By Margaret Bliss
“Is our filter live on SnapChat?” Kristin Mirek (B.A. ’91, ’04) asked while running a pre-production meeting for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards, held July 13 in Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. She was assured that it was. “And,” she was informed, “you can play a game on the world lens!”
As senior VP of Nickelodeon Social at Viacom, Mirek (née Rolla) successfully communicates with the tween world; but before achieving that status she earned her bachelor’s degree in history at UCLA and then became a “double Bruin” when she graduated from UCLA Anderson. She serves on the Department of History’s board of advisors.
In a world where “social” means so much, it is not surprising that “doing social well” is far more complicated than posting the coolest Boomerang on Instagram or creating the best stream on Facebook Live. “My role is truly multidisciplinary,” Mirek said. “I am essentially running my own mini network within Nickelodeon.” She describes herself and her team as writers, strategists, storytellers and production experts — all while being charged with creating the roadmap for content creation. “Sixty percent of Nickelodeon’s audience, tweens ages 11 to 13, are on social media, and it’s my job to make online social media a place of ‘heart share.’”
In order to do this, Mirek has to stay up to date on the latest social media platforms and all the features they offer, like the filter and lens created by SnapChat for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards. She and her team focus a lot of their efforts on the use of lenses, Instagram Boomerangs, gifs trending on GIPHY and, of course, loading content on their number one spot to reach tweens: YouTube.
“I felt that I was only an individual contributor but Anderson helped me see the big picture and understand the basic principles of management,” Mirek said of her b-school training. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, she worked with TV Land and was involved in launching the successful social media strategy for their new drama Younger. When asked how her strategy differed from a college-aged audience on TV Land to a tween audience on Nickelodeon she laughed and said that there isn’t much difference in core marketing strategy. However, it’s still crucial to know one’s audience: “Tweens make their own decisions and it’s important to understand their view of the world and the pressure they feel online.” This understanding results in creating content tweens are captivated by so they repost and share ― captivating like a Boomerang of Michael Phelps getting slimed or interactions with sports stars like Olympic gymnast Simone Biles (who was voted 2017’s Favorite Female Athlete) and the cast of Game Shakers on the orange carpet (like the red carpet) during the awards ceremony.
“I like to be my team’s biggest cheerleader, someone that is resourceful,” said Mirek. UCLA Anderson showed her the importance of establishing strong teams, how to give helpful direction and designate specific roles, establish clear goals and, most important, gain confidence as a leader. This was evident in her pre-production meeting, where she led by example, stayed organized gave her team ability to execute effectively. She did this while simultaneously filling the room with laughter and playing the newly released Nickelodeon sports game on SnapChat.
Check out Mirek’s work on Nickelodeon’s social media platforms:
nick.com/kids-choice-sports
instagram.com/nickelodeon
facebook.com/nickelodeon
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