Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Christianne Harder, originally from San Francisco, is in her third year at Notre Dame working as the social media manager for Fighting Irish Digital Media. Blue & Gold Illustrated: What type of work did you do in social media prior to coming to Notre Dame? Harder: "I've been working col- lege football for about four years. I did Stanford, Washington and Western Kentucky dealing with operations and recruiting. … That's how I ended up at Notre Dame. "I didn't have a connection at Notre Dame until I got here, so I'm creating that brand voice and the awareness of the traditions, and how the university operates and how the athletic department operates. To be an out- sider, it's actually easier to do because you see the best of the best and how to communicate that." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What's an average day in your position? Harder: "Usually in the morning, I call it social me- dia Tetris. I determine, based on the entire day's content, what needs to go up. We like to time the slots and everything like that. "On game day, we typically have many games hap- pening at the same time. You have to figure out which game is going to be pushed out live on the social media channels, which ones we need to tell people about. You don't want to overwhelm people." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the most challeng- ing aspect of the job? Harder: "To make sure that everybody's being heard. You have a brand, for example, like Coke. Coke is a singular entity so all of their posts are about get- ting people to be aware of Coke. I conversely have 26 individual brands. "You want to make sure every- body is getting enough attention for what they're doing and make sure everyone's needs are be- ing met, and that there's a nice [amount] of content. … If you want to just care about football, follow the football account. "If you care about what all of our student-athletes are doing, follow- ing @FightingIrish and you'll get a good collection of everything. That's inherently challenging." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the most rewarding part of the job? Harder: "Our student-athletes. I love how much they support each other. Before I came here, there were some people on Twitter. Now they're all on Twitter and talk to each other on Twitter. "There's a really nice relationship between people and they're supportive of each other, and just talking to each other." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What are some of the tricks of the position you've learned since coming to Notre Dame? Harder: "Social media managers at the university are all really close. We really talk to each other and are good about communicating about the things go- ing on with different departments. We're constantly talking about how we can cross promote each other. "We work really well together and make sure we're promoting each other in ways that are appropriate to the channels. It's really great to have that level of coordination." — Andrew Owens Five Questions With … SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER CHRISTIANNE HARDER Harder makes sure that all 26 Fighting Irish athletic teams get their due on social media. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS