My name is Emily and I'm MAP's Vice President of Social Media and Marketing. Usually, I'm the one behind the scenes, editing and posting these blogs, so I thought it was about time I wrote one!
You may be wondering how to move up in an organization like MAP. For me, I started out as a Mappie (or volunteer) in my sophomore year. I loved working events and meeting new friends. Weekly Friday MAP meetings were a stress reliever for me. I got to come and laugh and catch up with friends and forget about what was going on outside of that space for awhile. Soon, I got to be really close with some of the members of the Executive Board, and they inspired me to run for a position. I was interviewed and got the job!
At first I was really nervous about doing a job I had barely any experience in. I shadowed the current VP at the time and got more and more comfortable with it. Then I was asked to create this very website! I had no idea how to go about it, but I worked on it for a whole summer and eventually it became what it is today. This job has me doing stuff I never thought I would do, like creating a website, speaking at conferences, and designing creative marketing strategies! I have grown so much personally and professionally from joining MAP and I could not be more proud of what I have accomplished with this organization and my fellow E-board members.
Does it ever seem like social media gets redundant? Personally, one of my biggest goals as VP of Marketing is to make sure that each post is different and unique. Every couple of weeks, the Executive Board and I brainstorm new and creative ideas to promote events. Some ideas are completely out-there, like running around campus in a T-rex Suit, and other ideas end up being successful ways to creatively advertise an event. For example, to promote last year's Film Festival, I created a short Snapchat Movie with a couple of E-board members. It was pretty spur of the moment, but we had many people following along with the story-we even had a commercial break in the middle of it! (If you would like to view this masterpiece, you should be able to find it on MAP's FaceBook page.)
Even though the Officer Application process happens this Fall Semester, the Programmer Application process is taking place when we come back from Winter Break. If you're thinking about running for a position, I encourage you to do so!
Remember to follow us so you can know what's coming up on campus!
Emily Ostrander
VP of Social Media and Marketing