Today we’d like to introduce you to McKenna Rieger.
Hi McKenna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is McKenna; I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but have lived in Salt Lake City, UT for the past few years. I am an outdoor enthusiast and weekend warrior that loves creating a community through social media! I enjoy sharing my adventures online and connecting with other like-minded individuals. Some of my interests include the outdoors (skiing/snowboarding, rock climbing, hiking…etc.) and traveling!
I’ve always loved social media, ever since I created my Facebook profile back in 2009 time frame. I’ve loved sharing photos and pieces of my life with my friends and family. In college, I decided that social media and general communications was a fit for my future and began down the path of social media marketing. At the time, I only thought of my channels as a way to connect with existing friends/family, while managing accounts for brands as internships as I worked through my college years.
Post-graduation, I landed a job managing social media for a company and I was able to learn by trial and error how to grow an account and create engaging content for a specific audience. It was around this time that I started to think of my social media channels (such as Instagram) as a way to connect with new creators online and share some of my favorite locations and brands.
Through these channels, I’ve met some amazing friends that have truly inspired me to take social media more seriously and work towards monetizing my content online. Professionally, I made the switch to the paid social media side, running advertisements on social channels, which has been an excellent way to test content to figure out what is most engaging to our audience and shift towards a ROAS mindset. I love the world of social media and constantly learning new things and keeping up with change.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
With the constant change in the world of social media, it’s never easy and I’m always on my toes! I rely on creators I follow to learn and it’s really about trial and error. You need to have an open mind and a love for learning to make it work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Currently, I am the Paid Social Specialist for Traeger Grills, the wood-pellet smokers, based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. I support our Paid Social Manager in running advertisements on social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and TikTok. I am responsible for finding/requesting new ad creative and testing ads on a frequent basis. We work together to evaluate the success of ads and collaborate with the Traeger creative team to make the most engaging ads. I’ve learned so much about paid social and how it works in conjunction with other display/digital advertising for a brand. I think to be successful in this field, you need to have an open mind and a desire to learn. Social media is constantly changing and it’s important to stay up to date to better execute on the platforms.
What does success mean to you?
Success depends on how you define it. To me, if I’ve met or exceeded the expectations set with my manager, I consider that a success! Grasping new concepts or having an ad that performs better than the rest is a success in my current role. Obviously selling grills in my position is a success! In my personal life, I don’t think of anything as a failure, rather a learning opportunity to try and succeed the next time. I try a lot of new activities and plan a lot of trips for my family, so there’s a lot of learning along the way.
Contact Info:
- Email: rieger.mckenna@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.thelocaladventurer.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckennarieger/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mckenna.rieger
- Other: https://linktr.ee/mckennarieger
Image Credits
Jenna Roden
