Pop quiz: Do you know what a yeard is? A "yeard" is a Yearbook Nerd. I learned that from Katherine Morgan, who is the Social Media Manager at Herff Jones, maker of student yearbooks. They have such an interesting strategy on how to engage with yeards and kids and advisors on yearbook committees, to help them convince others about a need for a printed yearbook. The shift to digital has had a tremendous impact on this iconic graduation tradition. Take a listen to hear Katherine's interesting approach on social media marketing to yeards.
Key Topics
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Diving Into a Social Career
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Design and Social Media
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Using New Platforms
Key Answers
How does Herff Jones use social media?
"Herff Jones is a part of a larger varsity brand that partners with educators, students, and coaches to build school pride, engagement, and community spirit. At the achievement sector of the company, we focus on school rings, caps and gowns, graduation invitations, and yearbooks. I work in the yearbook area.
What sets us apart is our focus on the students that are creating the yearbooks instead of those who purchase them. Because each school has students who are responsible for selling yearbooks, our team has a two-fold job: helping them sell, and also being a resource on how to make the best year book.
Because the students change year-to-year, it can be difficult to build relationships on social, so it's essential that we market to advisors. I find that students engage most on Instagram, while the conversation with advisors takes place on Facebook. Twitter is a universal resource for both. Creating content that speaks to both audiences is essential."
On Using New Social Media Platforms:
"The approach depends on my team's availability. We have a desire to venture into other channels like using Snapchat during conferences, but we don't want to do it until we can do it right.
It's not necessarily about being first, but about being aware and watching and feeling how it can be used differently. I prefer to observe other brands' usage of new platforms and how they can work as opposed to being a pioneer.
Since our audience is a younger demographic, we find it easier to introduce new platforms because they are open to new things."
Key Soundbites
"You can have a very pretty post but if it doesn't relate, it's not going to do anything. The content you share needs to be something your audience can relate to."
"When altering any part of your social strategy, do it slowly. Figuring out what works and what doesn't is really important before making any fast changes."
"I really immersed myself [in social media] and gave myself a full education. I followed a lot of brands - whether it's brands I enjoyed or brands I thought did great stuff on social media. I'd already been following and watching what they did, and critiquing them to figure out what worked and what didn't."
Resources
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Company Website: https://www.herffjones.com
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Personal Twitter:@k_m0rgan
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Company Twitter: @HJYearbook
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Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-morgan-65756a50
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Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/herff-jones
Enjoy, and check back here for more episodes of the All the Social Ladies podcast on Social Media Today.
This article was originally published on Apple News: