Deez Interviews: Meet the Snapchat maestro with a direct line to the news consumers of tomorrow
In light of technical problems on Friday, you get TWO Deez Interviews this week! Here's the first: featuring renowned Snapchat maestro (maestra?) Julia Bush on topsnaps, mansplaining doubters & Keeping Up With The Kool Teens:
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The interviewee: Julia Bush (follow @jooliaboosh on Insta or @jabush on Snapchat)
The current job: Snapchat Channel Manager at WIRED magazine
The hustle: In macro terms? Getting #Content to the #Teens. In micro terms, I manage the day-to-day production of a twice-a-week Snapchat Discover channel, aka lots of spreadsheets and photo rights and ever-changing production schedules (made by me, then edited by me, then entirely ignored by me because “it was a wild week.”). It’s a team of four, so we’re all pretty scrappy—I co-write all the copy for the channel, ideate edition themes and edit absolutely every word in the edition within an inch of its life.
What is the biggest misconception that people have of creating content for Snapchat?
There are a few kinds of people:
The “Isn’t Snapchat Losing Money Wow You’re Gonna Get Fired” person, who I meet at a party and upon learning my profession mansplains Snapchat’s business prospects (“they lost $2.2 billion last quarter”) and then recommends I look into Instagram Stories.
The “Wow I Can’t Believe That’s A Job” person, whom I love and adore. Then I just get to brag to about spending work hours shooting slow-mo videos of Cheetos.
The “Ah, So You Weren’t A Good Enough Journalist To Get A Normal Reporting Gig What A Light And Fun Alternative,” to whom I say, “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NEWS CONSUMERS OF TOMORROW?”
This job is fun as hell, but it is still a job—we’re all working like mad to get these editions out as quickly and cleanly as possible. It’s like publishing two mini-magazines a week, plus you have to animate them, plus, oh hey, your reader is probably 15. It’s fun for sure, but it’s definitely not easy.
What’s the actual process of putting together a Snapchat Discover issue like?
This is going to be so boring all listed out, but you asked:
Come up with a subject or overarching theme for an edition
Write some killer copy for the 10-second top video (called a topsnap in Snapchat lingo)
Send finalized copy to our wildly talented design and animation team, aka two coworkers who sit next to me
Build out articles, polls, and videos
Drop our finalized animated videos into the CMS, schedule to publish, and then do it all over again
We’ve usually got three to four cooking at one time, since we publish twice a week.
Everyone's trying to get on that shortform social content game. What are the secrets to actually doing it well and not just gratuitously #coolforteens?
AH, IF ONLY I KNEW. Getting older is the worst in so many ways, but especially because you can feel yourself drifting away from a time when you instinctively knew what was cool. Listening in the spaces my audience inhabits helps me figure out what they really care about. For me, that’s not millennials so much as it is Gen Z. I read a lot—too much—of YA lit.
I recently binged all of Riverdale and joined a Riverdale fan club on Facebook (100 percent work research I swear). I follow as many of my friends’ little siblings on Twitter and Instagram as I can. They all have way more followers than me, but it’s OK because at least I’m allowed to drive. Nerds.
Savvy millennials/Gen-Z humans can smell pander-y bullshit from a mile away. The more honest and real you are when you’re creating #content, the more likely they will trust you. So, join their spaces and listen, but don’t talk down to them or try to too hard.
You have a very successful series called #MoldMonday, Deez Links has learned.
YES I WOULD LOVE TO PLUG MY PERSONAL BRAND. Every Monday I explore my fridge/corners of my room to find mold on my personal Snapchat or Instagram (Which platform will it be?! Nobody knows! You have to follow both!).
The media company I was working for at the time didn’t think mold would be a great fit for their brand, which, who would blame them? So I took it on as a personal project, and it sort of grew (sorry) from there. Now, people I don’t know Snapchat me pictures of mold all the time. Fame is a double-edged sword.
Tune in @jooliaboosh (Instagram) or @jabush (Snapchat) every Monday for quality mold content.
Last question: What's it like to get stopped on the street and recognized from Snapchat??
Stop that was one time.
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So that's a look into the fast & wild & moldy life of a Snapchat channel manager & influencer! Definitely give Julia a follow on your fave shortform content platforms, and check out her work on the WIRED Discover Channel each week. See you Monday, Deezers!
Like Deez Links? Forward to your fave west coast snap queen.