I'm John Saveland.
Here's a little bit about me:
I lead paid social media and search/SEO campaigns for tech, CPG, B2B, entertainment, and nonprofit clients. I also freelance as a marketing advisor for a clean energy non-profit and a GOTV advocacy organization.
In recent years I've built outreach campaigns for an organization providing mental health support to veterans, run digital communications for a Los Angeles safe streets network, and worked with a scrappy team to scale up get-out-the-vote efforts during the 2018, '20, '22, and '24 national election cycles. (Looking at you, 2026!)
If you know of any causes or non-profits that need my help, or have a clever joke you want to make about my last name, feel free to reach out: john.saveland@gmail.com.
My Experience
Career - Current
TeamPeople | USAA
Brand Media
- Run brand media and paid social for USAA outreach, communicating to active military, veterans, and families
Mattered
Paid Media
- Serve as expert across media channels and ad platforms; guide media strategy, planning, buying, campaign execution, and performance tracking for portfolio of clients
Career - Past
Designit
Media Director
- Drove media strategy across paid social media, display, video, search, programmatic, affiliate, and OOH
- Shaped new business opportunities via pitches, project scopes, and media campaign strategies
Golin Global
Director, Paid Social
- Strategized, set, and executed paid social strategy across social platforms (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn) and search (YouTube, Google Search)
- Continuously tested marketing strategies, creatives, channel placements, and targeting to learn from a regular feedback loop on how users behaved, how to scale up efforts, and how to identify strengths and weaknesses
CicLAvia
Digital Communications Lead
- Ideated, planned and executed entire organic and paid social media communications plan for CicLAvia.
- Built reports and full analysis of social engagement, website traffic & user behavior, and email campaign responsiveness to measure effectiveness and efficiency of audience reach
Media Storm
Director, Social Media and Search
- Head of paid social marketing for Aviron Pictures - led strategy, creative content, audience targeting, execution, and analysis / optimization for all film campaigns
- Guided the paid and organic social media calendar (strategy and tactics) for a wide slate of films
Maxus Global | GroupM
Associate Director, Social Media
- Created and implemented digital campaign strategies for full slate of Universal titles. I oversaw them throughout execution and consistently evaluated and interpreted large data sets
- Devised A/B testing and conversion tracking strategies to directly measure performance of each campaign variable, created a comprehensive digital map of the audience
RAND Corporation
Social Media Manager & Digital Analyst
- Disseminated public policy research, briefs, external publications, op-eds and commentaries in social & search media
- Tracked key news & policy topics, including military, international relations, healthcare, economics, network security, education and climate change
Volunteer Work - Current
civicIQ
Marketing Advisor
- Lead search and social efforts to encourage adoption of clean energy (primarily wind & solar) investments in farm belt communities
Accelerate Change
Digital Media Consultant
- A/B test social campaigns & content to measure impact on potential voters and weigh salience of key policy issues
- Build analytics and insights to guide regional investment, audience targeting / creation, and paid influencer strategy
Volunteer Work - Past
U.S.VETS
Social Media Lead
- Concept and execution on paid social marketing campaigns to create awareness for mental health intervention programs and educational resources aimed towards at-risk veterans & active service members
Get Her Elected
Social Media Marketing & SEO
- Ran social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) and Google Search campaigns for down-ballot candidates running for state assembly, school board, and state senate elections
- Given restrictions in geography and funding, maximized cost efficiency and tested multiple styles of messaging to best introduce candidates to the public and motivate people to go to the polls
Los Angeles Forward
Social Media Content
- Managed social media channels, using platform to highlight key progressive policy issues facing the City of Los Angeles and to push dynamic content that keeps audiences engaged
Newport / Mesa ProLiteracy
Google Grants and SEO/SEM
- Advised on Google Ads (using the Google Ad Grants funding) and organic social media strategy to expand awareness for the public library’s literacy programs and recruit volunteers
- Consulted on updates to the website language and meta-description keywords to improve search quality and make Google ads spend more efficiently
Lion's Heart Teen Volunteers
Google Ad Grants
- Worked with ad copy, keyword selection, ad group optimization, and SEO to improve the Google AdWords / AdGrants strategy for Lion's Heart
- Helped max out daily spending – effectively doubling past performance, increasing site visits & conversions (sign-ups), helping them qualify them for GrantsPro
Pathways LA
Social Media Strategy
- Strategized Pathways’ social media blueprint to better engage with childcare service providers, eligible working parents, and nonprofits; aim to surpass fundraising goals via increased visibility
- Improved SEO and track web analytics with Hootsuite, Google Analytics, Followerwonk, Iconosquare, and other apps to display metrics, improve online content accordingly
