They have degrees from 10 different colleges + universities:

We asked them, “Which social media platform best personifies you?”

Instagram - I always bring unique flare to the table and try to see the world differently, just as Instagram allows images to capture much more than what lies behind the lens.

Twitter because I love the fact that you’re compelled to be both clever and informative (if you so choose) in 140 characters or less. Short, sweet, and to the point – the way communication should be. Also, it’s my go-to for news and entertainment.

Pinterest personifies me because it is the mecca of ideas, information and creativity. Like Pinterest, I am full of ideas, creativity and hilarious pictures of cats. I am also very organized, just like the boards I keep on my Pinterest account.

Vine. I am able to create, entertain, network, and be myself. Vine allows me to tell compact stories. I only have 6-seconds to make a lasting impression.

Instagram.  It allows me to capture the essence of a moment and share it with my friends. While I don’t have an overwhelming desire to annotate my entire life for the consumption of others, I do take great pleasure in marking and sharing the seminal moments with family and friends.

I love Twitter. I check it frequently and what I love most about this application is that I am able to follow people that inspire me and share what inspires me with others. I think it is a great way to connect with the globe and the potential it has for global change is uncanny.

We asked them to describe their personality + work ethic:

We asked them, “What interests you most about our program?

I am most interested in the opportunity to explore my talent and passion for social media on a deeper level. I believe that I am only scratching the surface of my potential.

Strengthening my social media skills and having the opportunity to challenge myself in a new career path where I am able to share my knowledge and creative juices with local companies.

It’s the first program of its kind and I recognize how valuable strong social media skills will be for my future communications career.

For the last year or so I have been looking for a social media program that would help me take my self-taught social media skills and bring them to a more professional level. I am interested in this specific program because of the real world experience that it offers and the fact that it is being offered by your company. I have followed your company for the last year when I was researching local social media companies and discovered that yours specializes in social media marketing and was started by two women entrepreneurs.

This program is important to me because I feel it will help sharpen my skills and broaden my experiences. As a goal-driven person, I am interested in activities that ultimately help achieve my most immediate goal, securing an entry-level position in the digital marketing industry.

The fact that it will equip me with the skills and confidence to land a highly coveted job in social media as well as the opportunity of combining online, in classroom, and in field training.

We’ll be posting regular updates from our Community Manager Training Program right here on this blog! Follow along, and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, too!

If you’re unfamiliar with our program, here are the fast facts:

Interested in hearing more? Check out our Program Guide and Video.

Interested in sponsoring a session or hiring a Community Manager?
Get in touch with The Social Lights.

From the Newsroom:

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – April 15, 2013 – Do you want to take your social media skills to the next level? Are you ready for in-depth, in-person, comprehensive training that will launch you to your next big gig? Minneapolis-based social media and digital marketing agency The Social Lights® has created the opportunity for you, and is accepting applications for The Social Lights® Community Manager Training & Certification Program until April 22, 2013.

This 6-week accelerated course equips qualified candidates with the knowledge, skills and strategies to excel as full-time Social Media Community Managers. The training blends real client projects with industry speakers, relevant case studies, and competitive social media challenges. Participants will learn to align strategy, create content, develop creative, manage multiple platforms and pages and once, and measure the success of their efforts.

But how will this program be your springboard to a full-time job? In addition to real-world experience and networking, The Social Lights line up contract job placements, onboarding, and ongoing education for their students and employees. Their desire to connect the dots—of social media skill to professional practice, led them to create this program.

“While there are hundreds of social media jobs posted each day across the country, there are very few qualified candidates to fill them” says Martha McCarthy, co-founder and CEO of The Social Lights. She adds, “That’s why we’ve combined our hands-on social media experience with our extreme passion for this flourishing field of communications, to develop The Social Lights® Community Manager Training Program. We aim to fill the social media talent gap and provide value to our students and clients.”

