Career Compass: Chanele McFarlane edition

This weeks career compass features the amazing Chanele McFarlane, Telus’ Communication Manager, who has been recognized as one of the top 25 Women of Influence, and top 100 Black Women to Watch. Lets go!

Working in Social Media? Have Social Media!

Chanele talks about her experience entering her field, and how one of the positions she applied to informed her that she didn’t get the exposition because she didn’t have a twitter account. This is crucial advice to anyone in our program. If you are looking to work in anything social media related, the first step to success is owning your own accounts, this way you can better your knowledge in each social media platform, and gain an understanding of things you may be required to do in the role. Having social media and knowing your way around it is incredibly important, and Chanele’s example explains why!

SEO- Why Should I Learn More?

SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is crucial and not talked about enough. SEO practices can help you reach more people, and Janelle put this to use when trying to get her blog out there. It can help your content show up towards the top of search results, which will help you gain more traffic to your website and help you reach your target audience. Janelle bringing this up was significant and I enjoyed hearing about how this was beneficial for her blog!

LinkedIn… What’s the Rage?

We hear about it lots, make a LinkedIn profile this, networking that… is it REALLY that crucial? The real answer is… YES! LinkedIn is not only beneficial in helping you network, but it can also help you find a future job. There are job postings that only occur through LinkedIn, as well as people often sharing open positions on their pages. Chanele talked about how LinkedIn is now being transformed into more than just something for personal benefit, but it is also is used in corporate settings. Companies have now become more active on their LinkedIn pages, so following your favourite companies or dream jobs on LinkedIn can provide you with more insight!

Career Compass, Where Do We Land

Chanele gave us good insight that can be used in the work environment, which is why the compass lands on… Elsewhere!

Career Compass: Huy Tran Edition

This week’s Career Compass reviews advice from Ron Abraham, the Co-Founder of the brand Domin8 Digital, a marketing agency for fashion and beauty brands. 

Data… it’s everywhere!

Huy Tran discussed how important it is to make sure you have a solid understanding of data. In any aspect of marketing, data is a crucial aspect of ensuring you are able to reach your target audience. Data can make or break your campaign, so taking your time to ensure you have thorough understanding on how you can use data to your advantage can be incredibly beneficial. By using data from algorithms and analytics, companies can learn from each post they make and what worked or didn’t work. This gives them an opportunity to optimize their content. I enjoyed this speaker because he touched on one of the most crucial aspects of marketing, something we haven’t heard much about in the last few weeks of Career Compass!

Time is of the Essence 

Trends, trends, trends. We’ve heard about the importance of trends in the last few weeks, but we haven’t really discussed how fast they can change. Huy Tran discussed how “time is of the essence” when it comes to following trends. Whether it’s on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or X, each platform has new trends that arise daily. These trends go fast, so when you see something, it’s important to hop on it as fast as you can. Something can be trending one day, and before you know it, the next day that trend is gone. Time is of the essence is a great way to put this, it puts emphasis on how important it is to capture that trend while it’s live. 

Content Auditing… Why?

Content audits are something we have learned about recently in class, and Huy Tran gave his information on why he thinks content audits are crucial! He discussed how it is important to perform a content audit every time you revamp your content or launch a new product. This includes going through your website or your social channels and doing a deep dive to see what you can improve on in future! 

Career Compass… Where Do We Land?

Huy gave us valuable information that can be incredibly beneficial in my career in marketing or in other careers, which is why the career compass this week lands on… Elsewhere! 

Career Compass: Ron Abraham Edition

This week’s Career Compass reviews advice from Ron Abraham, the Co-Founder of the brand Domin8 Digital, a marketing agency for fashion and beauty brands. 

Building Relationships

Ron discussed the importance of really getting to know your audience. He discussed how crucial it is to know what point in the buying process your audience is in order to promote a product successfully. Ron’s discussion highlights the significance of user personas, which assist brands in identifying the needs, wants, motivations, pinpoints, income levels, family situations, and many more aspects of their target audience. Ron’s discussion is useful for anyone in the Digital Marketing and Social Media specialization, as hearing this from a professional who has worked in the field can help students gain a better understanding of how user personas are applied in the real world. Knowing your audience can help sell a product, and bring ideas to your company on how your promotions will get the most interaction. 

Work Around the Buzz

Ron went over the importance of working with the buzz, including keeping on top of trends and including buzz words in your content. Keeping on top of trends or buzz can ensure you are maximizing the view potential on any type of content. For example, if you are using trending audio on Instagram Reels, your video is more likely to blow up and reach your target audience than an audio that was trending 8 months ago. Taking the time to thoroughly research trends before making your content is something that can make your video pop and stand out against competitors’ videos. This feedback is beneficial for media students as it encourages them to keep on top of trends while working in the Digital Marketing field.

Lifetime of Learning

In this video, Ron touched on how entering into something related to the Media and Communications field means you are going to experience a lifetime of learning. This is something that I love to know before graduating, as I love learning and I am excited to continue learning as I enter the workforce. 

Career Compass… Where Do We Land?

Ron provided beneficial advice for students in the Digital Marketing and Social Media specialization, like me, that will assist us when we enter the workforce. This means this week, the Career Compass lands on… Navigational!

Career Compass: Angela McLean Edition

This week’s Campus Compass Blog reviews a video on advice from Angela Mclean, Copywriter and Content Creator at Accenture!

Pen and Paper.. Still Important?

