In a new episode of the ‘All the Social Ladies’ podcast, we speak with Kate Rados, VP of Community Development at Crown, a division of Penguin Random House. I was so happy to talk to her because I found her story to be completely fascinating – not just because of how she builds communities and helps empowers authors to share their stories through digital storytelling, but because of the story of her career and how she used her complete and total fearlessness to basically land every job she ever wanted. We could all learn a lot from her.
Key Topics
How Kate Got to Where She Is Today
Pushing Through The Fear
Measuring Social Media Performance
Key Answers
How did you push past the fear when taking on bigger and bigger challenges?
“As women, we have these amazing skill sets that we hone; we’re very inquisitive as professional women. We want to learn, we want to keep growing but because we’re pushing, we’re not always taking the moment to check ourselves. Then the imposter syndrome hits you. I try to own that moment and accept that I’m having a little bit of self doubt, but then you have to plough through. I will always try things – I never want to look back and have any regret.”
Tell me more about being the VP of Community Development at Crown Publishing.
“I’m in charge of everything that beats at Crown – everything from websites, to email marketing, to social media to consumer analysis. I run a team of 14 incredible people. We run all of the vertical communities for Crown Publishing and also ensure that every single author and title has some sort of social media presence. Our authors use social to really connect with their readers – it’s more than just sharing their book. They engage in ongoing conversations and will even ask their readers for advice. Readers really crave a sense of community. When you think about what you’re going to read next, you’ve probably heard it from a friend.”
Key Soundbites
– “In times of self-doubt, remember to always own that moment. Feel the fear, push through and do it anyway.”
– “We’re prepared to be surprised by anything related to social media. We aim to stay agile so we can hop on new trends when we need to.”
– “The world is full of content and as publishers, we have the amazing opportunity to dig into the depths of these stories and create wonderful and unique moments on social media.”
[Source: Social media today]
