Interviewing Social Media Practioner Ashley Kast

I had the pleasure of talking with Ashley Kast for this project, who is a social media professional for the pet food company Fromm Family Foods. Kast not only operates Fromm’s social media, but also serves as the company’s primary event coordinator.

Kast’s favorite part of operating Fromm’s social media is the interaction she gets to have with real customers. Hearing the brand is a “fan favorite” among a wide range of demographics is always exciting and makes her happy to work for a company that produces such high-quality products. However, this social media interaction is somewhat of a double edged sword, as there are times when people can be quite rude. At the end of the day, Kast knows she can’t make everyone happy, but still wishes people would understand the impact their negative comments can have on the person at the other side of that screen.

Fromm mainly operates on Facebook and Instagram. Having these two platforms is important as they appeal to two different audiences, allowing Fromm to expand their customer base. Having these two spaces also allows for similar demographics to voice their concerns or talk to other pet-lovers online. In putting out ads on social media, Kast said Fromm promotes them through engagement and reach campaigns, both of which have a different process/ amount of money behind them. It’s important to separate ads on the basis of these two goals, as some ads are set out to fulfill different objectives.

I’m always curious about the craziest comments social media practitioners see and how they choose to respond, so I asked Kast this question. Kast said Fromm put out photoshopped photos of dogs/cats doing olympic sports to correspond with a campaign that the company was doing. In response, she received a few comments claiming Fromm was abusing these animals. Since the photos were very clearly photoshopped, Kasts response back was fairly light-hearted. She responded with something along the lines of, “Don’t worry, no animals are harmed in the making of our ads, we just have a talented graphic design team!”. Overall, she said the comment brought her team a laugh.

Overall, Kast said she is excited to see an influx of social media practitioners in the near future and hopes they’ll bring plenty of creativity to the job.