One thing that stood out to me from Angela’s video was her point about how she believes that sticking to the classic ways of pen and paper is underrated. This is something that is becoming more niche as many students now rely on technology for everything, which has its advantages, but there are still many great things that can come from using pen and paper. I used to write all my notes on pen and paper in the first and second years and found that it was really helpful for me to retain information. It is also great for brainstorming for essays, planning out your tasks, or keeping track of your thoughts. She also talked about how she loves to colour code her tasks, which can be incredibly helpful when you have a full plate. Colour coding can assist in correlating certain colours to certain tasks, which makes it easier to organize and not overwhelm your brain. Both of these tips are incredibly useful as a student when work and school lives merge and make balancing tasks a lot to manage. 

Mastering Interviews

As students who are entering the “real world” soon, interviews are approaching fast. It’s crucial to enter an interview prepared, and Angela shared a couple of useful tips. Her first tip is to research the company. In her specific example, she mentioned to know what kind of content the company posts on their social media. I find this tip incredibly useful likely going into the marketing field, as social media is a critical aspect of the marketing world. Familiarizing yourself with their content can help you get an idea of their style, as well as the type of content you’d be making in the role. Additionally, she mentioned researching their competitors, and bringing up how you could do things differently in the role. Coming prepared with this information in an interview can show the interviewers that you did sufficient research, and know what type of content they are looking for. These tips are relevant in our lives as students currently as we are approaching our internships next year, and will also be beneficial to us once we graduate! 

Career Compass… Where Do We Land?

Angela gave useful advice that can be put forward into both school environments and work environments, which is why the career compass navigates us “elsewhere” this week! This is beneficial to my career, but her advice will also be useful in a variety of other settings! I enjoyed this weeks video and really felt engaged the entire time! Until next week!

Career Compass: Ebony Renee Baker Edition

This week on the Career Compass blog, I will be analyzing and reflecting on a video from Ebony Renee Baker, a Fashion Editor at Refinery29 in the United Kingdom.

Relatability in Social Media

Ebony discussed a story of how she rented a £700 designer dress from the brand Jacquemus for fashion week. When she sat down, the dress ripped straight up the back, revealing more than she had anticipated in a public setting. Although this is an incredibly stressful situation to encounter during a stressful time like fashion week, Ebony knew exactly what she was doing when she posted the video on social media. Her video ended up getting her TikTok account banned, however, her Instagram Reel she posted on her personal account currently has a total of 62.8 thousand views. Her post captured the importance of being real on social media. Videos that capture relatable content and humorous situations are often the ones that blow up, which worked out in Ebony’s case. Being honest and relating to the human experience is something that is underrated in social media. Although many businesses try to keep a professional social media presence, many brands that use this method succeed on their platforms. An example of this is Duolingo, which has blown up for its unusual TikTok videos. Duolingo’s videos often contain humorous audio with relatable captions, catering to their Gen Z audience. Through this, they have gained a huge social media presence and have created a successful form of marketing for their business. Ebony touched on one of the most important aspects of social media, capturing your audience, which is easier to obtain by building a relationship with your consumers and bonding over similar experiences. 

The Importance of Building Trust

Ebony also discussed the importance of remaining truthful on your platform to gain the trust of your viewers. She discussed how she is offered tons of brand deals, but she is clear with the brands that she will not promote their products unless she likes them. I feel this is incredibly important in social media, and a rule not a lot of people follow. Many look at brand deals as a simple way to lose money, but it can also cause you to lose the trust of your viewers. Looking at the company Bloom as an example, they have partnered with hundreds of influencers to showcase their products. It is often a subtle advertisement, where the influencer will showcase the product as a part of their everyday routine, however a lot of influencers don’t showcase them drinking the final product. With the wide amounts of people participating in these brand deals, not only do people lose trust in the brand, but they also lose trust in the influencers. This is an incredibly important thing to know going into any job in media and communications as it stresses the importance of keeping your brand integrity. 

Career Compass… Where Do We Land?

Ebony touched on the importance of remaining truthful and real with your audience, both from a brand perspective and an influencer perspective. Going into the media field, these are crucial aspects that can be a game changer. On the Career Compass scale, I would rank Ebony’s message “Navigational”, as I feel her advice was crucial in helping me navigate my future career! This information was incredibly educational and is something I will take forward with me throughout my life.

Career Compass: Dash of Dee Edition

This week on “Career Compass”, a weekly blog exploring how guest speakers impact my career growth, I will be analyzing “Dash of Dee” by Dee Thomson.

Dee discusses her experience with her blog, Dash of Dee, and how she began working in this career path. Dee began her studies at Western University, where she earned a degree in Sociology and Criminology. After graduating, she began an internship at Glow Magazine, where she found her love for blogging. Dee discussing the process of transitioning into a career she didn’t study for in university resonated with me because it highlights how easily your career path can change after graduation. Entering university, I put a lot of pressure on myself to have everything figured out about my future. I feared feeling trapped in my degree, and realizing halfway through that this wasn’t the right career path for me. Hearing how people manage to succeed after graduation in a career they didn’t see themselves in gives me a sense of hope, and helps me realize how many opportunities there are out there for me. 

She also discussed how she turned her passions into a career, which is a major factor in what makes her job so enjoyable. Dee is always on the lookout for ways to share her passions with others by combining her love for beauty, food, lifestyle, drinks, style, and travel into a blog. Learning more about turning your passions into a career is beneficial to students who will soon be transitioning into the workforce. Dee’s chat shows how crucial it is to love what you do. It has always been my goal to begin a career that doesn’t feel like work, simply because I am enjoying what I am doing. Having this would ensure I am looking forward to work every day. Dee put’s lots of love and hard work into her blog, making her career so enjoyable.

Dee’s discussion resonated with me and the experiences I’ve encountered in my life. I have never been very fond of writing, so I don’t picture myself starting a blog in the future, however, the things she spoke about can be applied to many different fields. Overall, I really enjoyed this guest speaker and have gained new points as a result.