Social House welcomes Alexa Spina to its paid media team.
With nearly a decade in paid media, Alexa has led campaigns for brands including Smirnoff, SPAM, Skippy, and Takis. Most recently, she served as Paid Social Supervisor at PHD Media, leading cross-platform campaigns and using performance insights to sharpen strategy and maximize results.
Alexa looks beyond the headline metric. She’s interested in what the data can actually tell you, whether a campaign needs more time or a meaningful change, and how creative can make media feel human. Her perspective reflects a belief that strong paid media brings strategy, creative, and audience insight together.
We asked Alexa about how she knows when a campaign needs more time, the metric she thinks gets too much credit, and the things she turns to for fun and inspiration. Get to know the strategist behind the campaigns, and the person with a few very strong cultural opinions, in 15 questions.
Welcome to the house, Alexa!
1. What’s one thing about paid media that people outside the industry might be surprised to learn?
How much testing and patience is actually involved. It’s rarely as simple as launching an ad and seeing immediate results, let alone success—there are so many variables at play behind the scenes.
2. What’s a campaign or project you’ve worked on that taught you something you still use today?
A campaign where creator content significantly outperformed the more polished brand creative. It was a great reminder that what looks the best isn’t always what performs the best, especially in an AI-heavy landscape now where everything looks so jarringly perfect. The people yearn for human to human connection and realism. Authenticity is cool!
3. When you see an ad in the wild, what do you notice first?
Clear hook and call to action. WHY should I convert on what you're advertising? What makes your brand stand out from your competitors?
4. What signals tell you a campaign needs more time to learn versus a change in budget, audience, or creative?
I usually look at how much data we actually have before making a call; too early of an optimization when a proper attribution window has yet to pass can actually do more harm than good. If delivery and early engagement signals are healthy but conversion volume is still limited, I’m more likely to give it time. If there’s a clear drop-off in CTR, conversion rate, or efficiency, that’s when I start digging into possible creative fatigue, targeting misalignment, budget constraints, or improperly working landing pages or pixels lower into the funnel.
5. What’s a metric you wish marketers would stop treating as the whole story?
Views. Sure, it's exciting if you garner one million views on a video, but that's a vanity metric. Virality does not guarantee tangible success. What matters more is driving quality traffic over quantity of traffic.
6. What’s a marketing trend you’re paying attention to right now?
The balance between automation and creative strategy. Platforms are automating more of the targeting and campaign management with AI inputs, which makes strong creative, messaging, and testing strategy even more important under manual controls.
7. What’s one misconception about paid media you’d love to clear up?
That paid media can fix everything. Great media buying knowledge helps, but if the offer, creative, or product itself isn't enticing, there’s only so much the ad platforms and the paid media teams can do. Give people something worth investing in!
8. What song, show, or podcast have you been enjoying lately?
I will share all three because I'm generous.
Song: "The Payoff" by Father John Misty
Show: Widow's Bay because it is charmingly spooky
Podcast: What Chaos! The perfect mix of sports and pop culture
9. Which platform or tool do you find yourself reaching for most often, and why?
Probably Meta Ads Manager. I’ve spent so much time in it over the years that I naturally end up in there more often than not due to the volume of campaigns that run under Meta entities.
10. If your personality had to be measured by one marketing KPI, which one would you pick—and how badly would it fluctuate?
CTR. Usually pretty strong when nurtured correctly, but definitely fussy from time to time.
11. What’s your favorite part of working with a team on a campaign?
I love when everyone brings a different perspective to the table. Some of the best ideas come from having media, creative, strategy, and analytics all looking at the same problem differently.
12. What’s your most irrational “I will die on this hill” opinion?
"Mr. Brightside" is not The Killers' best song, and I am befuddled as to why everyone loses their minds over it. "Somebody Told Me" deserves all the hype and popularity "Mr. Brightside" receives.
13. What’s a recommendation you’ve given lately—a restaurant, show, book, or place?
I am once again sharing answers to all; my generosity knows no bounds!
Restaurant: Hane Sushi in San Diego, CA
Show: PEN15 ...I know, but pay the title no mind. This show so perfectly captures the cultural zeitgeist of the early aughts. I'm a sucker for nostalgia for this time! Y2K trends are having such strong revivals for a reason.
Book: Intensity by Dean Koontz. High-octane thriller!
Place: Antarctica. Witnessing the raw beauty of Antarctica will genuinely change your life. It’s one of the last truly wild frontiers on Earth, and nations around the world work together through the Antarctic Treaty System to help keep this breathtaking, frozen, otherworldly landscape pristine and protect its living organisms from human-made pollutants and interference. Pictures truly can’t do this magical place justice. Go explore it if you’re able.
14. What’s something you’ve learned from a colleague that changed how you approach your work?
Communicate early and often. Whether it’s a performance concern, pacing issue, or just something you’re generally unsure about, things are almost always easier to solve when everyone knows about them early on.
15. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to as you get settled in at Social House?
Getting to know everyone’s strengths and how the team works together. I’m excited to collaborate, share what I’ve learned over the years, and also pick up new ideas and perspectives from the team. Everyone here has such extensive and impressive backgrounds, I have much to learn from them!