Carlos Heredia - Marketer of the Year Nomination

Hello,

My name is Carlos Heredia, and I am the Marketing Director for Tower, the student newspaper of The Masters School.

As Marketing Director, I work to set goals for the paper’s online presence, audience engagement, and growth, along with overseeing the positions of Web Editor (Xavier Rolston) and Social Media Manager (Lydia Ettinger and Sandra Liu). I train the Web Editor and both Social Media Managers throughout the entire year so that the paper can continue to effectively engage on these platforms after my graduation.

One of my key focuses this year was our website, and I am proud to share that it has experienced remarkable success. In the 2022-2023 school year, we achieved a 34% increase in page views compared to the previous year. We have grown so much that this year’s page views alone account for 25% of our total page views since the site first went online in 2014.

Additionally, our website received the “2022 Best High School Newspaper Website" award from the New York Press Association. We have also received SNO Distinguished Sites recognition for getting the Best of SNO, Audience Engagement, Multimedia, Story Page Excellence, Continuous Coverage, and Site Excellence badges. 

Our social media presence has also flourished. This year’s main focus was Instagram, which easily connects us with our target demographic of students while still reaching faculty, parents, and younger alumni. With an emphasis on active posting, on-campus promotions (announcements during school meetings, QR codes scattered around, active presence on campus, etc.), and the implementation of reels to boost visibility and shares, we’ve gained 283 new Instagram followers since September 2022, marking a 26.6% increase in our follower count. We are currently at 1,344 followers and counting. In that same time period, the Instagram account has also reached 23,850 people, accounting for 59% of our reach in the past 3 years (since May 2020).

Throughout this journey, I’ve learned a lot about the importance of effective communication and coordination. Collaboration has been vital to our achievements. I have worked closely with the Web Editor on website maintenance and site badges. Communication was especially key when working with our social media managers to ensure we had four weeks worth of daily posts for the Audience Engagement badge. 

These experiences have deepened my understanding of marketing strategies and their ability to drive growth and engagement. 

Next year we hope to not only continue growing but also ramp up on alumni engagement. We’ve laid some of the groundwork for that growth this year by showing up to alumni reunions and events to promote the newspaper and boost our following on Facebook. Additionally, I’ve done research on how to better use Meta Business Suite in advertising towards older women, since The Masters School was an all-girls institution until the mid-90s.

I believe I’ve played an important role in ensuring the continued success of our publication, and would be honored if I were to receive this award. Thank you for considering my nomination.

Sincerely,

Carlos Heredia