Jessyca Dewey is the Founder of The Y Collective, a social-first digital marketing agency focused on CPG brands. With 16-plus years of experience in content and digital marketing, she has worked with brands like L'Oréal, Hasbro, and Califia Farms. Jessyca specializes in aligning social strategy with business goals, helping brands move beyond vanity metrics to drive meaningful engagement and real-world impact, especially in retail.

In this episode…

Most brands still measure social media success using metrics that are easy to track but not always meaningful. Follower counts, impressions, and ROAS often dominate reports, regardless of whether they reflect real business impact. So how should brands rethink their KPIs to align with actual growth?

As a social-first digital marketing expert working closely with CPG and retail-driven brands, Jessyca Dewey explains that the key is shifting away from vanity metrics toward signals of real engagement and intent. She highlights shares, saves, and watch time as stronger indicators of whether content is resonating and building brand recall, especially in retail environments where attribution is limited. Jessyca also stresses the importance of aligning social KPIs with business realities — like distribution geography and target audience — so efforts actually support sales outcomes. In her view, effective measurement is less about immediate conversion and more about building familiarity that influences purchase decisions over time.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant talks with Jessyca Dewey, Founder of The Y Collective, to discuss getting social media KPIs right. Jessyca covers why follower growth is outdated, how engagement signals like saves and shares drive impact, and how to align social strategy with retail goals. She also shares insights on organic versus paid social and evolving platform metrics.