By Braylyn Bruno, English and Public Relations Major / McAnulty Academic Internship
This month has been a fun month for me as I continue to run campaigns on the English Department Instagram. I’ve expanded my knowledge on literature, theatre, and other aspects of the department as I compile trivia questions for each week’s #triviatuesday. I’ve also been able to reemerge myself into favorite books I have read in the past as I prepare to share the book of the week on Instagram each Friday. I’ve never overseen an Instagram campaign before, and it has been interesting to analyze engagement from a marketing perspective. I am required to pay attention to not only the number of accounts the stories reach, but the number of actions people take upon viewing my posts. Actions I look for include the number of profile visits we gain, how people navigate the stories based on different topics, and overall follower count. Utilizing the tracking features on Instagram is showing me what audiences like and dislike, and how to best appeal to our target audience.
Even though this is an English internship, I find that it closely aligns with my public relations classes. In my Public Relations in Strategic Media class, we discuss outputs, outtakes, and outcomes. The outputs are what messages we put out there and the channels we use to do so; in this case Instagram stories is the chosen channel. The outtakes are who our messages reached and how those people responded, and in this case the outtakes are the people viewing our stories. Lastly, the outcomes are influencing attitude and inspiring action, and in my work these attitudes are having a positive image of the English department which leads more people to follow and interact with the account. It’s refreshing to understand that the material I’m learning in the classroom is already helping me understand the work in my career.
Building Bridges 