Hey, It's Megan
I run a company called Conversations that specializes in online marketing and social media via conversations...
Profile
Summary
Megan has extensive experience as a communications specialist. She began her career as a reporter for the Lafayette Fox News affiliate, the managing editor of The Vermillion, Marketing Director for Acadiana Center for Film and Media, Communications Coordinator at Neighborhoods Partnership Network, and the Community Manager at Launch Pad. Megan graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a BA in Broadcasting in 2008.
Experience
- Nov 2011 - PresentBusiness and Logistics Manager / DigitalWorkflowCLEBusiness and Logistics Manager for Digital Workflow CLE - an accredited continuing education training company for lawyers.
- Jun 2010 - PresentOnline Conversations Strategist / CONVERSATIONS, LLCCONVERSATIONS, LLC helps organizations create an online community around their brand that allows customers to feel as though they are a part of that brand. We offer consulting and management on a full spectrum of social media tools and we create web videos from idea to upload.
- Jul 2010 - Jan 2011Community Manager / Launch Pad Partners, LLCCommunity Manager for Launch Pad: responsible in part for all aspects of business management, including financial, operational and promotional.
- Mar 2010 - Jan 2011iPhone Application Content Writer / Calliope Digital, LLCI'm a contract writer for Calliope Digital, a New Orleans-based company that produced websites and iPhone Applications.
- Jul 2009 - May 2010Communications Coordinator / Neighborhoods Partnership Network* Editor/Layout Artist/Graphic Designer for The Trumpet Magazine
* Send out weekly newsletters and updates to members
* Manage The Trumpet Blog
* Manage NPN's website - Jul 2008 - May 2009Creative Assistant / Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE)* Oversaw all events held at LITE
* Met with clients and potential clients regarding scheduling and
events
* Coordinated staffing for all events
* Organized and moderate bi-monthly team meetings
* Wrote/edited LITE Team Newsletter - Dec 2007 - Jul 2008Marketing Director/Production Assistant / Acadiana Center for Film and Media*Planned and organized events such as screenings, lectures and workshops.
*Wrote and circulated press releases.
*Assisted creative team in generating content.
*Organized Rock the Vote Lafayette rock concert.
*Organized and taught an after school program at the Lafayette Public Library where I worked with high school and junior high students doing videography and video editing. - Jun 2006 - May 2008Managing Editor/Music Columnist / The Vermilion*Started as a staff writer/news editor and was then promoted to managing editor.
*Generated story ideas and content, and kept good communication with staff writers.
*Wrote 1-2 articles/week covering everything from breaking news to features and profiles.
*Wrote a weekly music column called "Scene and Heard" where I discussed new and upcoming albums and interviewed local and national musicians. - Mar 2007 - Jan 2008Reporter / KADN Fox 15*Worked as a "one man band," (shot, wrote and edited my own stories).
*Put together local news packages daily - ranging from breaking news to feature stories.
*Hosted a morning series called "Across Acadiana" where I interviewed local non-profits about what they were doing around the city.
Education
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2004 - 2008University of Louisiana at LafayetteBachelor's in Broadcasting
Additional Information
Posts
I just made a new hire and I couldn’t be more excited…Meet Julia!
She’s a recent New Orleans transplant (originally from Cambridge, MA) who loves social media, fashion, pilates and cooking. She’s got a degree in psychology, an amazing attitude and enjoys exploring the city.
You can follow her on Twitter @JuliaBallard
I like interviewing people - I really really do. It’s the only way to ask all the questions I want without being nosy or overstepping boundaries (for the most part).
Interviewing people for the extremely prestigious position of my new assistant was not only interesting, it was HILARIOUS.
I interviewed a painter who had trouble getting motivated to paint, someone who talked about composting more than their social media skillset and one girl who seemed more qualified to be my boss than vice versa. I even had someone do a monologue (that deserves it’s own post and will be part 4).
Pauline Willeford of Venturable really summed things up nicely in her blog.
Mistakes happen in any entry level position; there’s a learning curve and lots of new things to absorb. I’m prepared for that and am ready train and work with this new hire very closely. Laziness, however, is pretty unforgivable in my book.
So I picked my 11 favorite applicants out of 33 submissions and asked they submit three things: a sample blog entry, three example tweets that they’ve written and three personal references. Easy, right?
Only five people actually responded with the information in a timely manner; so they all got interviews.
We’ll discuss those interviews more in part 3…
I need help. Good, affordable help with impeccable spelling and a great attitude. So I decided to use WorkNola to find my perfect assistant. I did get some really great applicants but I also got things like this:
“My name is [name respectfully edited out] and I am looking for an opportunity. The opportunity that I am looking for is one that is going to allow me to become successful. The opportunity that I am looking for is one that is going to allow me to help you become more successful. That is why I am writing you to express my interest in a position within your company.”
I also got some surprising applicants that ranged from bank tellers to law students to someone with a PhD.
More to come as this debacle unfolds…
I’ve been reading a lot about pros and cons of social media automation lately, which, if you are unfamiliar basically means that you schedule updates like tweets, facebook posts and/or blog posts in advance and have them automatically post at a certain time on a certain day.
This is of course a time-saving method but can remove a lot of the personalization and real-time nowness from what is intended to be a social conversation. After all, how can you have a conversation if you’re not even there?
On the other hand, small businesses and brands who are self-managing social media are busy! But they also want a consistent presence…what is the answer here?
To automate or not to automate?
Excited to announce that starting next Friday, I’ll be a weekly contributor to New Orleans’ tech/startup news site, Silicon Bayou News!
