Hi, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood social media manager! While I couldn’t be more excited about my new position, I’m sure many of you are wondering what exactly a small press social media manager does.
Many students join book publishing programs with the intention of becoming the next big editor; I’ll admit that I was (and, to an extent, still am) one of those students. When I first learned about the world of publishing, I was immediately drawn to the idea of editing, of shaping a book into its final form. I now know that there are many other jobs that change a book along the way: the fabulous designers, who build books inside and out; the crafty marketers and publicists, who work endlessly to make sure the public hears of their books before and after they are published; the managing editors, who keep everyone else on track; and so on. And that’s where I come in.
As social media manager, it’s my job to make sure all of the social media at Ooligan is running smoothly. Almost all of the non–book-related content that comes out of the press is posted by me. I’m the person who schedules each Facebook post advertising a new author’s reading, retweets each mention of the press and our books, and maintains the ever-growing giant that is the Ooligan blog. In addition to posting content created by students about their book teams, I maintain all of the additional content on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and the like. Everyone else at Ooligan makes sure that the press produces the best work it possibly can; I’m responsible for the public learning about all of that, allowing the hard work to pay off.
At the end of the day, my job is really about creating shareable, engaging content. By posting about Ooligan books long before and after they’re published, my goal is to get people jazzed and start a discussion about our books. I want to make sure that our books reach the best audience possible, regardless of when that audience discovers the book. Everyone should have equal opportunities to discover a great book.
The next time you see Ooligan post something on one of our social media platforms (hint: it happens at a minimum of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), feel free to drop in, chat, and stay a while. And if you leave a comment, now you know who’s on the other end.