This summer, I interned at a public relations agency whose interview process involved a Shark Tank-style pitch of myself, so to say the internship challenged me would be an understatement. But through the challenges, I learned a lot and found my footing in the PR industry. Surprisingly, I learned a lot about social media, especially Instagram, that I never knew before.
People can make entire careers out of social media, and there’s more to it than just posting a picture with a clever caption on Instagram. An Instagram ad can cost hundreds of dollars, and asking a popular Instagrammer to feature your product? That can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the Instagrammer. With that amount of money, you don’t mess around. The social media posts that have paid support behind them take hours upon hours to create and involve whole teams of copywriters and graphic designers.
I also learned about the power of Instagram stories. At the beginning of the internship at a weekly social media meeting, I was shocked to hear one of the PR pros say Snapchat is dead. No way, I thought. Snapchat could not be dead, not when I’m constantly sending ugly pictures to my friends and using the flower crown filter with my crush! But as the summer went on, I realized that when it comes to brands, Instagram stories are everything. First of all, Snapchat has a very young audience– not many people over the age of 30 use it. Instagram, however, is used by everyone 13 to 50. And when was the last time a Snapchat story led you to a brand’s website? Probably never. But Instagram stories’ swipe up function can drive major website traffic. And if you want an influencer to feature your product, almost all of them are on Instagram, but only a few have a strong Snapchat presence.
I can also thank my internship for the great opportunity to attend Social Media Day Pittsburgh, a panel discussion about the power of social media. Speakers included the director of social media for the Pittsburgh Penguins, a CNN commentator, a project manager at Google and a social media professor at Carnegie Mellon University- yes, the power of social media is even taught in the college-level classroom.
There, I learned that even though a lot of social media take hours to stage and produce, sometimes, its the most organic posts that perform the best. The Penguin’s most shared video of the year? A 30-second cell phone video recorded at the parade. Timeliness, relevancy and capturing the moment all outweigh video quality, something I think we all tend to forget when we’re trying to choose the best filter or the prettiest selfie.
Most importantly, though, I learned that even though there’s major money in the social media industry, and even though social media’s influence on our culture is huge, at the end of the day, it’s not real.
The CNN commentator, Salena Zito, warned the audience not to get too caught up in the digital. While browsing through social media and snapping selfies is fun, we can’t let it get in the way of truly enjoying the moment. From turning off your phone when you’re eating with friends to actually watching the concert instead of livestreaming it, it’s better to fully experience the moment rather than waste time trying to capture it for everyone else.
I absolutely loved every moment I spent at work this summer. I learned the in’s and out’s of PR, especially the ever evolving world of social media. The algorithms and filters are constantly changing, but it’s clear social media’s influence is here to stay. But whether it’s posting on a personal account or a major company’s page, it’s important to remember that no matter what, the people around you are always number one