Alterra Mountain Company

Katie Steinharter serves as the director of social media and content at Alterra Mountain Company, where she leads social strategy, content development and athlete storytelling. With experience spanning marketing, communications and digital media, she brings a strategic and creative approach to building engaging brand stories that connect with audiences across the outdoor industry.

Finding the Story behind the Post

I have adjusted my perspective on social media and content based on changing trends, evaluating what works versus what is less positively received and shifting focus from just trying to get posts up to create more strategic storytelling pieces. Working with athletes and creators in the outdoor industry has taught me a lot about learning from other people and learning on their strengths and stories.

Let the Objective Lead the Idea

The process starts with the business objectives and lays out what campaigns and strategies can achieve those on each social media platform or evaluates what other communication and marketing levers we have to pull. Then I focus on brainstorming with a larger team a list of creative ideas that can be narrowed down to what is most executable and on brand likely to drive measurable results. That process helps separate ideas that are simply interesting from those that have a clear purpose for the business.

“Everyone brings a different perspective to content and strategy, and that diversity creates stronger ideas.”

Different Perspectives, Stronger Ideas

It has been valuable to learn that each person has a unique perspective on content versus strategy and everyone has different interests and backgrounds that drive their diverse perspectives. Diversity of creative thinking leads to more ideas and more possibility to reach new audiences through unique concepts.

Navigating Social Media’s Next Shift

Social media will continue to evolve between a mix of short form, long form and static creative in both visual and written formats. Social media and content marketing will likely also always be driven by the big social media platforms and businesses, with brands determining what algorithms or trends they want to buy into or avoid and what bandwidth marketing teams have to learn or incorporate new platforms.

Build the Skills that Set You Apart

Focus on growing the basic skills. Make sure your copywriting, eye for design and interest in culturally relevant topics are all honed. Continue sharpening your skills in a creative way, don’t lean on AI to replace human thought, well-articulated and written ideas or unique creative designs. Those fundamentals give professionals a stronger point of view and help them use new tools without losing their creative judgment. Learn your own strengths and weaknesses and find teams that can balance your weaknesses with their strengths for bigger and better collaboration.