Chain Pod
A marketing podcast hosted by Shelby Van Zwol and Adele Elliott from the Australian agency Chain Social. It offers practical, education-driven content for business owners and marketers, featuring interviews with platform experts, brand founders, and industry leaders. Each episode focuses on actionable takeaways and honest conversations about what's really working in marketing, rather than chasing trends.
Episodes
Spilling the Tea on the NYC Meta Agency Summit
Welcome to our NYC mini series 🗽🤎
Meta invited Chain to New York for its Agency Summit, and we were one of only three Australian agencies there. The day after, Shelby and Adele sat down in an iconic New York studio to tell you everything while it was still fresh: the new features, the big themes and what the next 6–12 months look like for anyone running ads.
In this episode:
💫 Meta Ads Crea
The Black Friday Hangover: How to Rebuild Your Funnel Before Christmas (and Survive January)
If they didn't buy during your November sale, why would they buy the week after at full price? In our final Black Friday episode, Adele and Shelby unpack the post-sale hangover, and what to do when sales fall off a cliff after BFCM.
In this episode:
Why a new product drop is the best cure for the post-sale slump
Treating early December as a rebuild: excluding November visitors and shif
Don't Trade Your Brand for a Quick Sale: Black Friday Creative That Actually Stands Out
Creative is more than half the outcome on Meta, and in November every feed looks the same. Adele runs through the Black Friday creative types that keep winning: simple offer statics with your logo on them (yes, your logo), cart screenshots showing the savings, text message exchanges, founder and employee content, pack an order with me, and creator content like unboxings, try-ons and demos. Meta is
Don't Get Discovered in November: Your BFCM Runway, Month by Month
If your Black Friday strategy starts in November, you're already behind. Adele breaks down the runway that actually decides your sale. September is for testing creative motivators, targeting, campaign types and bidding strategies. October is for building a high-quality audience while shoppers hold out, and November is your Super Bowl, where you stop testing and scale.
We get into why you need t
Share of Wallet: Building a BFCM Offer Worth Holding Out For
Episode ten and we're going straight to the thing that decides your November — the offer. Adele spitfires every offer type we've seen work (and flop) across our client base: sitewide percentages, gift with purchase, spend and save, BOGO, the hidden collection play, and why free shipping alone will get you unsubscribed.
We get into share of wallet and why shoppers pre-plan their November spend,
Creative Velocity: What to Load Into Meta Before Peak Season
So with peak season coming, Adele's in the hot seat for a mini episode. We reveal the winning creative on Meta, how many new ads you actually need each week, the 70/20/20 split and how to preheat creative so you're not gambling in your purchase campaigns come Black Friday.
Short, sharp and straight into the nitty gritty so you can be prepared for a record-breaking BFCM this year.
💌: Links &
BFCM Won't Fix Your Cash Flow: Money Talk with Steff Anderson
We sat down with Steff Anderson of Pinnacle Road, Chain Social's accountant of ten years, and the woman we send our clients to when they need someone realistic in the room. 🤎
This one's for every e-comm founder heading into BFCM on vibes. Steff joins Shelby and Adele to pull apart the numbers behind the biggest sales period of the year. What your margin actually needs to be before you can disco
Ep. 7 BFCM Starts in August: Email Tips For Your Biggest Peak Season
This week, Adele is joined by Amelia (aka Mims) Chain's Email & CRM weapon and the woman behind the email ecosystems doing 30%+ of revenue for our clients. She's across flows, segmentation, deliverability, loyalty, the lot. And she's here to kick off our BFCM series.
Because here's the thing: no one is discovering your brand in November. It's too loud, it's too expensive and every other brand i
Ep. 6 The Meta Cheat Sheet for Startups with Aimee Smart
Adele has pulled in the one person who knows her brain better than anyone: Chain's Digital Team Lead, Aimee Smart. Eight years working side by side and still on the tools for six clients. If you want to know what's actually working in real Meta accounts right now, this is your girl. We unpack what Aimee is seeing convert this week, plus a full launch strategy for a hypothetical ecomm startup with
Ep 5. How Nala Built A Content System To Successfully Scale On Meta
Adele is joined in the studio by Phil De Winter, co-founder of Aussie intimates brand Nala. Together, they unpack how Nala scaled from $3k a month on Meta to a multi-million dollar e-commerce powerhouse, built an unstoppable in-house content machine, and navigated the wild ups and downs of performance marketing.
If you're looking to scale an e-commerce brand on Meta without burning through ca
Ep 4. Meta Ads What's In / What's Out Right Now - Rapid Fire with Adele Elliott
Adele is in the hot seat. Shelby fires off the Meta tactics brands are still clinging to, and Adele calls each one IN or OUT for 2026, with the why behind every verdict. No digressing, straight into the good stuff.
If you run Meta ads (or pay someone who does), this is your cheat sheet for what is actually working right now.
The scorecard:
💌 Hundreds of campaigns: OUT - consolidate. One pur
Ep 3. AI Decoded for Brands & Marketers, Without the Overwhelm with Daniela Valencia
Our very first guest, and who better than an AI consultant? Shelby and Adele sit down with Daniela Valencia to make AI feel less overwhelming and a lot more useful for marketers, agencies and brand founders.
The big reframe: AI is not here to replace your team, it is here to enhance it. Speed up the admin, surface the data insights, and free your humans to do the thinking only humans can do.
Ep 2. The Conversion Equation Every E-Com Brand Needs Before Spending on Ads with Shelby Van Zwol
You can't advertise your way out of weak foundations. Period.
In this (not-so-short) episode, Shelby and Adele get into the nitty gritty of what every e-commerce brand needs BEFORE you pour budget into paid. It all comes down to one equation:
Revenue = Average Order Value × Conversion Rate × Traffic.
Nail those three numbers and you can reverse-engineer almost any revenue goal. We unpack
The Pilot: Meet Shelby, Adele and Your New Unfair Advantage
Welcome to the very first episode of the Chain Social podcast!
We are kicking off the series by stripping back the glossy facade of digital marketing and giving you an honest look at who we are, how we got here, and why we’re finally launching this show.
In this pilot episode, hosts Shelby Van Zwol (Founder & Director) and Adele Elliott (Digital Director) share their unconventional career journ
