Social Media Communications Plan - Panel Discussion

Social media is a necessity in today’s communications plan. How do you stack up? What could you do to make taming the social media beast easier? Find out answers to these questions and more as you engage with our talented panel of experts. Represented on the panel will be large organizations, small organizations and communications consultants. The panel inludes:

Jennifer Eddy, President & Chief Strategist at Eddy Alexander:Jen is an international award-winning marketing strategist, Forbes contributor, and frequent industry speaker specialized in marketing, growth strategy and reputation management. After serving as a marketing executive for a series of "Big 4 Global Consulting" firms, she and her husband Sean established Eddy Alexander to marry their interests in business and community advancement. Jen has managed reseller channels, product and service campaigns, lead generation initiatives, and brand hierarchies for a long list of globally-recognized brands including 3M, Accenture, Adobe, Asus, Autodesk, BearingPoint, Deloitte, Genpact, Google, IronKey, Oracle, Quest Software, Red Hat, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech and many more. She holds a bachelor’s degree from JMU School of Media Arts and Design and a Graduate Consulting Certificate from Yale School of Management. She is nationally certified in Reputation and Crisis Management through the Public Relations Society of America.

Fairen Horner, Social Media Manager at Virginia Tech:Fairen is the Social Media Manager for her alma mater, Virginia Tech, and has the honor of being the first person to hold this position for VT University Relations. She handles all things social for the verified, main Virginia Tech accounts, functioning as the digital voice, eyes, and ears for the university. In addition to her normal day-to-day duties, Fairen has developed the social media strategy for major campaigns such as the new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus launch and VT’s first Giving Day. After earning her bachelor’s degree in communication (with a public relations focus) in 2014, Fairen started working in the Blacksburg Transit communications department. She created BT’s social media accounts and developed an award-winning digital ad campaign that solved their driver shortage issue. When she isn’t writing copy, creating and analyzing content, fielding hundreds of Instagram DMs, or fending off trolls, you can probably find Fairen hanging out with her miniature dachshund and making the infamous Duck Pond otter into a social media star.

Whitney Slightham, Assistant Director of Communications at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC: Whitneyhas worked in public relations and marketing management roles for government agencies, industrial engineering firms, and tech startups for a decade. Prior to building a strategic communications consulting firm in Toronto, Canada, while completing graduate school, she worked in academic research, magazine publishing, and university student recruitment. After moving to Virginia in 2014, Slightham helped lead and grow an international award-winning web development and digital marketing agency that focused on serving SaaS, government, and financial clients. She later transitioned into local government, working in marketing and citizen engagement roles at the City of Roanoke. She is currently a proud member of Virginia Tech's communications team, representing the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. In this capacity, she helps develop and implement integrated marketing communications strategies to elevate the institute’s research achievements. Whitney holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Western Ontario in London, and a postgraduate certificate in public relations from Humber College in Toronto.