Welcome to the why I Social Podcast, the show that brings you conversations with folks who get social media. This podcast is sponsored by the National. Institute for Social Media. Now here's your host, Chris Barrows, and. Welcome to the why I Social podcast. I am your host, Chris Barrows. I'm excited today to be joined by RJ Thompson. Rj, you are very active individual, higher education marketer, adjunct professor, trustee, nonprofit
leader in your own accords as well. I mean, you are out there doing a lot of things. I want to take this time, give you a big welcome to the Wise Social podcast. Thanks, Chris. It's awesome to be here. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to chat with you. Yeah, I'm excited to dig in. And before we kind of get going, I, I gotta, gotta start by saying I was looking and, and we'll, I'll kick off with this today.
We're definitely gonna talk a lot about nonprofit community and that and, and that sort of thing. You know, I was just seeing as we kicked off today, you talking about as an example, an event that you ran with your nonprofit the other night. Last night, as we're recording this, 350 plus community members all coming out, you talked about 250,000 unique Instagram
involved. Like, talk to me a little bit about social, but from the sense of how you've clearly worked into your life outside of what we'll talk about in the professional space, in higher education and other spaces, but how it's. It seems like it's eked its way into everything for you. So you know how they say necessity is the mother of invention or in some cases, innovation? Yeah, that is very much the sort of premise behind the
strategy. So I started a nonprofit organization called Bellevue Forward, where I live in Bellevue, Pennsylvania, which is a few miles north of downtown Pittsburgh. And the whole goal of the organization is economic development focused. So we want to sustain and grow the businesses that we have in the community and then foster and incubate new ones. Despite that and all of the talent of our board and their decades of experience, we are still a
fledgling, scrappy young startup. And so we needed to use our resources wisely. And from, you know, with my being a marketer, I know the things that resonate with people. So not only am I a marketer, I'm a graphic designer. So my work has a high visual polish to it. I'm an artist, so I know
that color imagery resonate. And so taking the best of design, communications, social, PR and merging them into one concentrated plan was Always my goal and the thinking here is we take the best of those worlds, mash them together, build a strategy out of it, and then grow in leaps and bounds as quickly as possible. And the social media contingent of that concern was paramount because we have amazing stories to tell. We have no funding to tell those stories through paid social.
So we need to incentivize high traffic accounts to share our stories on our behalf. And because we are also an economic development organization, we support hundreds of businesses. In fact, there are like over 200 businesses in Bellevue alone, and Bellevue is one square mile. So it's like a ton of businesses in a small amount of space. So we can leverage
their accounts as well. So the strategy there is, let's give all of these stakeholders, be they residents, businesses, other organizations, etc. Let's give them reasons to tell our story by helping us and extrapolating on that, by adding their own version to that story or adding their own facet or element or dimension to that story. So it's an aggregate. And so we have businesses, we had artists, we had
organizations share our base story. And that is Bellevue is a creative community with a powerful potential for supercharging its creative economy. And that resonates. And so every person involved in our sort of network added their own version to that story and it all came back to us. I love that. And again, it's so neat when we can put that stuff to work.
It's something that I've seen from many people in my life who have embraced social at some point or other as something that they know sometimes love. I like to say it can be a love hate relationship. Right. But it is always fascinating. Now, you've had a career certainly where social's been involved. You've, you've been an adjunct instructor, you've been an associate director, you've been in higher education. Anyone on this
podcast say. And I haven't had a lot of higher education since I brought Y social back on, but it is one of my passion points. So always happy to talk to those with a higher ed background. But talk to me a little bit about why higher education, why especially an industry that has gone through some changes and struggles and turmoil and not always been, it's fair to say, an industry that has necessarily been known as, say, the highest paying
industry. Right. But one that I, I've always found at least the passion is real, it's raw. And so I'm interested for you why higher education and why for so long now in your career, are you still part of higher Education.
