Never Stop Learning
As my internship draws to a close I have learned many things about social media. I can also safely say I have put some things I have learned in my advertising classes at Temple to good use in a real life setting. But as I was reflecting these past few days I was trying to pinpoint what the most important lesson I have learned was.
I know that the one of the most important things I could take away from my experience with ChatterBlast is that social media is more complicated than I originally thought. I never thought this internship was going to be easy but I was surprised how technical social media can and should be viewed.
For example, our clients love to see their reports at the end of the month. Often times they want to see sheer numbers, sometimes they want to see their brand getting more “likes” on Facebook, followers on Twitter, or check-ins on Foursquare. But social media numbers are often tricky. I have learned that, in social media, it’s more about quality than quantity.
Without a doubt one of the most important things I have learned from the team at ChatterBlast is that engagement over time is usually better than a quick spike in numbers. The owners (pictured below) have taught me more about building a brands social media presence takes time and lasting engagement is very important. Building a brand or any identity on the Internet is about getting consumers to visit your page over and over again. However, brands have to give consumers a reason to do this. Maybe it’s a contest, a weekly post, or great design but something like this has to exist to have lasting engagement. It’s just too easy to click the “X” at the top of a web page and move onto another brand that catches your attention more.
That’s where analytics come into play. Studying trends and topics that work and do not is extremely important. That’s not to say there is no room for experimentation but it has to be done strategically. Being a social media intern at ChatterBlast has been a great learning experience for me. It has also shown me that advertising is definitely the right fit for me and I can happily say I will get to keep learning about social media in the spring.
I was recently offered another internship at a full service agency in their social media department! I feel more confident to go into this new opportunity with a new skill set I have learned over the last several months to be able to dive right into this new company. I think that social media and strategy will be areas I get to explore even more of in the future and hopefully, for many years to come after that.
