CJ Lake can recall the exact moment she realized she could make a career out of social media.
"I was sitting on the front porch of Preston right here on campus in one of the rocking chairs browsing my Twitter timeline," said USC's social media strategist. Lake was drawn in by a Tiffany and Co. ad, and before she knew it she had made an impulse buy.
"After I made the purchase, I closed that tab and landed back in my Twitter timeline, right back on the tweet that got me through that sales funnel."
That "ah-ha moment" set in motion a sequence of events that would lead Lake right back to her alma mater, where she has made a career for herself as a social media guru since March of 2016.
"There was no stopping after that. I began then relentlessly pursuing opportunities in professional social media management," she said.
Since Lake took over, USC's online brand has been on the rise. A 2017 report on the social media accounts of institutions of higher education ranked the university No. 1 in Twitter engagement. The same report ranked USC second overall across all social media, a satisfying statistic for Melissa Spring, USC's director of owned media.
"In the ever-changing media landscape, we must utilize our owned channels to get our messages out and package our stories in a way our audiences can understand, engage with and even share on our behalf," Spring said. And Lake plays a critical role in meeting that challenge.
"We recognized a need to have someone solely manage the strategy, execution and response on social media a few years ago and she was the perfect fit," Spring explained. "CJ has a love for our University and our brand and you can hear her passion in everything she posts or responds to. This role is imperative to the success of us effectively telling our stories and engaging with our audiences."
Lake describes herself as a "dot connector" within the university's overall communications apparatus, and she strives to create diverse feeds of content tailored to different platforms.
"There’s so much happening at this university. So much that there’s no way that we can cover everything on our university-level social media pages," she said. "I’m constantly on the lookout for our stories that I know our audiences on our social platforms will love. Sometimes, some stories work for some platforms that don’t work for others. A big part of my job is understanding those differences."
Still, Lake cherishes opportunities for person-to-person communication.
"Engaging with the university's fans is probably my favorite part of my job," she said. "There is so much intrinsic love for this place that a lot of people express on social media and I want our accounts to be known as a place where people can go to talk about us and have us talk back."
Indeed, despite tweets that have garnered national attention for their clever savagery and high rankings, Lake's favorite memory is playing a role in getting a USC student to commit to Carolina.
"A newly-admitted high-schooler tweeted us a photo of three acceptance packages," she described. "One from us, one from CofC and one from Clemson. The tweet said “first school to tweet me back is the one I’m sending my enrollment deposit to."
USC was the first to reply.
"The next thing she tweeted was a screenshot of the confirmation page you get after you pay your enrollment deposit. So that was neat," she said.
One doesn't have to spend much time around Lake to see the depth of her passion for her work, but the position is far from easy.
"It’s a lot of pressure! I’m never more than a few touches away from speaking for a globally-renowned brand. When we speak online, a lot of people are listening," she acknowledged. "The pressure of that knowledge is never lost on me. I find myself reading even our shortest posts many dozens of times occasionally."
Lake is on duty for various high profile events, from football games to commencement, eating up a great deal of her time.
"This also isn’t a 9-5 gig," she said, "so that has its challenges at times, as well."
Students like fifth-year environmental studies student Taylor Quick enjoy Lake's work and appreciate how it benefits the university.
"It's really clever, I think, a lot of funny and interactive type stuff," she said. "[Social media] is a really big part of everyday life for our students."