Every day we all play a part of different mini communities – work, hobbies, family, faith, school, neighborhood, friends – but often we limit ourselves in terms of professional communities outside of our co-workers.  One of the goals at the National Institute for Social Media (NISM), is to help our community of Social Media Strategists (SMS), connect with each other.  You all have amazing lessons to teach, challenges you may want to overcome, or you may simply want to share a “has this ever happened to you” story.

In order to honor this community, we are kicking off a new series in which we will highlight members of the SMS community! We are calling it “Meet and Greet”.  We will introduce you to one of our SMS professionals and invite you to go online and “greet” them.  Say “Hello”, ask a question – simply connect and build a relationship with another professional in this community.

We are so excited to kick off our first Meet and Greet by featuring NISM’s very own, Teri Kojetin. Teri is the NISM Administrative Services Manager and recently passed her exam and became certified as a Social Media Strategist.  Her career in social media started long before she joined the team at NISM.

Teri, how did you get started in social media?  

I joined Facebook as just a way to keep connected with family and friends. I was on MySpace for a few months and then joined Twitter and Pinterest later. But I didn’t use any of these very much. Then in 2011 I decided I wanted to work from home. A few months previous, my daughter had gotten a job with a social media agency based out of Canada, called ICUC. I worked as a content specialist and later, social media coordinator with them for 3 years. After that I worked as a community manager for another social media agency called, BTC Revolutions for 1½ years. During my time with social media agencies I immersed myself in social media to the point where I got burnt out and decided to seek a job that focused more on administration. As it turned out, through a friendship formed via Twitter Chats and later in real life, Jen Radke, CEO of NISM, invited me to work for them as an Administrative Services Manager. It was the perfect marriage of admin and social media for me and I started in November 2016. I had wanted to take the Social Media Strategist Certification course and exam since ICUC days and when I started at NISM, I was finally able to realize that and passed the exam in April of this year.

You have had some great experiences in the industry, what is it that you love most?

I love the connections that can be developed on social media. Social media gives us the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships and for a business or organization, it can open doors to opportunities, loyalty and growth. It makes any person, place or company readily and quickly accessible.

We couldn’t agree more. Social media has opened so many doors for people to connect with individuals, businesses and cultures in a way that they were not able to do before. You even mentioned how a Twitter chat started the relationship that led to your current role! What a small world.  So now that you have been with NISM for about 8 months, what do you enjoy most about working here?

I really love the balance of admin work and managing the content for our social media platforms and blog. I also love that we offer a high-quality certification that will benefit other professionals in the field. It feels good to encourage others to grow their skills so that they can grow their careers.

You also mentioned wanting to get certified from the time that you were at ICUC, why was it important for you to get certified as a SMS? 

I learned a lot about social media through practice and reading, but I knew that I was lacking in many areas. I wanted to be well-rounded in my practice and knowledge, as well as having that backed up by a certification. Getting the SMS certification gives me the confidence and ability to do my job well.

How has social media, and now certification, helped you in your career?

Social media definitely helped me get my position with BTC and now with NISM. It was through the connections and relationships I made on Twitter Chats that I was able to put out there that I was looking for a job and through those connections was able to get my next jobs. Social media gives you the opportunity to let others in the profession, know what you need and people are always there to help.

Since I am a very new SMS professional, I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to see it help grow my career, but I do have more confidence in my knowledge and ability and when I work on the social media part of my job, I am more intentional in my content creation on our platforms.

We have learned a lot about your career and passion for social media and we thank you for sharing your journey with us.  As we wrap up, will you share something about yourself that not everyone knows. 

Well, since I pretty much put everything about myself out on my social media platforms, I have to dig deep to find something! I don’t put as much about this one out there: I LOVE rocks. I always wanted a big boulder in our yard when we owned a house. I’ve collected rocks since I was a child and still do today. Even my husband understands and found a big, heavy one for me on a recent trip to Duluth!

Teri, we appreciate you kicking off our Meet and Greet series and we wish you continued success and amazing relationships.

Now we will challenge the community to reach out and Greet Teri on your favorite social channel or comment below.  Teri can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.