Social Media Interview

I recently interviewed Jane Kolar, the Deputy Press Secretary and Interim digital director for the Governor's office of Minnesota. Jane runs Governor Tim Walz's and Lt. Governor Flanagan's social media accounts and is in charge of posting for them and keeping up to date with comments, likes, DMs, etc. On Jane's social media staff, she is the main one in charge, along with two interns and a photographer. A typical day for her and her team is to post 4-6 times a day on the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor's Instagram pages. This includes all platforms they use, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In addition, daily, she and her team draft 8-20 social media posts for the next day because they have to get them approved by the Governor and Lt. Governor before posting. Jane is also in charge of getting social media content at Governor Walz's events, which are about 3-10 events a week. Essentially, Jane says that on a day-to-day basis, her main job is to post, edit, take pictures, and be ready for rapid responses on Governor Walz's and Lt. Governor Flanagan's social media platforms.

The audience for Governor Walz's and Lt. Governor Flanagan's social media pages varies from platform to platform, but generally, it is citizens of Minnesota. For Twitter, in particular, Jane says that the biggest audience is the press, and it is mainly used for news statements. For Facebook, the followers are an older demographic (40+) and a younger demographic on Instagram. Still, they engage with other states and politicians on Instagram versus any other social media platform. Jane says that their followers usually respond with positive comments cheering and giving their support to the Governor. Still, some hate comes with running a politician's social media page.

Jane says that what she loves most about her job is showing what the Governor's Office looks like daily. She likes that the public can see what Walz is doing, what policies he is working on, what meetings he is attending, etc. She thinks that social media is super unique in the work field now because it gives the public a more realistic and genuine look into people's lives and, in this case, gets to see the daily life of a politician. Although Jane loves many things about her job, she said that running big social media platforms, especially politicians, is difficult because it receives a lot of hate comments and negative responses. Although they get a lot of hate comments, they don't respond directly to followers, but they still look at all the comments and replies and take them into account. To still engage with their followers, they look at the comments and likes they receive and do a weekly analytics report of what is doing well on social media and what is not. They will then take the weekly analytics report and adjust their social media platforms to see what gets them followers, likes, and engagements. Another thing that Jane and her team do to engage with their followers is if they are ever at events, they will take pictures with people there and tag them so that they are showing their love and support for their followers, and then people will repost it. As a result, they will gain even more followers from it.

Another thing that Jane says is difficult about her job is staying organized, and up to date with all the posts she has to make. To stay organized and make sure she is succeeding in her career, Jane makes monthly goals for her team and a monthly calendar of all important holidays, birthdays, proclamations, important days in history, etc. Once Jane plans out these critical dates, she will usually have 8-20 posts she needs to do a week of important dates and then will draft about 5-10 other posts of things Walz's campaign is trying to promote. She says that she starts the day off at 8 am for posting and posts until the end of the night. She has to keep track of the times of the day when people see the posts the most which from her data is from 3-8 pm. Overall, a lot of work and data goes into running a brand's or politician's Instagram account, and Jane says that it is not as easy as it looks from the outside.

Running any big brand's social media account is very difficult, but Jane stresses the point of how different it is to run politicians' social media accounts. A politician and their office is a brand within itself but has a lot more pressure and different rules they have to follow than if it were a clothing brand or something like that. Unlike a typical brand, they won't work with others or advertise with other companies, but they will promote or campaign for specific laws or bills to be passed. They also won't work with other influencers, but they will repost other politicians' or nonprofit organizations in the area, which gives them more followers and engagement. Since they don't spend a lot of money on sponsorships or influencers, most of Jane's social media budget is used towards getting good photographers, cameras, videographers, and anything that will help make their photos or videos look more professional. They also pay to promote posts on Instagram so that their posts will come onto their target audience's feed. Jane says that she and her team have a pretty big social media budget. Still, they like to spend it on things that will make their content look high quality, ultimately making their social media pages look more professional.

As stated earlier, working for a politician's social media pages is way more complicated than working for a typical company's social media. Every politician receives backlash, and therefore Jane has experienced a lot of "crises" since her time working on Walz's team. For many crises that happen, Jane says that her team wants to respond to the situation immediately but can't until they fully know the details and talk with the people involved. Once Walz and his team speak to officials and the people affected by the crisis, Jane posts on social media about the situation and tries to be as open and honest as possible while still addressing Walz's opinion or feelings towards it. Since it is hard to run a politician's Instagram page, and they do experience a lot of crisis and hate, Jane has to measure her success very analytically. To determine success for Walz's social media platforms, Jane says that they want to average a 6% engagement rate across all platforms every week. They also want to have a 5% gain in followers on all accounts a year. Lastly, they want to stay present and updated on all social media platforms. Jane says that her team is succeeding in her goals, and although it doesn't always seem like they are, you have to look at the numbers to know.

At the end of the Interview, Jane gave some advice on working in the social media industry and what she thinks the industry and social media, in general, will hold for the future. Jane believes that Twitter will always remain the most popular platform for politicians because it is a way to get your message across shortly and clearly. With this, she thinks that Twitter will become very ungenuine and just a way for people to share information and not connect with followers. On the other hand, she feels that post-Covid videos and live streaming will become way more popular because people want to feel like they are at an event or with someone when they see a video or live stream of something. Because of this, Jane thinks it is essential to invest in good photographers, videographers, and cameras to get the best quality work for videos and live stream events. Lastly, Jane gave some advice to people looking to work in the social media industry. She said that it is super important to volunteer at different companies and ask if you can help them and learn from what skills they have gathered over the years. Jane got her current job from interning for another politician, and without that previous work experience and knowledge, she would not be where she is today. She also said that it is super important if you want to work in social media to have multiple skills to show. For example, if you're going to work on a social media team for a company or brand, not only should you be able to run an Instagram account, but you should have other skills like photography, videography, editing, etc. Overall, Jane said that if she were to give any advice throughout this Interview, she would say to just put yourself out there in the social media industry. Keep learning and be curious about social media and how to engage with followers on a larger scale and if you do that, you will succeed in the social media industry.

Social Media Accounts:

- Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan Twitter: @LtGovFlanagan

- Governor Tim Walz Twitter: @GovTimWalz

- Governor Tim Walz Instagram: @mngovernor

- Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan Facebook: @Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan

- Governor Tim Walz Facebook: @Governor Tim Walz