Let’s get right into it, you mentioned you work in Penguin Random House Children’s, what does a day in the life of a Senior Social Media Manager look like?
Every day is different. That’s what I enjoy most about my job. Some days I help our team design assets, and others, I can do a deep dive into our stats and strategy. And a lot is packed with meetings and brainstorms for our amazing books! Also not to forget about going to events and engaging live with our community.
How big is the social/communications media team at Penguin Random House Children’s?
We are seven people in the brand and social team, but of course the marketing and PR team as a whole is much bigger!
What’s the most successful bit of content you’ve ever worked on?
There have been many pieces I’ve worked on in previous roles that were very successful. They tend to be engaging pieces that feature big artists and talents, which really helps with the algorithm!
We can see the same trend on the channels I currently work for. Some of the latest ones for Puffin have been a range of fun videos featuring children’s author and musician Tom Fletcher talking about his new book, Space Band. In one of them, we had him write a song in 30 seconds, which was hilarious!
How do you keep up with social media trends?
Platforms like yours always help to see what’s going on in terms of platform updates and user trends. But of course, I also spend a lot of time on social media and see the things that go viral that way! Our team is also really good at sharing new trends and we keep each other up to date.
If you could change anything about social media, what would it be?
It really depends on the platform, but I think it’s a shame that Meta continues to make it harder to get your content seen without having to pay for it. There are so many talented creators and amazing brands that just struggle to reach their right audiences because they can’t afford the ads. And equally, I think everyone is getting fed up with the constant advertising on our feeds, so people pay less attention to paid-for content.
What made you get into working in social media in the first place?
I studied fashion journalism and media communication and originally wanted to become a journalist. While doing internships for different brands (when social media marketing was in its infancy), I was managing the brands’ social channels and I realised that I enjoyed that much more than the normal marketing tasks. It combined all the elements I liked about my courses, and I was hopeful that it would become a career in the future. I’m so glad I stuck with it and it all worked out!
What does 2023 hold for you and Penguin Random House Children’s?
Unfortunately, I can’t say too much yet! But we have some really exciting plans around TikTok, which the team can’t wait for. We are also continuing to work on campaigns with our authors and illustrators this year and are looking to start a Facebook group for Ladybird, to give our families a safe platform to chat to our experts and each other.
And finally, what is your favourite social media account that everyone should go and follow apart from Puffin and Ladybird Books?
I have to admit that 80% of my feeds are memes or news! I tend to not follow too many brands; otherwise the Social Media Manager part of my brain would never switch off. On TikTok, I really enjoy creators like Adrian Bliss and Baron Ryan because I think they have found a clever way to stand out from the feed while being super creative and almost cinematic with their content at the same time.
Jojo Schlattner is Senior Social Media Manager at Penguin Random House UK
