If you’ve visited the St. Norbert College Magazine page on Facebook recently, you’ll have noticed new energy and a new voice. It’s the work of publications intern Emilie Smith ’20, who’s taken this channel under her wing – and lots more besides! We truly value the work of our student associates, who get real-world professional experience in our busy office. We just couldn’t get it done without them!
Now about three and a half years into my internship here at the office of communications, I can say that I have dabbled in a variety of different jobs and projects, all with different goals, outcomes, timelines and directions. I’ve written quite a bit, have read too many articles to count, have spent days fact checking, organizing and distributing … . It sometimes feels like there isn’t much else I could be doing! It’s like I have my foot in a bunch of different doors here, and there are only a few I haven’t yet to open. Which was why I was absolutely ecstatic when I was asked to start interacting with our SNC Magazine Facebook page. I’ve certainly worked with online publications, writing for @St.Norbert, editing SNC News and working to transfer print work over to an electronic format, but I never really dealt specifically with more professional social media pages, especially in the communications aspect. It was an incredibly exciting thing to approach, especially since it is something incredibly important when creating and establishing an image.
Finding content for this new project was easy since our office has no shortage of fascinating stories to share. Between the parents newsletter,SyNC, SNC News, @St. Norbert and the tri-annual publication of the college magazine, there is never a lack for information. What required more thought was formatting posts in ways that were pleasing when transferred to an online format, establishing taglines that would captivate a reader’s interest, selecting images and simply finding the time to post the plethora of content we always have to share. And, as always, there were some technological barriers to try to climb over and, I must admit, I am still trying to hurdle a few. Images in particular are something that always seem to add a little bit more stress to the posting process since those institutional pages on Facebook seem insistent on changing how they will format images in relation to the post as a whole – meaning no two posts are ever the same. However, we are good at finding workarounds, and when I find days where the page is cooperating, I certainly take advantage of all the time available.
One thing I have taken particular enjoyment from is the immediate results you see on online platforms. Of course, I take great satisfaction in seeing a newly distributed magazine, seeing @St. Norbert pop up in my mailbox or even putting together a perfectly organized issue of SNC News [the internal newsletter for those on campus]. However, Facebook posts let you experience real-time engagement and interactions. I can see who has liked a post, clicked on it or commented. And it’s incredibly satisfying to see something going so well so quickly. It’s like proving that you’re doing something valuable or that you’re providing engaging information. And it’s fantastic to take note of the impact you are having on the surrounding campus and college community as a whole.
Here at the office of communications, my portfolio is certainly getting heftier and heftier with each passing semester. And I am certainly enjoying every second of it. Each assignment, each issue and each post provides me with something else to learn about and interact with in a variety of different ways. I feel as if I have learned to do a bit of everything, and do it well. As this semester comes to a close, I am incredibly excited to keep working on things such as the Facebook page and watch it continuously grow while taking on whatever new jobs are pushed my way. With a year left in this office, I am ready for whatever experiences may be headed my way.
