{"id":12629,"date":"2023-07-05T15:26:54","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=12629"},"modified":"2023-07-05T15:27:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:27:31","slug":"social-media-management-for-niche-audiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2023\/07\/05\/social-media-management-for-niche-audiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Management for Niche Audiences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How do you manage social media for a niche audience with limited content, resources and support?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In April 2022, I was thrown into the\u00a0world of social media\u00a0management. I was named the social media\u00a0coordinator for the Division I Manhattan\u00a0College Jasper Dancers<\/a>. Going into\u00a0my third year as a team member, I was\u00a0excited to be a part of sharing the talent,\u00a0strength and determination of our team for\u00a0the next season. However, I quickly learned\u00a0that the role was not just pretty pictures and\u00a0cute captions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I first began running the team\u2019s social\u00a0media during the summer, I had little to no content to work with.\u00a0Our first team photoshoot wouldn\u2019t be\u00a0until September, the new team wouldn\u2019t even\u00a0be officially announced until August.\u00a0I spent the majority of my summer on Canva\u00a0making graphics from old team pictures and\u00a0begging my teammates for blurbs on what they\u00a0were excited for in the upcoming season or\u00a0what words of wisdom they would give to new students. I was frustrated by the lack of engagement and more frustrated by the feeling that there was nothing I could do about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When school began, my hopes began to rise. I jumped right into planning our first team media shoot with my co-coordinator. Dance isn\u2019t regarded as a sport at Manhattan College<\/a>, our team is technically a club, falling under Student Engagement. This unfortunately means we have a much tighter budget and have to fight to be treated with the same respect as other teams at our school. I had to jump through hoop after hoop to book a space on campus for us to take pictures in. I would go back and forth with representatives from Athletics, Events, Student Engagement and more just to get solidified plans for my team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from taking pictures, the posting, scheduling, graphics and engagement on our Instagram and Facebook accounts, are all done by me. This is quite the workload for a student also balancing classes, clubs and team practices. As we are reaching the end of our season, I have learned a lot during my time in the position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Organization and scheduling: your new best friends. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This may go without saying; however, even though I pride myself on having great organizational skills, social media management is a whole different ball game. I found that having a posting schedule was the best way to keep myself organized. Being able to see your full schedule laid out in front of you not only helps you plan future posts but can keep you consistent on your posting times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Individuals who had my position previously had relentlessly told me it was impossible to get certain spaces booked or that certain departments were difficult to collaborate with. Initially, I blindly believed them. But as I began asking for space and working with different departments, I was able to develop relationships and collaborations with many departments and clubs on campus. If you lead with respect and confidence in your organization, people are willing to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. Believe in your designs and ideas.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
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        Contemporary photoshoot, “Meet the Team” Graphic, created by Brylee Watkins. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

        There were many times when ideas of mine were shut down. It was frustrating to feel like I was receiving constant criticism. Constructive criticism is important and should be acknowledged but having confidence in your creativity is also essential when it comes to social media. Early in the year, I planned an artistic contemporary photoshoot for our team. This was very different from shoots we had done in the past. I was met with a lot of\u00a0skepticism and hesitation by my teammates. But my coaches believed in my idea and the photos ended up being some of the most popular posts on our page in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        1. Engagement will never be consistent. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Going hand in hand with #3, know that engagement is fluid. You could get a massive amount of likes on one post and the next day receive a fraction of the engagement. It\u2019s important to not let this discourage you, but instead help influence your future planning. Whether that be posting times or content types, learning from your past engagement is the best way to plan for increased engagement in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          There is obviously still so much to learn. With social media becoming such an essential part of public relations and marketing, it is crucial for up-and-coming PR students to understand the ins and outs of such platforms. In March, our team\u2019s Instagram<\/a> account saw an almost 15% increase in engagement. Managing social media for a niche interest organization with few resources is difficult, but it\u2019s very possible to find success if you stay committed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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          Brylee Watkins is a rising Senior at Manhattan College studying communication, with a dual concentration in public relations and media production and a minor in film studies. She joined PRSSA in 2021, during her sophomore year. From 2022-2023, she served as her Chapter’s publicity and recruitment coordinator and will serve as Chapter president during her senior year. Brylee has been a member of the Manhattan College Jasper Dancers for three years. During the 2022-2023 season, she managed the team’s social media. She has also managed social media for various clubs, a small business and a nonprofit.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          How do you manage social media for a niche audience with limited content, resources and support?\u00a0 In April 2022, I was thrown into the\u00a0world of social media\u00a0management. I was named the social media\u00a0coordinator for the Division I Manhattan\u00a0College Jasper Dancers. Going into\u00a0my third year as a team member, I was\u00a0excited to be a part of sharing the talent,\u00a0strength and determination […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":12636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3512,13],"tags":[3713,3141,2224,418,319],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12638,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12629\/revisions\/12638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}