So fundamentally I believe that every opportunity that a person has in their waking life allows for an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to teach at the, you know, not to like, get like grammar or anything, but like at the end of my life, I'm going to reflect on the quality of my life as it was influenced by other people, you know, other people that I care about, the friendship, friendships that I've made, how all of these things have defined my life over a longitudinal amount of
time, right? And so every moment allows for an opportunity to teach and an opportunity to learn. Now I'm a perpetually curious person, so higher education is perfect for me because I'm always looking for answers, always trying to learn something new. For motivated self starters and ambitious types, higher education is fantastic for that because there is essentially no end. There's no limits to where you can go, right? And so I've spent most of my time in higher education, in the
classroom, teaching. It's only been the past five years where I've been staff side. And that's been a fantastic experience for me as well. But you know, I realized that I have something to offer and my unique perspective on the world, on marketing, on design. You know, I believe that it could help people starting their careers, you know, and really try to use these disciplines as a way to reach their idealized self. So like for example, I've been a graphic designer since I
was 11 years old. I'm 40 now. Graphic design has been my entire life. And you'll appreciate this with your Thor shirt. I got a Captain America action figure from Spider man, the Animated series. And this toy did not come with a shield. And it was 1995. We just got a computer and a printer. It's a big deal. I learned how to use Microsoft paint to make the Captain America shield. Printed it out, cut it out, applied it to cardboard. Boom, I had my
shield. And what I realized with the discipline of design is that design could conceivably solve all of my problems, be they material or physical, or if they are conceptual. And from that point on, it was off to the races. And you know, I want people to be able to use creativity, design, creative problem solving to open up all kinds of
new opportunities for them. And that's one of the reasons why I got into the classroom, because I learned this from an early age and then practiced it for a decade until, you know, well before graduate school and the rest is history. It's also problem solving. I feel like when you're someone who's doing that at a young age, you're already showing problem solving capabilities and that's
an important skill. So I, I, I, I, I look at even my own children and when I see them have moments like that, it, I'm excited for their future, even though I don't know what their career will be. Right. In those moments, when you see them thinking, right. And I, I don't need to tell you, I know you, you've got a chance to do a lot of work also with kids and, and in your community, as
we've talked about. One of the things I want to is the fact that also from a certification perspective, you've got certifications in something that I know you love a lot, which is Legos and the power of legos. Right. Because from a creative perspective, it's one I find LEGO soothing. Personally, in my darkest moments of my life or my most stressful moments, you give me a good LEGO set, I am taken to another space. Right. So I think there's that part to it. But it is a creative outlet for
people of all ages. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that and how those have been worked into a lot of aspects of your life, not just a personal one. Yeah, LEGO can absolutely provide a great catharsis, you know, stress relief. I often, when I'm asked a similar question, I often start with, artists do art because they have to, not because they want to. There's a very clear difference. Artists have a compulsive creative energy they need to
express. Right. And so for, for the, for me having, inhabiting that, you know, trait, I'm always working on something and, and this is another question I get, they're like, people are like, how do you get so much done and still get eight hours of sleep a night? And I have to tell them and it's like I get a little neuroscience y with it. But like, artists do art because
they have to. You and I are talking right now and I'm actively engaged, I'm actively listening, but in the subconscious, I'm working on something else. And that's my default mode. So that by the time this conversation ends, I'm going to be able to go do that thing that I'm subconsciously thinking about. And that's sort of how it happens now with lego. For me, it's a catharsis because I don't do well with boredom. I get anxious, I get
restless. And so LEGO is a good catharsis for me in terms of offsetting stress that comes from boredom. Whereas some people use Lego as a stress reliever from the grind of everyday life. Yeah. And so I use it as a method of essentially stress relief similar to other people, but it's kind of coming at it from a divergent point of view.
And then the certification I got, I'm doing a project with Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology center where they got a grant from the LEGO foundation to fund Lego clubs in schools. And so we had to get this certified training on working with neurodivergent children, autism, adhd, other, you know, other types of neurodivergent traits and challenges. And, you know, my daughter is autistic with adhd. And so that certification had a double application and it was
fantastic. And it also had a triple application. With respect to how I teach artists in the classroom who historically, anecdotally, in my perspective, often have undiagnosed neurodivergent disorders. Yeah. And it's really interesting to me because there's so many things that are undiagnosed. And we've learned that, especially over the last decade, I feel like we've. We've realized how much stuff we didn't realize existed.
Right. Also. Ms. Also sometimes misconstrued as suddenly there's an influx of it, when in reality we just didn't diagnose things. That it was there the whole time. Yeah. It's one of the largest fallacies we see. Unfortunately, that has played out, I feel like, in the last decade. So I think it's great that you
mentioned that. What I love about it is even on LinkedIn as an example, I remember sometime within the past year or two, I remember seeing, just as an example, you had shared the unveiling of the brickview elementary that you had created. Right. And ever. And you had people coming out and seeing this creation. Be able to put a little minifig down. I mean, you
talk about engaging. Engagement's not just a. And then I say this in terms of social media, but it's not just creating a social post, but it's also creating the engagement and the visual that's going to do it. The visual of this elementary. Which is the recreation, I'm assuming, of the. The. The building itself. Yeah. When I remember seeing it, because it's been a bit. But it drew me in and I wanted to click. So there you go.
