Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul McGroarty. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I think with Higher Education there is a real lack of understanding to change quickly, adapt to the evolving landscape, and take inspiration from other fields. When I came into my role at Montclair State University, my main strategy was how do we begin to think different than what has always been traditional within Higher Education and Higher Ed Marketing? Most of the work I do is inspired from the Creator Economy and the creators in the field of social media who are innovating every day and trying to find new ways to engage and story tell.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into social media in sort of a strange way, basically through performing as a college mascot. My love for performing as a mascot as well as getting my degree in Filmmaking at Montclair State University, lead me starting up and leading a social media presence for the college mascot, Rocky the Red Hawk. I realized very quickly that as much as I love filmmaking and storytelling, film production was just not for me. I found a love for short stories through social media, filming, editing, and photography that helped me hone skills to be successful. This role also introduced me to people who would soon recommend me to my now current role. An over simplification of my role is overseeing and managing Montclair’s flagship social media channels on a daily basis. This includes working with professional photographers and videographers, staff writers, and overseeing and teaching a group of students who provide short-form content to go on those accounts. A lot of the work I do is centered around how to make content from a Higher Education account that is something audiences want to consume and engage with while still supporting and showcasing the brand pillars. That creative process is super fascinating and fun for me. I’m very proud of the student group I have built over the years, teaching and mentoring students on how to create successful content for our pages and giving them to the tools to succeed after graduation.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I tell everyone who I work with that social media is about experimentation and consistency. The experimentation of concepts, styles, etc will never end and you have to be okay with always learning and trying new things. I love learning and I love to experiment, so working in social media was a great fit for me. Overtime you begin to see patterns, you pick up on trends quicker, and you have a pretty good understanding of things that might work/might not work, but there will always be outliers and you’ll always have surprises. I tell people that I am far from knowing everything, but when I throw spaghetti at the wall, I know what sauces are sticky and I know not to use butter. It’s all a game but we have an idea of how it works. In terms of consistency, just by posting on a regular basis you’ll be able to learn what is working and was is not. You can only grow by posting and analyzing the outcomes. Whether you can post once a week or three times a week, find a system that works best for you and won’t burn you out.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I work in a creative field and have quickly realized that most people aren’t always feeling super creative, so learning how to pull that out of people has been super interesting for me. We work in a usually fun space, so I like to keep things usually high energy and positive. That is also just who I am as a person, so trying to extend that over to others isn’t the biggest challenge for me. I think providing incentives is nice, highlight success and praise is good, and always taking moments to pull back from the chaos and appreciate the hard work we all are doing. In our field, it is super easy to just keep chugging along and never look back. I think it’s helpful to reflect every once in a while and remind everyone in the room that we are doing some incredible work and everyone should be proud of their input.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montclairstateu/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@montclairstateu

Image Credits

John J Larosa