My work experience week at tgi MEDIA
Teesside University Journalism student Chloe Wood spent a week at tgi MEDIA, as part of her work experience. She wrote an account of her time at the social media marketing firm in Darlington.
When I first started thinking about applying for work experience at local PR companies, I was unfamiliar of tgi MEDIA and their work. However, I stumbled across the social media marketing firm during a Google search and I am so glad I did. From the offset, Tori was incredibly friendly and during our phone conversation before I started my work experience, she totally set me at ease. Tori explained what the company was about and some of the clients they were working with.
I was thoroughly looking forward to my work experience, as public relations is the subject area in which I was hoping to specialise in and I was aiming to have as my overall career when I graduate and get my Journalism degree in the summer.
When I arrived at tgi MEDIA on my first day, straight away I felt welcomed by David and Tori, they were very accommodating and as I sat down with my first coffee of the day, Tori went through and explained everything she had planned for me that week. It was going to be a busy week to say the least and I couldn’t wait to get started.
On my first day I got started on writing tgi MEDIA a press release. I hadn’t much training in writing press releases but Tori was on hand to help me whenever I needed it and she guided me through anything I wasn’t sure of.
Although I knew the basics of what PR companies do, I soon realised tgi MEDIA was much more than that. It’s very much social media based and therefore is very relevant to the here and now. The business has 25 clients, so everyday all of the social media accounts for each client had to be updated. I had to find relevant content tailored to that particular clients business and target audience such as news stories, information and pictures.
We aimed to get three updates per client throughout the day, as well as interacting with the accounts by replying, retweeting, liking and following people of interest. I was shown how to follow social media statistics so we could see how many people our posts were reaching etc, as well as the prime times to post and tweet certain things so it would reach the widest possible audience.
There was so much more to this online marketing company than I expected, every day is meticulously organised and full on. There was always something to do and thankfully I was always kept busy.
I learnt a lot in just my five short days at tgi MEDIA. I was shown all the social media tools that are out there to help with a business such as itself. Working here also made me realise just how important social media is to all businesses in promoting them and reaching their audience.
Over the course of my week, I also got to make an advert to send to around 1,200 subscribers of a local Darlington restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this. although it was very nerve-wracking and I had to keep double checking everything because it was going to such a large audience.
As a bit of social media hermit, Tori and David really opened my eyes to the positive possibilities of having social media, not just for business but also for personal and since my work experience, I now have several more social media accounts and I actually now understand how to use them and how to get the most out of them.
tgi MEDIA was such a pleasant place to do my work experience and I enjoyed all of my time there, not just because of the brilliant work they do here but also because Tori and David are such wonderful people to work with and be around. I enjoyed it so much that I have asked to come back one day a week to help out. Thankfully Tori agreed and I can’t wait to continue my time here and learn more and more about the importance of social media.
You can find out more about opportunities at tgi MEDIA on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Alternatively, if you’d like to discuss how we can raise your company’s brand and profile using social media, call the team on 01325 468481 or email info@tgimedia.co.uk.