You've got to click into a link. If you share something that's part of a social process, it's having the eye for what is going to visually strike someone's mind and make them. Dick. Exactly. Attention is the money these days and attention is hard to pull in world with so many pretty blinking lights. That's, that's for sure. Yeah, you can have the tactics, you know, okay, here's how we're going to create this social campaign. Here's how it's going
to spread throughout our network. We can pull all the levers and whatever, we know how to do that, but it's the content, you know, and the form of that content that makes it original and unique. There's a quote from long since past legendary advertiser Bill Bernbach from DDB and, and I'm paraphrasing it, but he basically said that the truth isn't the truth unless you say it in a fresh, original and creative way. And so that's sort of my philosophy with
the content that I seek to create. I want to tell you something that you already know inherently, immersively, deep down, the truth, as it were. But I want to tell it to you in a way that is fresh, original and creative. Another way for you to process it. And if you're able to do that, you, the resonance is immediate because you know it's the truth. You just haven't seen that truth from that perspective before. So in the case of like the, the LEGO elementary school, like everyone
has a fond memory of Lego. Whether you are a die hard builder or not, you have something everyone has the, the memory of building with Lego and what that unlocks not only in your brain when your synapses are firing, but the pride that you get from something that you made. Even if to you it looks exactly what you referenced, but to someone else it doesn't, that's fine. That's the power of Lego. Like it doesn't matter what you create, it's the fact that you make things that's the best,
that's awesome. And so pulling those emotional touch points and then pushing that through an original, creative and fresh lens creates the appeal and thusly the resonance and in your case the memory. Yeah, I love that. And I, I want to take a brief moment here just because I kind of organically want to continue this conversation and, and talk a little about community as well. Sure. And, but with that I do have to make sure I take a very important moment to talk about the National Institute for
Social Media. The National Institute for Social Media, sponsor of the this podcast, to whom I am grateful, empowers marketing professionals to elevate their social media expertise through industry recognized certification. The institute provides comprehensive training designed to build confidence, credibility and credentials while fostering a global community of practice and collaboration among social media professionals.
Please learn more about how you can advance your career@nismonline.org I know you obviously are very familiar with the National Institution for Social Media, rj, so I want to make sure I give them a big thanks. And again, they're their partnership. Podcast has been it. It's been a true joy for me. I make all of my students apply for the Social Media Strategist Scholarship. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's such a. That is one thing that people can go check out lots of webinars, all these great
things. Our last actually, the last guest on my podcast, prior to you, just ran a webinar over there about partnering with AI. Very interesting topic. I want to talk to you a little bit more about community before we get into five favorites. So let me, let me talk to you about taking that lead, though, as someone to be a be as a trustee. Right. Or whether it be as the leader of say, the nonprofit side of things, leading the coalition, if it may, because obviously there's you're.
It's more than one person who makes all that happen. Right. But as you said, it's not necessarily a large group. And in a small town, very often, as I'm in a small town too, it's 100 or 150 people who make everything else in the town go. I've learned. So I'm very interested in what your experience has been in terms of how you got involved and why it has become so important to you to be involved. And I know it's not just not being bored. I know it's a lot more than that.
You know, I think you'll appreciate this. I would say my first initial response to this is if I have the time, the talent and the treasure to make a difference for the people that I care about and the people that my people care about, then I, I personally believe I have a responsibility to act accordingly. And, and that is a very, I think, in a sense, an altruistic perspective that is really empowered by a few very specific factors in my life.
The first of which is I learned from a very early age that life is very fleeting and you have a very specific set of skills and talents and perspectives that culminate in a purpose. And if you're able to express that purpose, even if minimally, you should do so because that will lead toward a life well lived. I'm a person that was always told as I have a I have a disease called cystic fibrosis, and it is a child Killing disease. So I didn't necessarily think I'd make 40.
Right. And so I've spent my time, my effort, my talent on doing work for other people because it incites more work and more challenge, specifically more challenge. So that way I can keep improving what I'm doing and have pride in the work that I do. And you know, I've spent time in corporate advertising. I know how hollow that can be in soulless. And you know, coming back to that higher ed piece, like, I like making things for people that will have a profound and transformative
benefit. And I think that there's a responsibility to that, especially if you believe in that interaction wholeheartedly. And so that is the sort of modus operandi of practically. It's the interwoven fabric, the connective tissue amongst all of the things that I do. You know, if you seem to be, be really. And if you believe in that, really believe in it. And what will happen is you're going to grow by leaps
and bounds. And so like, one thing I tell like young professionals or my students that, you know, come into the situation of like, well, I applied for this job, I'm fresh out of school, not even a year of experience, but they want two years of experience. I say to them, I can get you three years of experience in one. You might not sleep
a lot, but you'll get it. And you'll be able to really redefine who you are or who you thought you were or could be by putting yourself in these situations where you have to create things for other people or create experiences or have some responsibility to that. And I got involved in nonprofit work extremely early and I saw the transformative value of the impact that I created and I felt the impact that those interactions had on me. And so that's the exchange.