The column will be called “Conversations with Megan” and I’ll be posting mostly “how to” social media stuff will tidbits and tweets that I will pull from actual crowdsourcing scenarios - some of which I hope you’re going to be a part of…so stay tuned - I hope you love it!
Last Friday I hosted my first ever seminar - Social Media and Your Nonprofit…and it went great!
(twitpic by @cshultz)
My slides can be found here: http://slidesha.re/qnFvY5
Of course, Facebook. After I just spent a couple of hours customizing settings for the 20 fan pages I’m an admin of…
Frustrated by the limited number of contacts I could add to my Freshbooks account for the $20/month fee and determined not to upgrade, I’ve been looking for other options.
And no, I will not consider using dusty old archaic stupid Quickbooks.
So I started playing around on the ThriveApp trial as suggested by @pwillefo.
It’s pretty amazing and intuitive as well as affordable - if you don’t care about your billing system having ACCOUNTING FUNCTIONALITY.
So I went ahead and upgraded Freshbooks to the unlimited $30/month since it does have really great reporting features that make end of the year accounting a lot easier. Not to mention it’s really easy to use and reliable.
Is anyone using anything else they’d recommend?
I’ve been a huge fan of Google Reader, especially since I’ve been using it on Flipboard for iPad, but don’t love the web interface. So today I put the question out to Twitter and here are the responses I got:
What are your thoughts?
I’ve been reading a lot of about Square, a company founded by the co-founder of Twitter, that allows anyone to accept credit card payments via mobile device.
The plugin looks like this:
And the setup is pretty quick and straightforward yet seemingly secure.
Tons of small businesses are constantly missing out on sales because they aren’t able to accept credit cards and many people are still unfamiliar with or don’t want to go through the hassle of paypal; I think this is going to be a really great solution but am going to try it out myself before recommending it to clients. Stay tuned!
I’m the type of person who likes to finish what I’ve started - so I’m a little disappointed in myself for quitting 15 coffee shops in 15 days, only a few days in. However, I’ve learned that it’s not really practical to run a growing business out of random coffee shops - especially if you have low tolerance for people talking loudly, random internet failures, bad music and babies.
5 months in to starting my own company, I’m not quite ready for an office, but I did decide to rent a desk at Launch Pad, which, if you are unfamiliar is a creative coworking space on Magazine St. in New Orleans.
I’ve been here for a week now and have been SO much more productive, not to mention how cool it is to have other creatives around to get feedback from and access to conference rooms so that I can look super profesh when meeting with new clients.
Stop by and seem me - Suite 401!!!
Today I’m at Sound Cafe in the Marigny. I had an amazing hummus and cucumber salad but I forgot to take a picture of it because I was so excited to eat it. The vibe is pretty laid back here and the space is super cute.
There’s even this little nook in the wall that I’m not sure what it’s for but I REALLY want to climb in it.
I love working from the Marigny because it feels like no one who lives here has anything to do all day. It’s also generally quiet except for today because apparently kids are out of school. Kids should never be out of school. Ever.
Audio
Updates
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@adeletiblier Best of luck to you (not that you need it)...can't wait to see what you do next!!! #AdeleRocks7 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@irishcajun is it warm? is it super crowded? are you dressed cute?7 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Do I stay warm and wrapped up on the sofa or do I go out and meet @mollyoehmichen and @irishcajun ? #firstworlddecisions7 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@christiangumbo thanks for the heads up - I'll get that fixed asap!7 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Great Event this week @YogaLagniappe @LelaCloud and SO EXCITED ABOUT MY LIFE CLEANSE!
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@dominiqueellis sushi bros.38 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@shercole <3 you:)
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@nolamaven sushi bros. funny thing is I noticed that lady from the ghost whisperer first http://t.co/YJzPIZlw
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Brooke Shields and Wanda Sykes are def at a table across from me right now. @suzyrivera - beating you at celeb siting
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Tonight's goal: inbox 02 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@JuliaBallard oh man that was so awesome too. such a cool event! Excited about our sesh next week:)2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@JuliaBallard I'm like 2x today!! where did you go btw? I ended up winning the @LelaCloud life cleanse!!2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@aflowerinnola truuuuuue story!2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Spotted: john besh @mayorcapdeville
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@craigbayer @chrisvanbuskirk lololololol
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Getting hit on by some creepster who doesn't get that @pwillefo and I am together and @suzyrivera is married http://t.co/riqfSqIV
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@OccasionalWife can't wait!2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@OccasionalWife LOVING the organizing ideas! Please keep those coming - you ladies rock:)2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Met @team_gleason today! Feeling super inspired...2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@FLewis22 I think til 7 or 8:/2 days ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
Updates
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A little late posting this, but check out our mention by Slow Southern Style NOLA in the Uptown Messenger! http://uptownmessenger.com/2011/09/christy-lorio-lets-keep-it-social/4 months ago
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My favorite thing on Twitter is when people post things and think they are sending someone a text...http://bit.ly/qX8lXH4 months ago
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Facebook will be sending you less email: http://bit.ly/mUIwao4 months ago
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Loving the new google calendar appointments feature! You can now book your Conversations consulting slot online: http://ow.ly/6tgfJ4 months ago
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4 months ago
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4 months ago
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Follow us @HeyConversation on Twitter!4 months ago
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We got quoted on The Next Web ! http://tnw.co/nTZv814 months ago
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4 months ago
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So excited - there are only 5 spots left for our Social Media and Your Non-Profit seminar!!! Pass this on if you know someone who'd like to attend! http://nolanonprofitseminar.eventbrite.com/4 months ago
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Best practices for restaurants on FB http://ow.ly/6fBNG4 months ago