How I Use Social Media to Do My Job: Entrepreneur Victor Saad

How I Use Social Media To Do My

Job:

Victor Saad,

creator of the leap year project &

experience institution

By Melanie Stonecrain

A. I created my own master's program by establishing 12 experiences/apprenticeships in 12 months -- all around design, business and social change. I spent time in some amazing places around the world (Doejo, Threadless, NBBJ, a farm in Costa Rica founded by friends from NASA, clothing company in China, Skid Row in LA, etc.)

My project became the platform of a larger community of people who wanted to take their own risks to improve their lives and communities.

I finished off the year by staging my “graduation” at Chicago's TEDx conference and publishing a coffee table book that compiles the community's stories.

Q. Through The Leap Year Project, you created your own education. Tell us about your experience. What exactly did you do?

Crain’s Social Media Group | CrainsSocial.com

A. I didn't break into anything.

I built a network of people who believed in me and my further development. I did this by asking friends, family, peers and mentors to subscribe to my blog/monthly newsletter. They would have the chance to learn lessons from my journey and share in the story, and I would have a small stipend to venture into this type of self-made educational program.

As that community formed, people began connecting me to people who might be interested in bringing me on board as an apprentice. Once I completed the first few projects and continued sharing the story through social media, I gained a solid track record. It helped other individuals see what I was doing, why I was doing it and who was involved.

Q. How did you use your network (social or professional) to break into the companies you worked at during your Leap Year Project?


A. • Be the most passionate. The only chance a product or service is going to spread to

a community is if you believe in it with everything in your being.• Know your story and share it often. People don't rally around a shiny new item;

they rally around story, purpose, passion and process. • Not everyone will like you. That's okay. I love people. I hardly ever think about

competitors/competition. But, inevitably, if you're doing something passionately, someone will dislike it/you. That's when you know you're on the right track. Keep going.

• Social media is a combination of teaching, sharing, and laughing/celebrating. Teach through your blog and email. Share other people's work through Twitter and FB. And laugh/celebrate through FB and Instagram. Of course, all of these platforms can do all of these things, but that's a simple starting point.

Q. What did your experiment teach you about social media marketing and strategy?


A. Throughout The Leap Year Project, I began hearing feedback from employers, mentors and friends that my self-made experiential education could become a helpful model for others. There is a general, overarching understanding that real-world experiences are incredibly valuable to one’s learning objectives and personal formation, but there are countless questions surrounding how to evaluate, assess and guide the learning process within such an organic structure. The feedback became so prevalent that, rather than accepting one of several job offers, I’ve decided to explore how experiential education can become a more prevalent and highly regarded route for students ranging from high school to graduate level programs. Experience Institute is that effort.

Q. You then went on to invent the Experience Institute. How did you come up with the idea?


A. Four ways:• Blogs: Respond to current topics and authors, updates on

what's happening, and/or inspire our audience.• Twitter: Share articles/blog posts, respond/promote our

community, share happenings.• Facebook: Share things we like or that inspire us... or

things that make us laugh. Also, celebrate milestones.• Newsletters: Once/month -- Updates and inspiration. Also,

links to recent articles worth reading within higher-ed.

Q. How do you use social media to spread the word about the Experience Institute?


A. We promoted the book in five main ways:• Kickstarter: This was by far the best avenue to launch the book. It gave us a

base team of friends, readers and advocates.• Video: We mentioned it in the TEDx talk. And we created a book trailer. • Reviews: Asking a few friends to review it after they read it. • Events/Appearances: I've been invited to speak at conferences and gatherings

(TEDx, Techweek, Msfit, EPIC), the Apple Store, Stanford's d.school and restaurants with friends. I'll continue doing that by speaking at Google, TEDxFargo and the Cusp Conference this fall. Though these weren't planned, they've been really helpful.

• Social Media: The usual -- FB, Twitter and writing guest posts for other blogs.

Q. This spring, The Leap Year Project turned into a book. How did you promote The Leap Year Project: Learning to Risk & Risking to Learn?


A. Google: Email, DriveAsana: Project managementHighrise: CRMCalvetica: ios CalendarQuicken: Business finance trackingMint: Personal finance trackingEvernote: Ideas and notesReminders: Reminders

Q. What apps do you use to stay organized?


A. 60%. Just enough to not take myself too seriously and to still leave some privacy for things that no one really cares about.

Q. How much of yourself do you share online?


A. Early Morning: Reply to tweets and Facebook magic. Occasionally write a blog post.Mid-morning: Schedule any announcement tweets. Lunch: Share fun things happening.Evening: Post something inspiring on FB/Twitter/Instagram.

Q. Take us through a typical day of social media usage, from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep.


A. I wish I wrote blog posts more often.

Q. Regarding social media, what is one thing you wish you did better?


A. Mig Reyes

Q. Who should we ask next to tell us about their personal social media strategy?


To reach Victor, tweet him@VictorSaad.

Have someone we should interview next?

Reach us at @MelanieAlissa and @TracySamantha.

How I Use Social Media to Do My Job: Entrepreneur Victor Saad

Technology

crains social media

social media marketing

network social

social change

share things

experience institute

network of people

larger community of