My Second Podcast: A Conversation with Madi Schenk on Social Media for Theatre Companies

I have officially made my second podcast! It was such a fun experience, and I had an incredible guest join me to discuss how to run a professional social media account that promotes a theatre company's season.

Madi Schenk, a junior musical theatre major with a minor in multimedia production, shared her insights into the role of a social media manager. Madi has experience as a social media manager for the Marion Theatre in Marion, Ohio, where she worked over the past summer. Her tasks included designing posters and playbills, making cast announcements, and capturing video and photo content during rehearsals for social media. Madi spoke about how the design aspect of her job may not seem directly related to social media, but it’s a valuable skill. She emphasized that design skills can be used to create eye-catching posts. She also stressed the importance of staying active on personal social media accounts to keep up with trends and relevancy. Her personal strategy involved scrolling through trends and identifying the most frequent ones, which she then used to guide her cast's TikTok promotions.

According to Madi, the best way to entice people to attend shows is by offering sneak peeks of the rehearsal process, introducing the cast, and sharing behind-the-scenes content. She also discussed the importance of tailoring content to specific platforms to reach the right audience. For example, content posted on TikTok may not resonate with older audiences who are more active on Facebook. Madi stays organized using both a physical and digital calendar to track when and what to post and encourages others to use these tools to stay on top of their social media management. Madi’s main goal when she assumes the role of social media manager for our theatre arts program is to restore the ONU Theatre Arts TikTok page and regain the views it once had. It's a great way to attract prospective students and raise awareness about our program.

Overall, Madi and I had a great conversation about all that goes into a social media manager position and I believe she gave us very valuable information. Her insights really show off the knowledge and skills needed for a job such as this one, and I think she will do an amazing job at managing our social media.

If you would like to listen to Madi's thoughts and views on running social media accounts, check out my podcast in the link below!

Many Mumblings With Makayla - Episode 2 - Special Guest Madi Schenk