Social Media Optimization — Ann Shoket Style
When it comes to my role models in the media industry, I have quite a few. But Ann Shoket rises above the rest. I remember watching her on America’s Next Top Model as a judge, and she was always introduced as “The Editor in Chief of Seventeen Magazine… Ann Shoket.” She is the first person that made me realize writing could become a career, and she’s also the reason I became obsessed with Seventeen as a tween. So when I found out about her book The Big Life two summers ago, it’s no surprise that it changed my life, too.
The book is a form of narrative journalism and creative nonfiction mixed together, based off of her own musings and conversations held at her own “Badass Babes” dinners. Shoket would host frequent dinners, consisting of frozen pizza and cheap bottles of rosé wine, and invite women of all ages, backgrounds, and career paths. At these dinners they’d talk about everything from relationship advice to career advice, and she used snippets from these conversations throughout her book.
Since leaving Seventeen, Shoket has become an author and an expert on millennial women, presenting at many leadership conferences around the country about the power of this current, young generation of females. Reading her book reignited my obsession with Shoket, and when she followed me on Instagram a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about how impactful her social media presence is and how her use of social media completely aligns with her brand.
Of course, being an expert on millennial women means she has to also be an expert on the way that millennial women communicate and interact with each other, which is of course where social media comes into play. She is constantly following her followers back, like she did with me, and is very interactive on Twitter and Instagram.
Once she follows you, you’re invited to join her closed “Ann Shoket’s Badass Babes” Facebook group. This Facebook group acts as a network of women where women can ask for advice, and coordinate their own “Badass Babes” dinners in their areas. This group also acts as a way for Shoket to get her own information disseminated, and where she can start her own conversation threads of hot topics to discuss.
For example, on Oct. 19, she shared a Good Morning America segment she was featured in about the #MeToo movement a year later. This allowed women within the group to start a conversation about it, and she encouraged women to share the clip with others.
The way she uses social media is extremely optimized, especially for her audience and for her brand’s message. Her interactive online presence adds credibility to her title of “millennial expert” and allows her to constantly be in the conversations that millennial women are taking part in. I find her use of Facebook to be the most compelling, because I’ve noticed in my own analytics that Facebook can be the hardest platform to optimize. I may be a little bit biased based on my fandom for Shoket in the first place, but I think as a future female in media I should start taking notes.
You can take a peek at her successful social media profiles here: