The NISM SMS professionals serve as ambassadors for our certification program. Not only are they knowledgeable about our curriculum, but they also share our passion for social media. Best of all, their stories help shape our organization and the work that we do here.
In our “Meet & Greet” series, you can get to know more about our SMS community, learn more about these professionals who share your passion for social media and connect with them for collaboration and networking. Have other questions? Ask them below.
And with that, we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Fransen and her story.
Hi Melissa, tell us a little about yourself and the work you do.
My name is Melissa Fransen. I live and work in Central Minnesota. I am passionate about working with people, making a difference every day, and driving results. I am a goal setter. A strategist. A people person. I love to smile and I love to laugh! I’ve been married to my husband Mark for 17 years. We enjoy spending time with family and in the great outdoors. We are very busy people and we live life to its fullest.
I work as a Marketing Manager for Nahan. In my role, I am responsible for Marketing Strategy and Execution, Social Media, Conference and Event Planning, Website Strategy, Campaigns, Sales Coordination, and Supporting Recruiting Efforts to name a few things.
Your role as a Marketing Manager certainly entails a lot. What do you love most about the work that you do?
I love working with people. In my role, especially from a social media perspective, I get to highlight all of the great people that work for our company and the great work that we do. Through social media, I’m able to share all of the good things we have going on. Seeing the interaction of our posts from our followers is one of the favorite parts of my job.
While working with social media, which is your favorite platform and why?
That is a hard one – I’d say it would be a tie between LinkedIn and Facebook. I use both on a daily basis.
I like LinkedIn because I am able to stay in contact with my professional network and colleagues I’ve met along my career. I also use LinkedIn to learn what’s going on in the industry, for inspiration, and to read articles.
I like Facebook for the fact that I’m able to stay in contact with family and friends. I have many people on Facebook that I stay in touch with that I’ve been friends with since I was 5 years old. I have friends from high school, friends from college, old co-workers, current co-workers, family, and extended family in my network. I really like staying in touch with everyone. I like the event feature that Facebook offers, messages for group chats, and closed groups that I belong to as well.
Why was it important for you to seek certification as a social media strategist?
Since the Marketing field moves quickly and is continuously evolving, I am a person that seeks out opportunities to learn and continue to enhance my skill set so I’m always at the top of my game. I had seen Jennifer Radke do a presentation at a seminar I attended and that is where I had learned about the certification program. With my passion for social media and my drive to continuously learn, it was a perfect opportunity for me.
People who are determined to continue learning are the perfect fit for the SMS exam. What advice would you give someone thinking about certification?
If you are thinking about certification, I’d say “do it” and invest in yourself. You are worth it.
I really enjoyed the book and studying for the exam. Even though I’ve been in the marketing industry for the majority of my career, I still learned a lot of new things. As a certified SMS, I have an expanded professional network of team members that I highly respect and that are available to brainstorm and to share information. I have also been attending a number of industry-relevant webinars to learn new skills.
Let’s end with something about you that not everyone would know. Something unique about yourself.
A couple of fun facts about me:
- I’ve played the piano for over 100 weddings and special events
- I love musky fishing. I’ve caught 4 to date with 43” being the biggest so far.
- I enjoy using coupons and am known to hang receipts with big savings % on my refrigerator
- A perfect day for me involves enjoying the day on a lake, sitting by a campfire, and eating a Smore
- My husband and brother have the same first and middle name
Melissa, thank you for your willingness to share your story with us. Keep up the excellent work! You can connect with Melissa online:
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