Creative Leadership
As a creative leader and strategic thinker, I flourish when developing new approaches to accomplish goals. My colleagues often describe me as resourceful. Below are examples of initiatives I devised and implemented at Keene State in an effort to organically incorporate the student voice into the college’s marketing activities and improve social media activities across campus. I also served on two committees at Keene State College - the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) Standard 5: Students Sub-Committee and the Coordinated Community Response Team, which is dedicated to sexual violence prevention in the community.
Marketing Internship Program
Within the first six months of working at Keene State College, it became clear that current students desired a single social media account to check for news, upcoming events, and other announcements. @KeeneStateStudents on Instagram was born - an account run by students for students. I developed a 14-week internship for students to manage this account. I train them in all the social media essentials and give them creative freedom to produce content. Over the past four semesters, the internship program has become a sought after experience by communications, journalism, and business management majors. @KeeneStateStudents has an average engagement rate of 12.5% per post and an average monthly growth rate of 7.75%.
Social Media Ambassadors
In an effort to showcase the many different ways there is to be a student at Keene State College, I created a social media ambassador program to recruit students to participate in various marketing activities, including photoshoots, social media projects, and feature stories on the college website. The Owl Around Campus Instagram Takeover is the most popular activity for students and the most engaging content created for social media. Students are trusted with account access, which adds authenticity to the content that can’t be mimicked. More than 50 students have participated so far, adding their rich perspectives and experiences to the college’s content marketing strategy.
Training Sessions & Audits
As the resident social media expert at Keene State College, I offered my insight to colleagues responsible for social media activities in their respective offices and departments. I provided social media audits and created a crash course in social media management to train others in the best approaches and best practices. I was able to form close relationships across campus to better facilitate collaboration and cohesive communications.