Learn More: http://bit.ly/TSLGuide
Apply:  http://www.thesocial-lights.com/apply/
Hire a Community Manager:  http://bit.ly/WorkWithUs

———————————————————————————————————

Meet Amy Bryant, Director of Community

In 2^nd grade, Amy taught a neighbor friend how to ride a bike. The moment she let go of that pink banana seat and watched her friend peddle away – she was hooked. She knew she had to help others shine. From her collegiate experience as a setter in volleyball, to her motto as a writer: Changing the World, One Word at a Time – Amy sets people and companies up to succeed. Now, she brings her winning ways to The Social Lights as our Director of Community. Professional training as a facilitator, years of experience as a business writer, and online community management for brands big and small make Amy uniquely qualified to help develop the Community Manager Training Program and cultivate our elite group of Community Managers.

How does local “Vine Magician” Nick Mastodon make so many hilarious Vines?
Read On.

1. Minneapolis, eh? Where specifically do you hail from? Do you find the people in this great state to be especially nice?

I grew up in Eden Prairie. I find that people are typically nice here, although you’ll find the passive-aggressive undertones in a lot of people. Go figure.

2. So you like Vine, huh?

Yes, I do. It occupies a lot of my time lately.

3. Why?

I find Vine to be an incredibly invaluable tool for creating and displaying various forms of art, music, and entertainment for the world to see. For myself, it started off as an outlet for my quick-wit and random shots of me in a Teletubby costume. Then, I found my niche with the mash-up Vines. That was when people really started to notice me.

4. When did you start using Vine?

I started using Vine a couple of months ago. I had left my job in technology to pursue something where I could better utilize my creativity.

5. How quickly did you gain your 15,000 followers? 

I gained my followers extremely fast once I started making the mash-up Vines. People really seem to enjoy the nostalgia factor, mixed with their favorite songs of today. I found hashtags to be pretty important. The reason for this, is all about maximum exposure. Once roughly 25 people have ‘liked’ a post in a short amount of time (less than a half-hour or so), it will likely get featured on the Popular section. I believe Vine is now enforcing a 12-hour time limit on this section now, which makes a lot of sense.

No endorsements from anyone. Just a crazy imagination, impeccable timing, and an eye and ear for what works (and what doesn’t). Something unique about me is that I came out of nowhere, and that my sudden success has come from making funny and entertaining Vines. Case in point, I had less than 100 followers on Twitter before I started using Vine. I’m quickly approaching 15,000 followers on Vine, and I was honored to have Emily Pritchard as #14,490!

6. What do you like most about Vine?

You have 6-seconds to tell a story. If you can do something truly entertaining in such a short amount of time, you’re doing something right. It’s the same reason why long-winded jokes have the potential of losing the audiences’ attention.

7. What types of Vines do you find to be most successful?

For me, definitely the mash-up types. I have started to mix things up with mashing up two movies, tv shows, etc. On the surface, it sounds obscure. When in reality, it works.

8. Which of your 491 posts are you most proud of?

It’s a tie between Mary Poppins mashed-up with Soulja Boy, and my 10,000 follower Vine. My fans seem to enjoy when I appear in my Vines. In fact, along with being featured in an article on Mashable, I was also listed as one of “7 Random Hunks to Follow On Vine” in Papermagazine. Super flattering.

9. Do you follow a particular process?

My process isn’t complicated at all. I sit at my computer, look through videos on YouTube, searching for a clip that I can mash-up with an appropriate (or inappropriate) song. I’ll jot down ideas occasionally. Otherwise, it’s usually on the spot. When I find something that seems to work, I’ll have it up on Vine in no time at all.

10. What’s next?

I’m not sure what’s next for me. I have been incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to network with influential and highly creative individuals. Finding a job is a priority at the moment. {Oh hey, Nick Mastodon, you should check out our Social Media Community Manager Training Program, here: http://bit.ly/TheSocialLightsMSP}

Closing Remarks: Vine is here to stay in my opinion. 6-seconds is the average attention span these days anyway! It’s a new platform and people are adopting it at a rapid rate. It’s #1 on the App Store for a reason.

And now, follow Nick Mastodon on Vine!
Warning: your attention will be diverted for way longer than 6-seconds whilst you scroll through his hundreds of vids while literally laughing out loud…

Then, become a fan of his Facebook Page and check out his YouTube Channel.

You can tweet him, too. He usually tweets back.

I was intrigued, so I signed into Klout (which I haven’t done in AGES) to see what this Perk was all about. Sure enough, there it was, waiting for me to claim it.

