We were so happy to have Herbert Hall, from Boston Collegiate Charter School, intern for us the past two weeks. Below is one of the blogs he created during his time here.
When most people hear “social media,” they think of twitter, Facebook… you know the usual. I had a similar thought process about social media marketing. By definition social media marketing is marketing done through social media or social networking websites.
When I first arrived at db&r I knew I was going to like the social media department, but I had never considered the amount of strategic planning, research and numerous hours of work that goes into social media planning.
Being a teen I thought I knew it all! I have a pretty successful twitter account and a blog on tumblr that’s coming together smoothly. So, I arrived thinking the job was simple. Little did I know that when I sat down with Allie, the social media guru, my social media ego would be crushed.
To be honest I didn’t expect to learn anything new – I thought “how hard can it be?” You sit at a desk, compose tweets and blogs and keep up with the new social media sites… sounds simple to me.
However when Allie ran through her daily schedule, my jaw dropped. I quickly realized that I had some re-thinking to do. As she began explaining her job she broke it up into two processes: One for websites and one for Social networking sites. The first major component that I overlooked was the creation of a website (in the form of a blog). I would have never put creating websites in the social media category.
She explained that not only does she update multiple blogs a day but each blog also has a different voice and a different message that needs to be conveyed (another key aspect that I totally overlooked). She then went on to describe the process of “keeping up with the times” spending at least 5 hours a week just reading blogs is the one that stuck out to me. To add to the list you need to have a slight interest in creativity. When designing websites/blogs for different clients it’s important to recognize that not every one can look the same!
This brings me to my next point, while designing and creating websites/blogs you have to consider the client. That saying “everyone is different” holds true with clients as well. When designing a website you have to take into consideration what the layout, font, style and colors that best fit the client. After that is approved you then must bring your thoughts to life, programming everything so that it is just right for the client. Then you pitch it. If they have edits it then you have to go back and change it. Pitching continues until the final site, social network profile, blog, app, etc.) is up and running can take anywhere from 2-12 weeks! This job is certainly no walk in the park.
Besides designing websites you also have to keep the clients up to date on social media news! Twitter and Facebook are traditional however some work that clients do may be a better fit for other social media pages like Pinterest or tumblr. Keeping clients up to date can also become time consuming. Oh and on top of all that you need to keep your business up to date as well.
And that my fellow bloggers is my learning experience in a nut shell. I now have a new found respect for social media and the role it plays in communicating a company’s message.
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Wow, you’re right, Herbert, there really is so much to know about working. In social media and it’s more complex than even I might have imagined.