Yeah. And it's always important to me to note, I feel like you can create those experiences. And that is the big difference I find with a lot of people who've succeeded, sometimes you have to create an experience. I always, always told the story when I told, I didn't, was told I didn't have enough management experience. And I went out and I got to run a conference for five
years. And when someone asked if I had management experience, I was able to say, yeah, I ran a conference for five years with a staff of eight to 10 plus people. So where I didn't have it, you find it. You create the opportunities for yourself. Yes. And so the operative thinking there is, instead of thinking, what does it cost me? It's what Do I earn from that experience? Yeah, most people are like, well, I can't. I don't have
the time for that. Or like, that's not going to get me to where I need to go. Well, you know, you're able to let it all if you're a marketer. Right. It all depends on how you leverage that experience in your overall story. Yeah. And, you know, there's so much I could talk to you about, but it's very important that I get to five Favorites and learn some. Let's talk about some fun things. But we always start five Favorites out with the same question, which is, what is your favorite social network?
Instagram, in particular, I spend a lot of time on the Discover page will go by where I don't even look at the people that I follow. I'm just on the discovery page. Just maybe that's hitting the dopamine. Right. But I love just having random things thrown at me. And I'm trying to understand how the algorithm presents me content based on the interests. Like if I like something or if I view it for 30 seconds or if I bookmark it, how does that influence what is being shown to me? Randomly?
Seemingly randomly. So I'd say Instagram. Do you have any favorite tools that you use? Be it for time management, be it for. It could be. For. It could be an app, it could be, you know, could be learning a new language. But anything that stands out, that's just a favorite thing that is part of your daily life. So I'm, I'm really simple with, with management. The first part is I use notes, just like a simple notepad or notes app, and I type everything out. The second part is I use Outlook and I
will email myself or I'll use. I'll keep emails unread to know that those are to do items. And then the third thing is, I think it was maybe J.P. morgan back in the frontier time, the 1800s, who said, you know, if you want to get something done consistently, make a list, do the list. And so I have a notebook. Love it. And the memory of writing, that helps me remember that something needs done. Yeah. No, And I. And there's science behind that as well. I gotta ask, I
gotta ask, what is your. And you've kind of answered a little bit. But if you had to pick a favorite part about teaching, what would it be? That's a wonderful question. I think it's when my students have the epiphany that what they're doing is either what they believe they were meant to do, or they discover empowerment through what they're doing, through design, through marketing, whatever. Because once you discover those things about yourself,
the opportunities are endless. The ambition will flow forever. Love it. But not everyone gets that. No, but that is certainly rewarding. And I can just say I've had some students come back to me, even from places where I just don't teach you, where I say, oh, I, you know, we miss you here at the school, where maybe it's because they just didn't do adjuncts anymore. They, you know, whatever the reason, I got to say, and
I got a good one for the last one. I've got one very specific for you, but I generally tend to ask, do you have a favorite TV show or movie? Anything that stands out and favorite is hard. So I always feel free to generalize and could be in the moment, but TV show or movie that just, you know, right now, top of mind. I got it. And it never changes. It's. It's a mixture of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Arrested Development or Parks and Recreation. Oh, you can't go wrong there. You can't
go wrong. It's like. That's the trifecta. It's perfect. Oh, yeah. I love it. Last certainly not least, I know you do amazing construction builds, but do you have a favorite LEGO set that you've seen over the years that had had the instruction manual? Here's how you build it. This is like, because, for example, I know there's some that look great, but the build is in fun. The Captain America shield build. Incredibly boring. It's cool what it looks like at the end. Right.
But do you have a favorite build that maybe is one of those specific. Here's. It is in the box instructions. One of those. Thor's Hammer, in no particular order, Thor's hammer, Kevin McAllister's home from Home Alone, and Dr. Strange's sanctum sanctorum. And then all of the, like, race cars. The. The Speed Champion sets. I love making LEGO cars. Well, I. I love all that. I will say my. I wasn't asked, but I'll tell you that my favorite will still be the Ghostbusters house. That thing.
Oh, yes, the Ghostbusters house. That's my fifth one. Yeah, I have that downstairs. That one was a lot of fun. But I have more sentiment over Marvel than I do Ghostbusters, so. I do, too. That build was just. Before you go. Really important question, because it's why I social. Can I ask you an important question, rj? Why do you social? To connect. To connect. With other people, build friendships and ideally create long lasting friendships just
via the screen. That's why Social I'm tired of the endless news cycles and all the chaos in the world. I just want to see what cool people are doing, what cool things cool people are doing. Absolutely love it. And I want to thank you for taking time to be on YA Social with me. I want to thank everyone for listening. Please go ahead, check. Make sure you do. Check out my sponsor, the National Institute for Social Media. And if you haven't also subscribed to the Y Social newsletter, which comes
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