How to Get Started as a Higher Ed Social Media Manager

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Callie Goodwin: Welcome to Confessions of the Higher Ed Social Media Manager, where we delve into the world of higher ed social media through the eyes of people behind the screens. Join us as we explore the ups and downs and everything in between when managing online presence for colleges and universities. From navigating the latest social media trends to dealing with crisis management, we'll hear firsthand accounts of what it's really like to be a higher ed social media manager.

[00:00:36] We'll sit down with masterminds behind some of the most innovative and engaging social media campaigns in the field and hear their behind the screen stories, best practices and insider tips. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, sit back, grab your headphones, and get ready for some candid confess.

[00:00:51] And valuable insights into the world of higher ed social media. Confessions of a higher ed Social media manager is part of the Enroll five podcast network. You can [00:01:00] subscribe to this podcast@enrollfive.org, or wherever you get your podcast.

[00:01:09] Marcella Cintra: Welcome to Confessions of a Higher Ed Social 

[00:01:11] Callie Goodwin: Media manager. I'm your host, Callie, and I'm so excited that you're joining us today. Today I'm chatting with Marcella from Eastern Florida State College. 

[00:01:18] Marcella Cintra: Welcome, Marcella. How are you doing? Hey, I'm doing really good, little nervous and excited to be talking with you,

[00:01:26] Callie Goodwin: Oh, I'm so glad you're joining us today. Um, this is our second episode of the podcast and I am just really excited to talk about all things higher ed Social. So first, before we start, um, tell us a little bit about 

[00:01:40] Marcella Cintra: yourself. I just graduated with my MBA in marketing, and I'm gonna go back to actually focus in marketing with an ms.

[00:01:48] I collect comics and Funko pops. We have over, I wanna say eight or 900 in the house. Justin figures in a couple thousand comics and love all [00:02:00] things being parks and Florida fun . 

[00:02:03] Callie Goodwin: That's so fun. So I am terrible with geography. How far away are you from like Disney and, um, universal and stuff? , 

[00:02:13] Marcella Cintra: uh, depending on the traffic, about 40 minutes to an hour.

[00:02:17] Callie Goodwin: Oh, that's a lot closer than I thought. Again, terrible with geography. Don't know where anything is, , but, um, that I feel like would be dangerous for me. I wouldn't go all the time, at 

[00:02:26] Marcella Cintra: least I think two or three times a month. 

[00:02:29] Callie Goodwin: Oh, so fun, so jealous. Um, I have been impulsive and grabbed a coworker, um, who's now one of my best friends and mm-hmm.

[00:02:38] we impulsively took a weekend trip to Disney once. Um, Ooh. I literally worked from her house on a Friday and was like, you have 20 minutes. Go pack. We're going to Disney. And she's like, what? And I'm like, hello, nice to meet you. I'm impulsive. You wanna go to Disney with me, . So we had a great trip and I can't wait to get back again.[00:03:00] 

[00:03:00] So I would love to chat a little bit more about what led you to higher ed Social. I know that you're relatively new in the role, that's a very unique perspective that we don't often hear from a lot. And so, um, how long have you worked in higher ed social and what led you to this point? 

[00:03:16] Marcella Cintra: Uh, coming up on about six months.

[00:03:19] I started last October. . I did my math right, and I got my bachelor's in public administration. I love the school that I went to and I was already working there in financial aid. I saw that the position was open and it was kind of like a leap of faith. It was, it aligns with my goals getting into marketing.

[00:03:40] It would help the community that I want to see grow and love, and it just, everything kind of fell right into place from there. . 

[00:03:47] Callie Goodwin: That's so cool. I feel like. . Um, it's always interesting to hear how people get into higher ed social because it's not, um, it's not the same for all people. Some people are in [00:04:00] marketing roles or work somewhere else in the school and like transition into that social media role.

[00:04:04] Mm-hmm. , I was the intern that became the social media manager for my first, uh, first school. And it's, it's always one of those things where it's not the standard. Um, A job where you apply and get it. Sometimes it is, but a lot of times people fall into it in very different ways. So that's really cool to see that that's how you got into it and that you've been into it for six months.

[00:04:32] So what's your first impressions after the first six months? 