In two easy steps:

1)   Learn More, which took me to this landing page:

2)   Verify Address

Voila! I had a new Sony Walkman W en route to my mailbox.

But that’s not all….

I wondered if this was for real. Surely, there was a catch. But one email later, I received a confirmation email that my Perk was in fact on the way!
At this point I was stoked and my first instinct was to share with everyone what I just won!

Note: Notice how Klout controls the message here? I did add my own twist to the automated message, but used the same hashtag #FitnessWalkman, tagged the brand @Sony, and followed the hyperlink, which leads people to this landing page:

And then I tracked the hashtag to see how many others had done the same. Social minds think alike:

Based on the social conversations and people’s reaction to the Perk, Klout received great consumer feedback —this may have been one of the most successful KloutPerks campaigns ever!

So now I wait for my Sony Walkman MP3 to arrive. Surely the brand will follow through on the Perk, or they will have an army of backlash on social media…

P.S. The only other Klout Perk I have redeemed was the Red Bulletin Magazine. I received the Perk last April and I look forward to it every month!

 Have you gotten any good Perks? Tell us about it.

The Social Lights® provides top social media talent available for short-term contract, long-term contract, and contract-to-hire placements. Using our proprietary Community Manager Training & Certification Program, we groom the next generation of leaders for coveted social media positions at top client companies.

The Social Lights® Community Manager Training Program provides advanced training to digitally-savvy marketing and communications professionals. Our goal is to equip our trainees with the knowledge and tools to confidently act as the eyes, ears and voice of your company.

The Social Lights® Community Manager Placement Program could be an ideal solution for managing your social media communities. Our program is the only one of its kind—teaching not just social media skills, but the ability to manage several social media platforms on behalf of a high profile brand or collection of brands. This involves adapting to constantly changing technology, responding to real-time questions and concerns from real people, and confidently acting as the liaison between the brand and the people.

Benefits of our Social Media Placement Program:

• -Trusted team to act as a liaison between your brand and your fans, followers, and prospective customers
• -Full-time management of your social media streams (even on nights + weekends, if necessary)
• -Social media software setup, client/legal approval systems
• -Dedicated account representative(s)
• -Short-term or long-term; part-time or full-time placements
• -Contract or contract-to-hire placement options
• -Ongoing training and strategy provided by The Social Lights

This hybrid approach puts the Community Manager(s) in-house without the in-house headaches. Forget about the laborious cycle of recruiting, hiring, training, managing, and adding another employee to the payroll/benefit plans. The talent will remain employees of The Social Lights, LLC. In doing so, The Social Lights will support employee management, ongoing training, overall social media strategy, etc. You get the power of an agency when it’s needed, with the convenience of an in-house team to act as the eyes, ears and voice of your brand.

By working with The Social Lights, companies likes yours can source social media talent more quickly and cost-effectively, determine which online channels provide the best results, and optimize their digital marketing operations.

If you think The Social Lights® Placement Program might be right for you, Introduce Yourself, and we’ll be in touch with you soon!

Our practical, hands-on program will provide trainees not only the knowledge needed to assume responsible roles in social media marketing for organizations, but with the skills required to make sound decisions and set strategic priorities for corporate brands in an ever-changing online marketplace.

Our Community Manager Training & Certification Program is in the classroom, online, and out in the field. It blends real client projects with industry speakers, relevant case studies, and social opportunities spanning a variety of industries and tasks. You’ll learn the best ways to align strategy, create content, develop creative, manage multiple platforms and pages at once, and measure the success of your efforts.

There is no other course like The Social Lights® Community Manager Training & Certification Program that provides in-depth, in-person, comprehensive training in the burgeoning field of social media and digital communications. And there are no courses that are fully vested in their students’ long-term success and go the extra mile to line up job placements for their graduates. As such, The Social Lights® Community Manager Training & Certification Program provides the best of both worlds: an accelerated in-person course in a highly sought-after field and contract job placements, onboarding, and ongoing education for our graduates and employees.

We are extremely excited to be offering The Social Lights® Community Manager Training & Certification Program, and we do hope that you consider this up-and-coming career path.

