Grads #winning in social media careers

  Thursday, July 28, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

In late May, Pitt State’s social media manager Brett Dalton was on a Southwest Airlines flight from Kansas City to Chicago. The flight, Dalton said, was the most turbulent he had ever experienced.

Upon landing at Chicago Midway Airport, Dalton tweeted a photo of that morning’s sunrise and added that “@SouthwestAir pilots did a stellar job” of handling the rough flight.

Just minutes later, Dalton received a reply from Southwest via Twitter.

“@BrettCDalton The calm before the storm is a beautiful thing, especially when you're in the best hands in the business. ^TE,” the tweet read.

The tweet from Southwest, signed off with the signature “TE,” was typed by Tess England, a social media specialist at Southwest and a 2012 graduate of Pittsburg State University.

“When I saw Brett’s tweet come through, I thought I recognized the name,” England said. “I checked his profile and saw that he’s a Gorilla. It was such a neat thing to be the one to reply to his tweet knowing that we’re both Pitt State alumni.

“That’s the power of social media,” England said. “It truly can bring the world together in these small, but fascinating ways.”

England, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Communication with an emphasis in public relations, is part of a growing field of public relations professionals who specialize in social media. The past decade, especially the past five years, has seen a significant increase in the number of communication pros who are making a career out of social media.

“It’s certainly growing very rapidly,” England said. “Two years ago, there were three people on the social media team at Southwest. We now have a team of 35.”

What started as a way to respond to questions and complaints, England said, has turned into a “one-stop shop” for customer service. The airline can handle everything from flight changes to refunds through social media.

“We know that more and more people are turning to social media as a way of contacting companies and organizations,” she said. “If we don’t have to point them in another direction, we don’t want to. That is how social media has changed in the past five years. It’s not just communication. It’s full-on customer service.”

Through retweets, shares and replies, social media is also a way of enhancing relationships with customers while also enhancing the brand’s reputation.

“Social media can’t just be about replying to questions or complaints,” England said. “It’s very important that we also engage with the positive comments. If our passengers share something positive about their experience with us, we want them to know that we saw that and that we appreciate it.”

Kelsie Vallacqua, social media specialist at Overland Park’s Black & Veatch, graduated from Pitt State in 2014 with a BS in Communication. She said she enjoys the responsibility and opportunity to enhance her company’s image through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

“I know that, on many occasions, the public world sees our company in the way that I presented it on social media,” Vallacqua said. “That’s a tremendous responsibility, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

Because social media never seems to sleep, Vallacqua said maintaining an active presence can be challenging.

“It really can be quite time-consuming,” she said. “You can get a Twitter mention or Facebook message at any time, and doing the job well can mean replying to those things at any time of day.”

To help maintain a healthy work-life balance, 2015 PSU graduate Katie George, integrated marketing manager for Boelte-Hall in Roeland Park, said she doesn’t have her work accounts synced with her cell phone.

“I just think that would be too much,” said George, who earned a BST in graphics communications, with a minor in marketing. “There are times when you need to be completely unattached from work, and I think that separation actually makes you better at your job. Coming to work, especially when dealing in the public realm of social media, it helps to be fresh and prepared for anything.”

Plus, she said, having personal and professional accounts on the same phone can be tricky.

“I have tweeted something out before that was supposed to go on my personal feed, but I accidentally tweeted it from a work account,” she said. “Luckily I caught it and deleted it within seconds.”

The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics has reported that the public relations field will continue to grow because of the substantial increase in social media jobs. To someone like England, who has a true passion for the field, that’s music to her ears.

“Working in social media is such a privilege, because you truly have the opportunity every day to make someone’s day,” she said. “People love it when they know that the companies they rely on every day notice them and show they care about them. Through social media, we’re able to provide that personal touch with just once click of the ‘Tweet’ button.”