[00:04:36] Marcella Cintra: Very busy ? Yes. Probably one of the more fast paced environments that I've worked in. I did retail for. Five, six years before that. And I thought that was fast. But jumping in, we had all the Halloween stuff, then commencement, then winter break, jumping back into spring and it just, it's always something going and which is fun.[00:05:00] 

[00:05:00] There's always something new to do and we're in the process of building a new website right now, so there's a lot of hands on training and working with that that I didn't initially expect to have into. , 

[00:05:12] Callie Goodwin: I will tell you, um, you haven't experienced this yet, but summer in higher ed is golden. It, it will slow down to a snails pace.

[00:05:22] Um, sometimes I remember like banging my head against the desk, like, what can we do for content? Like, how did we go from a hundred to zero? Like mm-hmm. . It really is like, especially that last week heading into graduation and commencement and stuff, and then all of a sudden it's like, , it's silent until beginning of August when you get prepped for students coming back.

[00:05:43] So, um, the rest is coming. The break is coming. Um, but yeah, starting in October, really? December doesn't, December I guess has like a week or two. That's like a little low lower key depending on if your school gives you like the whole week, the [00:06:00] whole time off. I've worked for two different institutions that one gave more time off, one gave less time off, and then.

[00:06:06] um, jumped full, like jumped back into the semester immediately into January. Mm-hmm. . But, um, summer is coming , it is, um, a much slower pace and really gives you the chance to like plan stuff out so that mm-hmm. , when you're in that fall rush and spring rush, you're not feeling, um, as much behind cuz you can do some of that planning in the 

[00:06:28] Marcella Cintra: summertime with the, uh, summer stuff.

[00:06:32] That's actually one of the campaigns my directors. a little more hands off on right now. She sent me an email like, I want you to update this thanks page, update this, um, landing page, like make the QR codes for our, uh, space code daily and some other things. Uh, partner with our other boss to work on some stuff for that.

[00:06:55] And that's just kind of, I like. a little bit calmer, but it's [00:07:00] definitely, it's fun to kind of, oh, I can play around more. . Yes. 

[00:07:04] Callie Goodwin: One of my biggest tips for summer in general is if your school has a hashtag that's really branded well and like that your students use, um, often is tap into that and like kind of stock where students are and then encourage.

[00:07:21] Um, maybe it's a pair of branded sunglasses or something that you get from your admissions office or something that you can give away during the summer. And encourage people to use either your hashtag or your hashtag, like, um, whatever the name, like whatever your hashtag is, plus summer, um, and get people to share where they're traveling.

[00:07:39] And then another one of my favorite tips is, um, I use, I've used this line at every place that I've worked, and I just hope that people don't catch on that it's like, One of my go-to signature posts each summer is, um, it's near, far, wherever you are. Always rep, whatever your school is, and so I [00:08:00] either ask students, That are traveling.

[00:08:03] Um, if I know them well, I'll like shoulder tap some students and say, Hey, can you wear our school shirt when you're traveling this place? Um, we use Instagram stories to ask people what, where they're traveling for the summer, and then we message 'em and like, Hey, if you have this shirt, will you, will you take it on your trip?

[00:08:22] Um, and we'll, we'll repost it and like, I'm like dragging content out of people because it does get like, A desert like it is silent on campus, um, during the summer and unless you're, unless your school has like big summer programs. Um, but both schools that I worked at, like it was, you could go weeks without seeing someone under the age of 21.

[00:08:45] And then you see the incoming first year students like there for orientation. You're like, yes, it's students, . Some of my favorite moments. I golly, you don't realize how much you like really are gonna miss them until they're gone for those three months and then it's [00:09:00] like, yes, you're back. Okay, cool. Back into the, back, into the fast paced.

[00:09:04] Um, so. What do you think, I know you're new to this job, but I'd love to know from you, what do you think is the most under-discussed part of this role? What is something they don't tell you but that you've learned through your last couple months? Um, that's either required or expected, but just isn't often talked about?

[00:09:28] Marcella Cintra: Uh, probably all the stuff that goes on. behind the scenes. We have a lot of fun events on campus, a lot of, um, exciting things that are always going on, but we have to stick to scheduling things, um, kind of in a good flow where it's not too much and one day or too late after the event and it. Either getting those photos late, not at all.

[00:09:51] Some of them blurry and it just, because I feel sad cuz I want to, you know, just highlight the student life we have, how much our coordinators do. And it's just one [00:10:00] of those things that it's kind of like, I, I can't, I don't think we can maybe try fit this in. We'll see. And then some things, it's just so late and it's just that, uh, I don't wanna say like go, go, go timeframe, but it, it sometimes feels like that it's.

