Did you know that the average American social media user spends 2.7 hours per day on social media? Obviously this statistic does not need much of an explanation, however, it is a solid reminder of the constant presence social media has in our lives. Therefore, social media is one of the most powerful tools a business can use in order to connect with their customers, provide them with information, generate brand awareness, etc. As a Social Media/Marketing Manager, I have especially seen Instagram grow from a place to share life’s most precious moments to businesses marketing their products/services through the different tools the app now has to offer. I work for Just Peachy Occasions– a small, up and coming event planning company based in the Chicagoland area- where I generate creative content in order to reach our targeted demographic to boost sales. I stay informed of the latest trends in digital marketing and emerging platforms in order to build, monitor, and optimize- campaign delivery, cost efficiencies, and performance.

My position as a Social/Media Marketing Manager is fully remote, therefore, my day-to-day activities consist of writing, editing, and managing all social media content in the comfort of my own home. Due to Covid- 19, the event coordinator has been sending me all the content since I have been unable to attend the events to capture my own pictures and videos for our accounts. The main app I manage is Instagram, so the first thing I do every morning is engage with our followers by liking and commenting on their pictures. The more active you are online, the more visible you are to your audience so it is essential for me to get at least 3 hours of scrolling in per day. Then, I study our numbers by checking our insights to see how many accounts we have reached within the past week and what the most active times are in order to get a post uploaded. Next, I upload all of the content to my editing soft wares, Canva and Splice, in order to create the graphics for the posts that day. Editing usually takes a couple hours because I have to post on both our story and actual feed, ensuring that everything flows together perfectly in our grid. I then have to curate a list of 30 hashtags that relate to our post to categorize our content and make it more discoverable. Hashtags are important because they help you reach a targeted audience, and more importantly, help your targeted audience find you. Finally, before posting I write a caption that is catchy and lures the audience in to visit our profile. After it is posted, I make sure to engage with any followers who have given us feedback through comments and direct messages. By doing so, it can drive brand awareness which can translate into algorithm recognition.

Included below is an example of content I have created for our Instagram story and highlights reel:

Although I received this internship opportunity during Covid-19, I have enjoyed working remotely for Just Peachy Occasions. The event planning industry has been negatively affected by the pandemic since we are required to follow social distancing guidelines, so work has been fairly slow. I am excited that things are now starting to open up, and I will be able to go in person to capture content during these events. I have learned about the different social media marketing strategies that have been effective for our company in particular. I have researched our targeted audience in order to curate content that lures them in to get more impressions, profile visits and website taps. One of the main things I had to learn how to read is our insights, which helps me establish our most important metrics and KPI’s. No matter what your marketing, your social media strategy should be data driven. Due to the passion I have found for social media/marketing, I have taken other businesses aside from Just Peachy Occasions and have successfully boosted their sales and leads. This has inspired me to create my own marketing agency, JASS MKT, which will hopefully be up and coming within the next year. My mission is to work with businesses on their marketing strategy and social media platforms in order to create brand awareness through content creation. Overall, social media continues to evolve in terms of marketing tools and businesses should use Instagram in particular to attract their targeted markets, since the average American social media user spends 2.7 hours a day on social media