Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Social media has become such an integral part of our lives. We love to post, tweet, snap and hashtag every moment of our day and share with friends, family and followers. As a titleholder, however, your social media has a greater impact than others. Everything you do is judged by a different standard as you serve as a role model for your outer community. Heres some key tips!

What Should Your Social Media Accounts Look Like as a Titleholder? 

Many pageant titleholders create separate social media accounts for the duration of their reign, or, now, as social media become more prevalent, some titles come with an already established social media page and set of accounts. While having a separate account for your reign can help increase brand awareness of the pageant, this does not mean that your personal account has escaped the judges eye. Your personal social media account should be reflective of you as a titleholder just as much as your titleholder account.

Privacy
Just because your account is private doesn't mean it can't be viewed. The pageant world is small along with the college world. You never know who knows who and how that could impact your pageant future. 

Avoid posting pictures of partying, drinking, extremely controversial issues or behavior that some may find inappropriate. While these are things to avoid, you should stay true to yourself. Social media is not about creating a perfect world and image, its about being you and sharing that with your followers. 

 “Just as we encourage them to be their true selves during their reign, we encourage them to have their own voice on social media,” said Josh Randle, Chief operating officer for the Miss America Organization, in an interview with the Press of Atlantic City in 2016. 

Keep it Clean

 Coming back to the idea of keeping your social media clean. Let's do some Spring Cleaning!
Go back to the beginning of all of your social media accounts and comb through them.  Even they re from your pre pageant era, it is still important to go and take a look at them. Ask yourself: is the appropriate, is this how I want to be viewed?
"Clean” your social media accounts before taking on the position of a titleholder so you don't run into any problems. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Think: what would Miss America do? 

Although you may only be a local titleholder, or even just considering pageantry, there is no time like the present to make sure your social media is sending the right message. 

Build a Brand People Can stand Behind 

 Social media is a tool used to promote the system and beliefs of the pageant that you represent. Most importantly, it is brand recognition for yourself as well as the pageant. Your social media accounts should reflect the brand you have been chosen to represent. As a titleholder, you have to be conscious of the items you post and how they represent the system as a whole. Make sure that your personal brand, the pageant’s brand and the brand messages you convey via social media are consistent. 

Going Forward 

 Social media has become a huge part of pageantry and sometimes is even mentioned in the titleholder contract. As a titleholder or a potential titleholder, it is important that your social media look accordingly. As you move forward in your reign, be sure that your social media align with who you are. Monitor your social media closely and make sure they portray a positive image at all time. Although you may not always be a titleholder, it is likely that society will always view you as one, so make sure your social media accounts are a reflection of that!