[00:10:18] Where things are always jumping, it's, I feel bad for missing 

[00:10:20] Callie Goodwin: things.[00:11:00] 

[00:11:22] Um, have you discovered any, um, like specific either department or faculty staff member that is very determined to get every single thing that they do posted? , have you run into that yet? 

[00:11:39] Marcella Cintra: We, we do have one. He is fantastic for the school, for the community. I actually believe he's on one of our, uh, local government, uh, councils and it's exciting to see everything that he posts, even if it's not something that we share.

[00:11:55] It's always amazing to see and we try and share as much as we can, [00:12:00] but it's just, that's so cool. Smiling out there, uh, gets along with everybody 

[00:12:04] Callie Goodwin: and it's great.

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[00:13:39] All right, add on number to enroll fify.org/dd SEO o, or simply Google DD Agency. Find DeDee Agency's website and be sure to mention that you heard about them through reify when you request your audit. All right, folks, back to the show. I feel like every school, no matter what, the size has that like. Token [00:14:00] person that is the person that you know is gonna share everything, um, is going to comment on everything, is gonna be your biggest supporter.

[00:14:08] Um, and sometimes. Sometimes they're just the, like the engagement person, but then sometimes they're the ones who request everything to be shared. Um, we, I've worked at different schools and had different, different faculty members that are so passionate about their programs. They're like, I want everything that we're doing being shared.

[00:14:27] And I have to sometimes go and say, I'm sorry, I can't, I can't share everything. Not because it's not good or it's not important, but it's. People are gonna think that our school only consists of this major or this program because the other schools aren't, or the other parts of the school are not, um, as active or aren't as, um, engaging on social.

[00:14:48] Like you can't share this. This account is not a highlight reel of this program. It's to encompass the whole school. So it's always interesting to hear what people. [00:15:00] What department that is in different schools. Sometimes it's the sciences that are just like really, um, like killing it and like, want everything shared sometimes.

[00:15:09] Um, my experience, it's education. I love them. They're the most, um, as someone who was an early childhood major and, and then went into social work, um, like I get it, like there is a, there's a special love in those programs and like so much fun that they want everything shared, but. Okay. Um, sometimes we have to tone it back just a little bit so we can share the stuff, the business stuff and the literature stuff, the English stuff, like, stuff like that.

[00:15:36] But, um, always interesting. So have you come up with any, uh, tips or hacks that you've learned to like, make your life a little more productive in your role or like something you would share with somebody who's just joining? 

[00:15:54] Marcella Cintra: Ooh. , I, I write everything down, [00:16:00] phone calls, save screenshots, emails, like everything I can, if it's involving something happening now, happening later, I have, um, a desk calendar.

[00:16:10] It's all baby Yoda and every little note time that can be in, there's on there. And my biggest tip is write it down, , even if you're gonna feel like you're gonna remember it. There's so much happening that it's gonna woo right out, . 

[00:16:25] Callie Goodwin: See, you are the, you're the person I strive to be, but can never get to that point.

[00:16:31] I, um, have severe adhd and I think I'm gonna remember something from like, walking from the kitchen in here and like straight up, forget it. Um, I'm the person who goes back and forth like five times, like, what was I doing? And so I think like, oh, I'm gonna write this down, or I'm gonna put it on the sticky note, but either then I lose the sticky note or I lose the screenshot.

[00:16:52] And so I, I would benefit from a large desk calendar that like can't move, that's always in my face. But, [00:17:00] um, I haven't got there yet. But that's a great, that's a great piece of advice because we are getting, throwing so much information our way. if we don't write it down or we don't, um, keep track of it.

[00:17:12] Like we will lose, like stuff will slide through the cracks. I have had that happen way more than I want to, but a hundred percent something, um, that I, I know personally I need to be better at. So that was a good one. I like that. , um, , if you weren't working in higher ed, I know you're new, so if this is not something you really wanna be thinking about right now, But if you weren't working in higher ed, this, this opportunity didn't work out.

[00:17:39] Like what is something else you would like to try? Like if you could have any dream job, what would that be? The bar is high 

[00:17:47] Marcella Cintra: for this one. Um, I would love to do marketing for, uh, the Disney company, like specifically for their theme parks, promotions, management. It's just, it feels like it would be very fun, but I [00:18:00] know just even thinking about that, that's one of those, you know, wish upon a star kind of.

[00:18:05] Feel 6, 7, 8 years down . 

[00:18:08] Callie Goodwin: Yeah. I feel like if you work in, I feel like if you work in one Florida or work in marketing of some type, like mm-hmm. working for Disney and like the Happiest Boys on Earth. If that hasn't been on your radar, then do you really, do you really like making people happy? really, like that's, that's a goal for so many, um, , yes.

[00:18:32] To work with them and just the culture that they've created. Um, I've really tried to mimic some of what they do on their social and what they do as a company. Like they really address each person is not like a problem to solve, but like, how can we make this more enjoyable for this person? And so when people message our social accounts or ask, uh, questions about financial aid, instead of just saying contact financial aid.

[00:18:57] I like to go contact financial aid on their [00:19:00] behalf, make sure I'm getting the contact for the right person. Mm-hmm. , and then saying, Hey, the answer to your question is X, Y, and z. In the future, if you have any questions, here is X person in the financial aid office. That would be more than happy to help you.

[00:19:14] And I think when we treat social as more of like a fun, like supportive customer service line mm-hmm. when needed, um, we create the opportunity for more of. our followers to become raving fans and then yeah, to tell others about us. And then we go down that whole route, like road of, um, we need people to enroll in our schools.

[00:19:37] Uh, we want people to apply. We want people to join us. And if they see us as friendly and helpful on the social side, then hopefully that will transcend, transcend into. our campus culture, and then people really will have that same experience on campus as they do when communicating with us online. That's a big, a big goal for me is like I never want to give false.

[00:19:59] [00:20:00] Hopes for what our campus environment is, but I think every campus is trying to get to the point where they're providing excellent customer service and, um, trying to be as helpful as they can be. Mm-hmm. and Disney is a great example of that and how they, um, really make people feel seen and not just, yeah.

[00:20:21] So next up, um, I know that you are still new in this role, but, um, are you a scheduler or do you post things on the fly 

[00:20:37] Marcella Cintra: mix of both. Um, we've been trying to use our stories feature more, so I really like diving into that kind of on the fly right beforehand. Like, hey, um, like tonight we have a big bachelor's expo going on for us students to kind of explore our programs.

[00:20:53] and um, cause I'm planning something to get posted later this afternoon to encourage them to [00:21:00] go. So I guess, but for events I can actually be there. I like to kind of post on the fly, like, oh, we have this, we have that. Um, I guess it all also kind of falls under a scheduler. . 

[00:21:11] Callie Goodwin: Yeah, no, I mean, it makes sense.

[00:21:14] Um, I, I'm a mix of both. Two, I feel like. Mm-hmm. . Um, there are some things that if I know is gonna happen, like there's no chance it's gonna change. , it's not up for debate. Some of that, yeah, I will schedule ahead of time, but most of the time I'm on the fly because you never know what's gonna change. You never know.

[00:21:31] Mm-hmm. what's gonna happen in the world or at the school or in the state. That's gonna be come up that we need to pause our content and Yep. Also, it could just be bad timing. , it may not be the best thing to be posted that day. Maybe we mm-hmm. , maybe we forgot a national holiday that we now need to swap content out for or, yep.

[00:21:53] Um, cuz inevitably we're gonna forget, forget one at least once a year. That's something that we should have [00:22:00] remembered that we didn't put on the calendar. We didn't move over to the following year. Um, 

[00:22:06] Marcella Cintra: there was something recently that I think was like that. , but I can't remember what it was. , 

[00:22:12] Callie Goodwin: I 

[00:22:12] Marcella Cintra: forget. I'm, we saw like two days later,

[00:22:15] Callie Goodwin: My, my, I'm really bad about it, but like, the one that I have wanted to celebrate for years that I have not been able to pull off because I forg I don't give myself enough heads up. Time for it is national puzzle day. Um, it has nothing to do with higher ed, but I wanna make the, the play on words of, um, like you're a.

[00:22:35] Of our puzzle and like have a photo of campus and do like a time lapse of putting the puzzle together. But that requires thinking ahead of time to order the puzzle. Mm-hmm. before the day before the event. The day before. Yeah. And um, I usually don't get the alert until the day before. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, tomorrow's national Puzzle day.

[00:22:54] We're, we're year seven into not making this happen, . Oh no. And then this [00:23:00] year I was so determined, and it's in Feb, it's in January, I think. I even like mentioned it like January 1st. I was like, I'm gonna order the puzzle and I didn't write it down and I forgot to order the puzzle . So, um, goals 2024 goals is to celebrate National Puzzle Day.