Emily Pritchard and Martha McCarthy
Founders of The Social Lights®

Download Our Program Guide
 

APPLY

2. Creative use of the Vine app

Behind-the-scenes glimpse at New York Fashion Week:

2 days to the show. vine.co/v/bv5FXdvEXT3 — OscarPRGirl (@OscarPRGirl) February 10, 2013

Check out calvinklein.tumblr.com tomorrow for live @hannelim updates from our W’s F13 runway show: vine.co/v/brBU7xJJrix #NYFW #CKFW #Vine

— Calvin Klein (@CalvinKlein) February 13, 2013

.@orla_kiely Fall 2013 inspired, by one of our favorite film characters, Margot Tenenbaum! vine.co/v/bvQbVWUmZOL #nyfw #fashion

— ModCloth (@ModCloth) February 13, 2013

 

Foodstagramming. On a whole new level:

I’m not allowed to do any more food montages vine.co/v/b6WjM9qtPQ9

— Hannah (@HannieDoo) February 18, 2013

 

Happy valentines #valenvine vine.co/v/brMraJq2aW3

— London Lazerson (@londonlaz) February 14, 2013

3. VineRoulette –  A search engine for Vine videos!

Try it here: http://www.vineroulette.com/ 

Meet Karly Wallack and Martha Kirby

 Karly Wallack

Karly is a student at the University of Minnesota studying Professional Strategic Communication. Her experience coordinating marketing efforts for homecoming, Spring Jam, and other large-scale events at the U of M has sparked her passion for the communications field.

As a social media enthusiast and avid bibliophile, Karly loves the sociability of the web and is inspired by the imaginations of authors who have captured her attention through their work. She loves learning about eccentric ideas, and her Cultural Anthropology minor has motivated her desire to understand the world through the eyes of others.

Outside of her career aspirations, Karly has a weakness for otters and narwhals, and a shameless love for How I Met Your Mother. She is a Minnesota sports fan (despite how many times it may break her heart) and enjoys running through the Twin Cities.

Karly is looking forward to pursuing her goals with The Social Lights. She can’t wait for what’s to come as she kicks off her new position!

Martha Kirby
{Yes, another Martha!}

Martha grew up performing circus arts and dance with Circus Juventas. This experience allowed her to discover her creativity through physical expression at an early age. She has also been a life-long vegetarian with a strong passion for environmental awareness.

When Martha began her academic career at the University of Minnesota she discovered that her love for expression translated well into visual work. She decided to pursue a degree in Strategic Communication – Advertising with minors in Design and Sustainability Studies. She loves to travel and has a bad case of wanderlust.

She is ecstatic about her opportunity to work with The Social Lights and believes that it will be an invaluable learning experience for her future career in the advertising field.

Tweet them a warm welcome – @KarlyWallack + @Martha_Kirby!

Addie Stiff

“As a student majoring in entrepreneurship, I’m very excited to start working and learning with The Social Lights. It’s not only inspiring to hear about their journey as young entrepreneurs, but it’s also an honor to become a part of it. I was enthralled to accept the position of Collegiate Field Specialist!”

Addie declared her major last spring and couldn’t be more happy with her decision. She says, “I have always enjoyed coming up with new business ideas and pitches, so it’s quite perfect.” Outside of school, when she has time, of course, she’s quite the talented artist and DIY-er. Addie says, “This summer I bought a $6.00 desk from Goodwill and gave it a total remodel. My friends always ask me where I bought it and never believe me once I tell them my secret.”

As you can imagine, Addie is a bit addicted to Pinterest and HGTV. She says, “When I’m not occupied with a project, I enjoy doing what most 21 year-olds enjoy doing, going to bars and restaurants! I love checking out new places within the metro-area – I always run into an awesome new beer or tasty burger.”

Addie’s excited to check out many new places with The Social Lights and study how college students are using social media in order to come up with creative collegiate campaigns! We are very excited to have Addie on the team, and it sounds like she’s equally excited, ” I’m pumped for what’s ahead!”

Laura Siirila

Laura is currently a student at the University of Minnesota where she is majoring in Strategic Communication and minoring in Management. She is excited to be working with The Social Lights as a Community Manager because it is a great fit for her career aspirations. Her studies at the U of M have thoroughly prepared her for marketing through social media and helping clients create a positive online presence.

When Laura is not busy with classes, she is working on a craft project, exploring nature or going out with friends.