Purpose

The purpose was for me to learn more marketable skills in the social media and design department, but also to work on my organizational and presentational skills. It was meant to be a learning experience for me. 

Objectives 

The point of the social media page was to collect and present pertinent information to the incoming freshman class for BYUI. It was meant to be the only place they needed to go to when preparing for college and when trying to find ideas for what to do while here. 

Challenges

During the whole process, I ran into a few different challenges that made the growth of the page harder, and my navigation of it. 

• I have lots of social media experience, but not the kind that gives me the knowledge and skills to market a social media page. 
• I didn’t reach my follower goal (it wasn’t even 30% of my goal).
• It took a great deal of time to come up with the post designs and how I wanted to share some things.
• The start was the hardest when I was trying to begin the project. I wasn’t sure where or how to begin.
• I had so many ideas/plans that some got a little lost on the way.
• I didn’t reach out to my mentor enough in fear of bothering her.

The Process

There were a few programs I utilized while making designing posts, coming up with what to share, and when to share them. I used Adobe Creative Cloud to design the posts. I used Google Docs to compile the housing list and shared a link to that on the account. I also tagged other accounts to increase who was noticing the page. I promoted my very first post, free of charge, on Instagram. I started sharing about it on my own social media page and with social media groups I was a part of. I asked my mentor how to organize the housing list, and my peers when to share posts. I also gathered ideas for meals and created a Pinterest account to share and collect recipes. 

Experiences 

There are a few things that happened along the way, some of which I already mentioned. 

• I promoted another Instagram account (that was relevant) and they promoted me in turn.
• I got to promote the first post on Instagram free of charge.
• I had a hard time finding information for all of the housing complexes in the area (that are for students) .
• It was very awkward to promote an account of mine on my personal accounts.
• I got to spend a lot of time designing posts, which was very fun.
• I ended up overwhelmed by how many ideas I had, as well as suggestions I got from others.

Insights

There are also a few things I learned as I was working on this project and things I realized at the end as I reflected on what I had done and experienced. 

• Set schedules are ideal 
• Social media takes knowledge about niche audiences and algorithms 
• Your post must catch the viewer’s eye 
• Keep things simple, straightforward, and easy to understand
• Organize things in a direct and obvious way 
• Promote, promote, promote