About

Ted’s Personal philosophy and a quote he does his best to live by… 

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Ted is a leading Social Marketing Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Business Advisor and… Author, Connector, Provocateur. In March 2009 he started using and evangelizing the term ROR, Return on Relationship™, hashtag #RonR…. a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million member database and engaged community, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand. Ted built these for e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Chief Marketing Officer between 2008 and 2010, OpenSky where Ted was Chief Social Marketing Officer until the end of April 2011, and for Collective Bias (whose Advisory Board he joined in January 2011) where Ted became Chief Social Marketing Officer, and an equity partner, May 1st 2011. Ted worked closely with Collective Bias since it was founded by John Andrews who Ted met through the blogging community when he was leading Emerging Media at Walmart. Ted left his position as Chief Social Marketing Officer of Collective Bias on August 31, 2013. He remained a principal shareholder until the November 2016 seven-figure acquisition by Inmar.

➡️ Ted’s comprehensive background here… LinkedIn.com/in/TedRubin ⬅️

In the words of Collective Bias Founder John Andrews… “Ted, you were the vision, heartbeat and soul of Collective Bias, thank you for building a great company. From innovations like cb.Socially to the amazing relationships you built with the blogger community, clients and employees, you drove the epic growth. You will be missed!”

With e.l.f. Cosmetics from 2008-2010, OpenSky from 2009-2011 and Collective Bias, Ted has become known for his active use of Twitter where he has in excess of 1,000,000 followers throughout his network, and grew 100,000+ followers for e.l.f. Twitter handles in 2009, over 200,000 for OpenSky in 2010, and well in excess of 2MM for Collective Bias in 2013… all with deep engagement and interaction.

Many people in the social media world know Ted for his enthusiastic, energetic and undeniably personal connection to people. Ted is the most followed CMO on Twitter according to Social Media Marketing Magazine; one of the most interesting CMOs on Twitter according to Say Media, #13 on Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers, and number #2 on the Leadtail list of Top 25 People Most Mentioned by digital marketers, and most recently to the leadersHum Global Power list of the Top 200 Biggest Voices In Leadership for 2022. Return on Relationship, ROR, #RonR, is the basis of his philosophy… It’s All About Relationships!

Ted’s book, Return on Relationship, was released January 2013, How To Look People in the Eye Digitally was released January 2015 and The Age of Influence… Selling to the Digitally Connected Customer in 2017. Ted released his latest book in December 2021, along with business partner and Retail Thought Leader John Andrews, titled Retail Relevancy.

At e.l.f., Ted’s responsibilities included communicating with and building e.l.f.’s client base (membership increased from 600k to in excess of 2.4MM during his tenure), leveraging brand equity through strategic marketing programs (with many major brands and publishers), and creating/developing/managing a major thrust into social media initiatives and partnerships and building the most highly respected social media presence in the cosmetics industry at the time. In addition, the merging of traditional PR and the ability of social media to create/spread PR opportunities was leveraged to full effect under his tenure… a first for many companies and something which many are yet to understand.

Ted believes the key to continued success for any brand/retailer/e-tailer is identifying with the customer. Ted is quick to point out “listening is finally getting the respect it deserves through Social Media… listen and adjust your message to make it relevant to your consumer. Brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance… a direct result of not listening.” “Number one is always try to understand who your customer is and pay attention.” And in that vein you batter start to understand that SIMPLICITY is the new EDLP! Make it easy for them… and they will buy from you again and again and again. Frictionless fulfillment is the retail of the future.

Your Brand/Business is what you do; your Reputation is what people Remember and Share.

Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 working with best selling author, entrepreneur and agent of change Seth Godin at Yoyodyne, which was acquired in Q4 1998 by Yahoo!

Ted served as a Social Marketing and Engagement Advisor to Big Fuel Communications until they were acquired in May 2011 by Publicis Groupe, Aptaris until they were acquired by dunnhumby in May 2018, GoodXChange until they were acquired by 5th Element in June 2018, OpenSky until they were acquired by Alibaba in September 2018, and is an Advisor to Brand Innovators, Dynamic Signal, Photofy, SheSpeaks, and Spaceback. See his LinkedIn Profile here… LinkedIn.com/in/TedRubin.

A native New Yorker, Ted holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics from Cornell University. He is divorced, has two daughters in Law School and Grad School at Harvard Law School and Columbia University, and he lives in Pompano Beach, FL.

Ted feels very strongly that… Relationships are like muscle tissue; the more they are engaged, the stronger and more valuable they become. AND that A Network gives you Reach, but a Community gives you Power! There is #NoLetUp! in life.

Videos…

Ted Rubin talks about the value of “Return on Relationship”

The Dad That Doesn’t Quit