[00:23:17] They'll 

[00:23:17] Marcella Cintra: do it. I believe in you, . 

[00:23:20] Callie Goodwin: I really hope somebody needs to keep me accountable on that one because my poor calendar , my poor calendar has seen that one for seven years. , 

[00:23:28] Marcella Cintra: once you have the puzzle, it's, it's golden. You're good. Right? . , 

[00:23:33] Callie Goodwin: what's, I'm gonna be a real honest here. Um, what's really sad is that I actually purchased, um, a sublimation puzzle because I have sublimation supplies.

[00:23:43] Like I could have made the puzzle, but I forgot about it. And so it's not even that I need to order it, I just needed to do it and I didn't. And it's just, ugh, that's one of those things. I need to do it now and schedule it from a year from now so [00:24:00] that it's done. Like I don't even have to worry about it.

[00:24:03] no stress of January . Um, okay, so next question. What is your favorite platform? This is a two-part question, both personally and for your brand. They can be different. . 

[00:24:16] Marcella Cintra: Personally, I love TikTok. Um, that's when we've had to put on pause for the school with everything going on, but I actually saw another creator on there make a comment about it that made me laugh, and it's the vulnerability that people feel on TikTok that they no longer feel on Instagram.

[00:24:33] She said something like, I'll post this on here, but it feels too personal for Instagram now because the feeds are so curated there. Mm-hmm. and I couldn't help but like agree and laugh at luck. Cause there's things I post online that I don't, I don't know if I would post on like my personal gram, but for the school, I do love Instagram.

[00:24:51] I feel like we get more engagement there. Um, it is a little bit more curated for current students and alums than our Facebook is. And I think that's kind of where it hits [00:25:00] the sweet spot is there's more, um, Coverage for like, things happening on the stories 

[00:25:05] Callie Goodwin: there. That's cool. Um, so , I love that. Like that was your answer because TikTok is my favorite.

[00:25:15] Um, followed closely by Twitter. Um, from personal, well, I guess personal and brand. Okay. TikTok is personal and brand. Okay. Hold on, let me rephrase that. I work for a social media app and so Zmi technically is my favorite. Social for brand in that avenue of my life. In my small business, TikTok is my favorite personally.

[00:25:41] TikTok is my, fa is my most used one. Um, yeah, for per personal stuff, I have to like divide this in my brain. I'm like, which, which part are we talking about? Um, but you talked about, you mentioned the ban, um, and I don't know, has y'all's governor banded across all government devices [00:26:00] or it's conversation?

[00:26:02] Marcella Cintra: Not yet. I believe it's not yet a conversation. I know. Uf I think they can't use it on their government devices, and it might be on their like wifi that you can't use it. Gotcha. I'm not too verse on what they're doing, but I know we're just on pause. 

[00:26:21] Callie Goodwin: It's changing every day. Um, yeah, and so I, I really love that you brought that up because.

[00:26:28] And you have no idea this was even happening, but I am actually, by the time this episode airs, I will have spoken on a TikTok panel with talk's head of cybersecurity and data, um Oh wow. For TikTok for the us and so that's happening this coming weekend at South by Southwest. And um, yeah, I'm joining them on Saturday to be able to talk about the bands and talk about how that impacts our industries.

[00:26:57] Um, specifically talking as a small business owner, [00:27:00] because 95% of my orders from my greeting card business come from TikTok. And so, um, that's very impactful for me. But in the education space, it does, it makes an impact. We had a video for the, um, university that I used to work for mm-hmm. that it's a very small, private Christian college here in South Carolina, and our follower account is like 700.

[00:27:24] Like, it's not, it's not big. But my student team had recorded a TikTok on graduation day in May. They did not tell me about it, which I love. Um, we had, we had words afterwards, but it's in the best way, . They bought these little squishy toys and they passed them out before graduation. And when they walked across the stage and they went to shake.

[00:27:49] our president's hand, they transferred that sticky toy to his hand, and he like looked at it and was so confused at what they just handed him, but in the process. So they're, they're [00:28:00] grabbing his hand, they're grabbing their diploma, they're smiling for their photo, and he is, he's trying to smile for the photo, but also trying to figure out what the student just put in his hand.

