With over two decades of experience across diverse media landscapes, Katie McKiever is the storyteller your brand needs. Her master’s degree in English and a versatile career spanning radio, print, broadcast news, magazine, digital, and social media make her an industry luminary.
Katie’s expertise shines through in her management of social media teams for multi-million and billion-dollar organizations, consistently delivering outstanding results. She’s not just recognized locally but featured on global platforms like Daily Mail, NPR Here & Now and the BBC.
Awards? She’s got’em, including a national Content Marketing and Brand Journalism accolade from Ragan Communications. Katie’s impact extends to her role as a social media manager for over twelve years, training countless individuals in personal branding and social media strategy. Her clients describe the experience as “life-changing.”
Katie’s social media prowess is proven, with countless posts generating millions in earned media value. She’s also the force behind engaging discussions featuring leaders from major companies like Square, Starbucks, and Sony. And if that’s not enough, don’t miss her weekly newsletter “Social Media News to Use“.
Get ready to uncover the secrets behind Katie’s incredible journey!
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started in your field?
I have an undergrad and graduate degree in English. And at the time, there was a, there was no social media and I kind of danced around communications throughout my entire professional careers, editing, radio, magazine, print, digital marketing, PR elements, digital lot of different things, all income media communication spaces. And then when social media came around, I was in a commercial real estate consulting company, Facebook pages became a thing. And I was like, ding, ding, ding, this is it. Social media is I love it, I want more of it.
I don’t know how I can incorporate this into my career. But I really want to, and so I started running the Facebook page of the company I was at, I was in a sales and marketing position at the time there and really took off on social media as part of my role and loved it. And that was really when it became a thing. And it became a professional opportunity that wasn’t really around.
You know, I’m still in Charlotte, North Carolina, I was in Charlotte, North Carolina at the time as well. And there were there were that many people doing social media was always, you know, under a different, you know, umbrella of a role, either marketing, or communications role. But I really, really wanted to get around more people who did social media, I didn’t know anybody else in the field at the time. And I just gravitated toward a found other people who are doing it. And I was like, I want this to be my role. I want social media to be my title. So I just kept going in that direction and building my skills and building my network and building up to then ultimately have some roles that had a social media title.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?
Well, I think it’s very commonplace, especially in social media, and communications and marketing to just be stretched, then, teams are small, even in large organizations, teams, or small social media is a lot of times a one person. thing. I mean, to have a social media team, especially when I was coming up in, you know, building into social media roles and making my way.
I mean, there were no social media teams or social media person. And then yeah, I had opportunities to have other people on my team, who had some roles that were social media related, but that wasn’t maybe their full size, focus, or was, but they were it was always a small team, regardless, always a small team if there was a team. So it’s social media was always a part of any strategy. And you know, anything I touched communications, marketing, social media had a large element, but the team, you know, people wanted social involved in all of these opportunities within organization, but there’s only so much a small team can do.
So it’s really been very, very true to what your team can do. Very true to what you can do and clearly communicating where you can help and where you can’t help or where social makes sense, or where it can’t make sense. Just given so many factors.
I mean, you’re, you’re running up against time, you’re running up against resources and hands on OPT opportunities. So that that’s always the issue with this. This is the biggest challenge professionally, with being in social media is everybody wants a piece of it. But there’s only so much that a social media, individual or social media team can do.
What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career, and how have they influenced your approach to leadership?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is not trusting and how much I know. And being a, you know, quote, unquote, people pleaser, and not feeling as if I can, you know, stand and my expertise. And that has been a learning that has really catapulted my recent success and being able to build out my own business and be an entrepreneur because I, you know, I didn’t feel like I could stand in what I knew. And I held deep expertise and deep experience, and I didn’t truly embrace that, and even really believe in it. And it’s coming to have understanding that and feeling strong in that. And how it influences my approach to leadership is I want to model that for other people, especially women, especially women who are in you know, business roles, corporate roles, that you too, can really own your stuff. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And you can even be a better business person, you can really position yourself really well and people will respect it. And it will take you further than if you would just if you do choose to just please everybody and kind of you know molded into everybody else’s expectations when you can hold your own. It’s truly something to be respected, and I hope I can model that for others.
One thing that people don’t know about you and not listed on your LinkedIn profile?
I would probably say that I was a cheerleader growing up, but also that I taught cheerleading for 10 years. And I loved it because it gave me the ability to you know, teach kids little girls from five years old to 18 years old, and you know, be a role model for them. And also, you know, just do something that I loved, and teach it and have that camaraderie and that team spirit and the ability to be loud and dance and have fun and have group goals and compete just had all the elements, things that I love, and that’s why I love chili and I love the ability to teach her for so long.
What advice would you give to young professionals or entrepreneurs who are just starting out in your field?
Really finding what you love about this, whether it’s social media or content creation, or you know, just communicating a message connecting with, I mean, social media has just grown into such a hole.
Just so many facets are so many avenues you can go down, you can go down the paid route, paid social, there’s just opportunity upon opportunity to really be expert in even a sub subgroup of social media and finding out what that is, what is it that you love? What is it that you are driven by and not that you have to only hold yourself to that or only do that but there are so many levels of opportunity within social media that you know, big businesses, small businesses respect and want and need, that you can really, you know, kind of carve out your own way but be being intentional about and thinking, why, you know, why is this something that I’m drawn to? Or why is this one element of it something I’m drawn to what is it and, and peeling that back, so you can further deepen your understanding of it and learning about it and education and just becoming the better and better, you know, practitioner of that it can it just really can build up your ability to be known. As you know, the go to for that thing, or those things. I think it’s really exciting. It’s something that I didn’t learn for a long time. So I would love if other people got the opportunity to learn that younger in their professional careers.
Your journey from diverse communication roles to becoming a prominent figure in the realm of social media and communications is truly inspiring.
You’ve eloquently highlighted the challenges faced in managing small teams with vast demands in the ever-evolving social media landscape. Your emphasis on effective communication, prioritization, and managing expectations is invaluable.
Your personal growth journey is particularly touching, as you’ve candidly shared your transformation from a “people pleaser” to a confident expert. Your determination to stand firmly in your expertise and be a role model for others, especially women, is commendable.
Thank you, Katie, for your time, wisdom, and the inspiration you’ve generously shared. Your journey is a beacon of hope and motivation for us all.
If you are a leader seeking to be featured in VeryBriefly’s LEADERS section, please submit your profile HERE.
