to use social listening for forecasting, especially as user behavior and technology change so quickly.

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What’s a moment this year where social data helped your team do something bolder, faster, or better?

Social data is really with us every step of the way, but when I think of the boldest moments, I think of two major trailer launches we’ve had over the last year, one being the trailer for the Michael Jackson biopic and the other being for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Both trailers surpassed over 100M+ global trailer views across platforms within 24 hours of being released, and in the case of Michael, breaking biopic and Lionsgate records. Our team was at the forefront, working closely with our social team in “war rooms” and delivering social data to the business in real time, while synthesizing and translating the outpouring we were seeing from fans into valuable and actionable insights for the business.

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What’s one belief about your audience that social data completely upended for your teams?

Social data upends our beliefs about our audiences all the time, in a good way. Because we’re often in our own algorithmic echo chambers, especially when it comes to consuming entertainment, we often see conversations forming that appear to be very loud and persistent. Social data gives us the opportunity to step outside of our echo chambers and take an objective look at how widespread the conversation is, contextualize it and assess its impact. Oftentimes, we find that conversations that sound very loud within niche communities are not reflective of wider sentiment or spreading beyond a small group of people.

If you could build your dream social intelligence team from scratch, with no legacy and no limits, what roles would you include?

If I were building a social intelligence team from scratch with no legacy and no limits, I’d start with myself as the Director, setting the vision, priorities, and strategy for how social data is used across the business. Reporting into me, I’d have a manager focused on ongoing campaign reporting, data quality and accuracy, tool management, and building strong relationships across teams to ensure the work is fully embedded in the organization and proactively anticipating business needs. From there, I’d bring on a few analysts, each dedicated to a smaller subset of film titles, which creates more time and depth for reporting and mirrors the structure of other teams across the organization. I’d also include a data scientist to help automate processes, connect social data with other data sources, and customize and expand our capabilities.

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When do you feel like you’re doing your best work?

This question immediately made me think of the current TikTok trend about “entering my flow state.” I enter my social listening “flow state” when I have a good balance of fun and exciting fast-moving busy periods, long lead deep dive-type projects, and then time to reset and focus on team planning, technical infrastructure, and organizing in between. I feel like I hit my stride when we’re going through periods of back-to-back trailer launches, executive and filmmaker presentations, and in the middle of a campaign, but it’s important to balance those stretches with slower periods where the focus is more on building infrastructure, whether it be from a technical perspective or for your team. Too much time in either stretch, the slow or the busy stretch, can have an impact on my flow state.

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What’s your browser history giving away about you this week?

First, if you didn’t know what I did for a living, you might be concerned that the majority of my work browser is filled with social media. In addition to the predictable parts of my history, the social media posts, social and digital analytics platforms and reports I’m looking at, you would see what a great culture and bond we have within our team. We’re all very curious and informed on a variety of different topics, and we often get in very interesting discussions, and I’m typically Googling along the way. If you’re looking at my personal browser history, it would give away my love of football, shopping and clothes, and LA restaurants.

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