[00:28:09] And so then they start walking away. He looks down at it and he's just like, uh, and then he passes it off and it happens multiple times. It wasn't every student. . Um, but it was like scattered enough throughout the student body and our student class president, that was, she was the one running our TikTok at the time.

[00:28:25] She recorded it from the audience. And so she recorded all of these people walking by and like put captions of like what she thought our president was thinking in that moment. Like, not another one. What is this? Why is it sticky? Um, but I love the video because at the end, um, or like during like the graduates and then walking across stage, The table that all the diplomas are on has our logo big and bold, right front and center.

[00:28:52] And so it's, it was free publicity to everybody who saw that, but because that was such a fun prank [00:29:00] on the president and graduation. at that time around graduation. Mm-hmm. , it went viral. It got 370 something thousand views. Wow. And um, it led to our president coming back and saying, okay, what other things can I do to go viral?

[00:29:13] And I'm like, that's not how it works. I love that. It's fun when you are the one we're playing the joke on, but you can't manufacture doing something that's gonna go viral. Like that was a straight up prank that did so well. But, um, , sorry about that. TikTok is really good for getting, um, your name in front of people that are not usually following you.

[00:29:37] Mm-hmm. . So I really hope that, um, we can kind of pause the whole band stuff. And I know that TikTok is working on moving their data to a data center in Texas. They're trying to bring all of that data to US soil. Um, and that's part of the session we're talking about, but, um, Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how [00:30:00] that plays out over the next 2, 3, 6 months and how that impacts our jobs and our roles and how we use that specific platform to engage with followers and to engage with current students and future students and, um, really get our names out.

[00:30:17] I think it's, it's super helpful for small schools that don't have. As big of the name recognition as the large universities, the flagship universities for states. Yeah. Um, and it allow, really allows more of an equal playing field for, uh, small schools to be seen and heard by, uh, future, future students or prospective students.

[00:30:43] So, yeah. Um, yes. Love TikTok. Love that you mentioned that . I wish I had a follow up on what this session's gonna be covering, but we'll talk about that later. Um, if you follow me on Twitter, you can go back and see all of my tweets from uh, this conference, [00:31:00] but by the time this airs, that'll be over. So . Um, okay.

[00:31:04] Next up. What is something that you wish you could pull back the curtains and let people see behind the scenes at your job? Is there something that you wish people could. , um, that people may not understand about this role or mm-hmm. maybe a certain situation or whatever. It's totally up to how you want to interpret that question.

[00:31:28] Marcella Cintra: Um, I guess as much as I joke about it with like family and friends, it's, it's not all taking pretty pictures, and making reels and, um, emojis, 

[00:31:40] Callie Goodwin: but no. Absolutely. , I think explaining to people that don't work in social media, that social media is not just what they see. Mm-hmm. is the hardest thing for people to grasp.

[00:31:54] Um, cuz so often if people aren't seeing the, [00:32:00] like, the results of what you're doing, if they're not seeing the post, the tweet, the video, then they assume you're not doing anything. And our roles, I feel like are dumping ground for a lot of things that. Don't necessarily fall on if your team happens to be big enough and has a graphic designer or a videographer mm-hmm.

[00:32:17] or a photographer or something like that. Sometimes there are people to do that, but otherwise you could be a team of one. My first job, I was a team of one. I did all of our photo video, a lot of our graphic design website stuff like commencement program, like I got the most random hodgepodge assignments.

[00:32:35] Um, . And so people didn't necessarily see that, um, on their side, like looking at our social, but work was still happening. Yep. 

[00:32:47] Marcella Cintra: For us, uh, we're lucky, um, from, I see we have, uh, college wide printing and graphics, but as 99% of all the graphics that we need will [00:33:00] make someones on the fly for smaller things. Um, and then we also have our TV production crew, because we have an.

[00:33:07] Amazing. Um, what is it? It's W E F S tv. They do a lot of the local broadcasting here in the area, so they cover majority of stuff for our campuses too. Um, so luckily we have a big group to all work together. . 

[00:33:26] Callie Goodwin: Nice. . Um, next up we just have a few more questions I wanna ask you. Um, I've loved having you on the podcast, but thank you.

[00:33:38] Yeah. Um, what is your confession? What is something that you've done as a social media manager that someone probably wouldn't expect? 

[00:33:47] Marcella Cintra: Um, it was when we got our TikTok off the ground, um, and before I realized I could download cap cut to my laptop or my work computer is, I would [00:34:00] make them edit them an app on my personal one.

