Amy is a 2016 University of Edinburgh graduate. Over the summer she completed an IPA AdMission internship as a Junior Digital Planner with The Leith Agency, a creative agency based in Edinburgh, known for their work with Irn-Bru, Aldi & RBS
Digital? Is that like, Facebook and stuff?
This has been my most-asked question since I started my internship in May at The Leith Agency and, to be honest with you, in the beginning I didn’t really know the answer to it myself. I walked into my internship not really knowing what to expect at all – I was especially clueless as to what to wear on my first day.
I am a Junior Digital Planner, and while it’s impossible to sum up ‘digital’ without writing an essay, I can give you an overview of what it is I do.
My main remit is research. I’m currently working with various clients who are looking for insight on internal communications strategies, the current digital landscape, competitor analysis and a whole slew of other things. It has certainly kept me busy from day one and keeps the work week fresh and interesting.
While I’m not a member of the Creative team, nor do I profess to be anywhere near adept at copywriting or Photoshop, there have been times when it has been necessary for me to create short copy for social media, i.e. Facebook posts or tweets. Another aspect of my job is delivering the assets the Creative team produce via a client’s digital and social channels. (I can proudly report that I have yet to accidentally post from my personal account or forget to logout of a client’s account.)
Community management is another of my daily activities. We have multiple accounts for multiple clients, and with lots of things going on in the social media world I have to make sure that we are at the forefront, answering consumer enquiries, collecting data for analysis and promoting content where possible, to ensure that the work we produce is reaching as large an audience as possible.
I’m quickly realising that being a digital planner is so much more than simply writing a Facebook post or posting a photo on Instagram. There’s strategies to build, in order to maximize engagement with our target audiences, processes that have to occur before we can even think about scheduling a post to go live – the digital sphere keeps on evolving, technologies keep on advancing and our knowledge and practices do too.
My internship has changed the way I interact with social media – I am more aware of my personal patterns of use on social media platforms and I find myself making use of the knowledge I’ve gained at work, in my personal accounts. For instance, I now schedule my content at the most effective and wide-reaching times of the day. I have also definitely become pro-cross-posting! It is a controversial stance in the office but the engagements my Instagram pictures get on Facebook are evidence enough for me!
My internship is going very well and I’m in no rush to leave. I’ve learned so much throughout this process: I can read and analyse data; I’m learning the intricacies of running social and digital campaigns and soon I’ll be working with the team on our first Facebook Live broadcast.
The most important thing I’ve learned, though? Worrying about the dress code was completely unnecessary.
Amy