Bleacher Report’s Meredith Minkow: Start Out With Any Experience You Can Get

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Meredith Minkow’s journey to working at Bleacher Report began at a small startup in Minneapolis where she ran the social channels for the entire company. Taking what she learned there, Minkow was able to turn her passion for sports and the skills she had built into an internship with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.

A passionate photographer, Minkow leveraged her eye for quality content into a career. Two years into her role at Bleacher Report, Minkow has helped the brand excel on social media, vaulting it into the upper echelon of content producers in the sports media industry. Her story is one of perseverance, passion, and creativity.

Edited highlights appear below:

On How B/R Prioritizes Social Media (22:19)

“They’ve really made it clear that social is one of our most important, if not our most important, department. The whole company knows how important social is to our brand and they’ve definitely made it clear that they’re willing to put in whatever it takes to make the social team the best. The process and how it’s all set up just in the day-to-day makes it clear to everyone that they take it very seriously and they’re trying to optimize everybody’s time and resources.”

On B/R’s Social Team Structure (27:40)

“I think the number-one thing that I have admired about working at Bleacher Report is just the amount of detail that goes into everything. The communication is crazy. I look at it and see hopefully the future set up for sports teams. When you work for a team, you’re on social literally 24/7, you can’t really put your phone down because team social teams are small.”

“We have our shifts and we work a total of 40 hours a week. When you’re off shift, you can jump on Slack and let people know if you see something, but when you’re off shift, you’re off shift. I think that’s kind of a huge because we can maximize our time when we’re on shift and make sure that everybody’s doing something. In a space like social, where you can get burnt out really easily, this setting helps a lot.”

Social on the Sidelines is Presented to You By:

On Growth of Social Coverage of WNBA (44:39)

“I actually didn’t know much about the WNBA until I worked for the Wolves and the Lynx. I started with the Wolves and my manager at the time told me that I would be blown away by the atmosphere at the Lynx games. Once the Lynx season came along and I saw how passionate the fans were and how awesome the team was, it was just a very different vibe than NBA.”

“I feel like there has been a shift on social this year, but it is also because the league is just so good and there are so many good teams. All of the players in the league and just really good humans and it’s such a team sport which I think makes it very appealing.”

“The players in the league are really vocal about pushing their platforms and speaking up for what they believe in. It kind of feels like everybody’s kind of joining together and pushing the league forward. I think there really is a huge audience and people are watching. I don’t know, there seems to be an excitement around the league this year.”

Her Advice For Others (49:50)

“The advice I would give is just to start out with any experience you can get. Don’t be afraid to apply for positions that you think might be out of your reach, because a lot of times they are not.”

“Connect with people on Twitter. There is a huge network on the platform and there are so many people who are willing to mentor others. You should definitely take advantage of it.”

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