[00:34:06] Post it, download it without the watermark and delete it all within like five seconds to be able to send it for approval for our director so that we can be actually be able to upload it to the school's one . But it was like, how do I make this work an app without taking it too far away from it? And then I found cap cut not too long later and I was like, oh, I can edit it right in here and not have to worry about 

[00:34:32] Callie Goodwin: it.

[00:34:33] That's so smart. Um, the apps and how they change is, one of my favorite parts about the job is that it's never stagnant. It's never, um, uh, the apps are changing constantly, which both is a source of confusion and, and frustration. Um, and joy in that, like, our jobs never look the same all the time. Um, sometimes we have to pivot, like when Instagram was really pushing reels, even though we really [00:35:00] didn't want them to, like, we had to pivot a little bit to work.

[00:35:03] Um, to please that algorithm and now they've kind of reverted back a little bit. Um, yeah, it, it makes things interesting, frustrating, but interesting. and I love that TikTok has evolved a little bit and they did release cap cut and, um, my TikTok account, I saw this last week when I'm editing a video, it now has the option to download it before.

[00:35:30] I publish it, and that has been a lifesaver because I'm so used to publishing a TikTok, uploading it to snap, tick, downloading it mm-hmm. , um, without the watermark. And then I have to go into an editor software and change the audio because it, it offsets it. Mm-hmm. just enough that it's annoying. Um, especially if you're talking and like your words no longer match your mouth.

[00:35:53] So I have to go back. , edit that like literally half a second to make it line up quickly and then I can [00:36:00] repost it to YouTube shorts, Pinterest or Instagram stories, or wherever I'm gonna put it. Mm-hmm. . I can now download it without the watermark before publishing it. And I, while that's helpful for me for reposting, I bet that's gonna be, if they push that out to everybody, will be super helpful for schools that have approval processes because it doesn't allow you to share the same drafts folder.

[00:36:21] Mm-hmm. , that's another like, frustration. I'm like, why? Like, why is it only on one device? That's, that's so frustrating. But I didn't know that. Yeah. It's interesting to see how the algorithms change and work and the platforms themselves, what they're, they don't stay in their lanes all the time. They try to be each other and I'm like, I just need Instagram.

[00:36:43] I need you to be pictures, pretty pictures, curated, feed, whatever, TikTok. I need that to stay. Videos. Recently I saw carousel photos. I'm like, no, no, like say video, short video. TikTok, stay in your lane. Facebook, stay in your lane. [00:37:00] Let everybody stay in your lane. , 

[00:37:01] Marcella Cintra: I saw a carousel post on there with 32 photos.

[00:37:04] Stop it on TikTok. Yeah, it was like a gosh story. Oh. And I'm just swiping through and I'm like, there's a lot. And then I sold a count at the top and I was expecting like 10, and I, I was already halfway there. And I guess they're, gosh, like you said, they're pushing the carousel post now they have their, I guess it's less be real and more just like, stories 

[00:37:26] Callie Goodwin: now on there.

[00:37:27] Yeah. My account doesn't have that. I can see when people's like profiles are circled in blue. Mm-hmm. , and I click on it and it's like, you can't see this until you post, but my account does not give me the option to post. So I'm like, oh. It's very interesting how they don't like, Roll things out to everybody at all times.

[00:37:45] Mm-hmm. , it's very much like you get some features and you get some features, but you don't get those features and you get these features, but you don't get them. 

[00:37:53] Marcella Cintra: It's out. But not, it's like the, what is it? The local, like you can hit your location now and not [00:38:00] everyone has that. And 

[00:38:00] Callie Goodwin: I'm like, oh yeah. The playlist for a long time.

[00:38:04] Mm-hmm. captions for a long time. , um, that was a lunch Favor ? Yes. Oh, I love the captions feature. I remember the other day I was pulling a video to share repost, and I remember typing out every single word of this 32nd video to caption it myself in app and having to like time it and remembering how long it used to take me.

[00:38:26] And now I hit a button and then just put the background on it and it, it does the captions for me and it's just, ugh. It's such a time saver for accessibility. Mm-hmm. . But also, um, I like, I think I've got like a small level of auditory, auditory processing disorder. Like I have a really hard time not washing stuff with captions sometimes.

