Meg is in charge of social media at her institution.
In this 3-question interview from November 2013, Meg tells us about one of her great social media moments, her favorite social tool and shares some advice.
1) Can you share one of your great social media moments with us?
My very first day running the accounts was Move-In Day for the Class of 2016 in August 2012. I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t have much of a plan, but after a post on Facebook and a few on Twitter, I realized bringing people who couldn’t be on campus into the event through social media was something we had never really done and our audience loved it and yearned for it. This was the moment where I finally believed I could do this and make a real difference in our university’s efforts to engage students, parents and alumni. I hope every social media manager has a powerful moment like that – I rode that high for a while and on days when I’m a little down, I think back to it and remember why it is I do what I do and how important it is to be passionate about what I’m doing – when you’re not passionate about social media, it shows.
2) What is your favorite social media tool of all time?
I think I’ll always be partial to AIM/instant messaging because that’s the tool I was using when I realized I loved the idea of making media social. Today, I love Instagram, but I think that’s because it’s the first tool our students were comfortable interacting with the university on – it changed our campus’ social landscape.
3) What advice would you give to somebody who is just starting in social media?
You’re going to make mistakes.
You’re going to phrase something wrong or not fully think through how a post might come across or that it might lend itself to more negative comments. Take these experiences as learning opportunities; this is your community telling you something. No one is an expert in social media yet but your community is the expert when it comes to itself, so take the time to listen. I have found that working in social media has made me better in all aspects of my job because you learn quickly that you can’t be perfect and know everything and that’s okay – those are the times where the community teaches you how to be better at what you’re doing. Those are pretty amazing (and sometimes much-needed humbling) moments.