[00:38:49] Like, I'll hear you and it like, I'm not hearing you. Like, it's not, it's not processing. And so I didn't realize how much I relied on captions until the pandemic and everybody was wearing mask and I. . [00:39:00] Oh crap. Like, I don't know what you're saying. . Nope. Like I, I, I am not hearing, or I'm hearing words, but it's not making 

[00:39:08] Marcella Cintra: sense.

[00:39:08] Like, no. Or there's a delay. You see their mouth moving and you're, I missed something in there and it's, Nope. 

[00:39:17] Callie Goodwin: It's just a reminder to me that, um, accessible social media is not just for people who have, um, like full, um, auditory, like. , um, disabilities, like, or it can't, like, you can't be, like, it doesn't have to be fully deaf or fully blind to need all texts.

[00:39:36] Like it really is helpful for all Yeah. The, the whole spectrum in between it. And so, um, really just reminds me. that while it may take me an extra 10, 15, 30 seconds to caption something or to put alt text on it, it is worth it because that means somebody else is gonna get to engage with our content. Yep.

[00:39:57] That may not get to, if I don't take the [00:40:00] time now to do it, like it, it has to be part of our, um, our process in everything. Mm-hmm. . So, so I have some last, last questions. These are rapid fire. I did not give you a heads up on what these are, so Oh no, they're even more fun. Okay. Um, , he's always how you laugh.

[00:40:20] If you were going about your normal day, how many owls would you need to see before you thought something was wrong? Are they 

[00:40:29] Marcella Cintra: just like out and about or are they like, yeah, in my office, 

[00:40:33] Callie Goodwin: either If you, if you like, you're going about your day and all of a sudden you saw an owl and then you saw another one, like, how many would it take before you're like, something's up here.

[00:40:44] Marcella Cintra: three. I I don't think I've ever really seen them here. Um, I've only lived here for about eight years, but I wanna say three . Yeah. 

[00:40:53] Callie Goodwin: It just, it's odd answer. Yep. . Okay. I love, okay, so you talked about Disney. So [00:41:00] this is a great question for you. Mm-hmm. , if you were in the castle when the spell was cast and beast's Castle transformed, what object would you become?

[00:41:12] Oh gosh. 

[00:41:14] Marcella Cintra: I don't know what a spoon is. The first thing that came to 

[00:41:17] Callie Goodwin: mind, , 

[00:41:19] Marcella Cintra: I've seen it lay low. Like just kind of like, I don't think it's good. I'm not gonna get in the way. . 

[00:41:26] Callie Goodwin: I love that. Um, Two more cuz these are fun. I literally found this person on TikTok that was like, everybody needs a good dinner party question.

[00:41:34] And she gave hers and then it was like, comments were tons of these questions and I was like, I'm gonna pull these into the podcast cause these are fun. Um, would you rather fight one horse sized duck or a hundred duck sized horses?

[00:41:56] Marcella Cintra: I'm gonna go duck sized horses. Cause I feel like that's about the size of a [00:42:00] chihuahua, but a horse sized duck just sounds terrifying. Like, have you seen their teeth ? 

[00:42:07] Callie Goodwin: I feel like if it was a goose, it was, we would be weird. Be done like. Yep. If you imagine a horse sized goose, um, absolutely not. That's a good, good question And, um, , the last one gonna keep with the animal theme.

[00:42:22] Um, if you have a height of giraffe from the government, where would you put it and why? . 

[00:42:30] Marcella Cintra: Oh, my house is too small for this. Um,

[00:42:36] I wanna say a shed, but like, that's gotta be a really tall shed. If it's like a baby giraffe, we'll put you in the shed. Just we'll bring you out later. . 

[00:42:45] Callie Goodwin: That's funny. Yeah, I don't, I don't know where I would hide a giraffe. like, . Um, I did see 

[00:42:52] Marcella Cintra: somebody that commented. Still . Yeah, 

[00:42:55] Callie Goodwin: right. I did have see somebody that commented on this post and we're like, uh, I put it in a [00:43:00] zoo.

[00:43:00] And I'm like, well, that's logical . That is, my brain didn't go there. But no . Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I greatly appreciate it. And, um, we're gonna have your, uh, places that people can find you on social, in the show notes of this podcast if people want to get in touch with you. And, um, yeah, thank you so much for joining and.

[00:43:28] Thank you to everybody 

[00:43:29] Marcella Cintra: who tuned in for our second 

[00:43:30] Callie Goodwin: episode of Confessions of a Higher Ed Social Media 

[00:43:33] Marcella Cintra: Manager. Thank you for having me,

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