The Perfect Post

Hi, my name is Avni Vallab, I am a summer intern at the Plano Chamber of Commerce, and this is the final installation of a series of summer blogs updating you on my summer internship! Special thanks to FedEx Office for sponsoring my internship; this was a fantastic experience, and I truly appreciate your support!

This summer, one of my big responsibilities was creating content for the Chamber’s social media channels. After a full summer of content creation, I have successfully learned the intricate art of social media marketing. So today, I’m going to give you a special look at what it takes to create the perfect social media post.

One of the biggest challenges in creating social media content is consistency. Getting posts up on a regular basis is key to increasing awareness about your company. Consistently posting is a great idea in theory; however in reality, it is incredibly difficult to come up with content! So I scoured the internet searching for obscure “social media holidays”. Aptly named, a “Social Media Holiday” is a small, relatively obscure holiday that no one really celebrates (like national fried chicken day) but can make great content for the Chamber as it allows us to highlight different business sectors throughout the city. Once I know what the post will be about, next is to create the post.

The magic of 21st-century technology grants us a variety of websites to create complex social media graphics while having little knowledge of Photoshop or graphic design. The best part of social media marketing comes here, where I really get to be creative. I pick between a myriad of colors finding the palate that best works for the event I am highlighting. Next comes the body of the post, where I find the fine balance between making sure my message is clear with bold text, and making sure I’m not overwhelming the reader with text that is obnoxiously loud. Finally comes the graphics, where I insert people and objects into the post, often making this the center of the post, because pictures truly do speak louder than words!

Next is the dreaded editing stage, in which I come to realize a good chunk of the text is probably spelled wrong, and the spacing of my text is never quite even. After a first and often second round of edits and feedback, my post is finally ready! The last step is to get the post up and out for the world to see. I come up with a creative caption, hit post, and anxiously wait to see how well the post will perform!

Check out some of the amazing posts I got to create for the Chamber this summer!

This summer, through interning at the Plano Chamber, I got to lean into the creative aspects of social media marketing. Not only that, but I learned to marry the technical elements of getting a concise message across along with the creative aspects of a fun, bright post. I’m so grateful to my supervisor Katie Gimenez for giving me the freedom to help create content for the Chamber. Katie’s encouragement truly allowed me to develop my knowledge of digital marketing. No matter what career I pursue in the future, having a thorough understanding of marketing is valuable in every field, and I was so lucky that the Chamber helped me hone that skill.

To future Chamber interns: I highly recommend you take advantage of your time at the Chamber to learn from Katie and all your coworkers, their years of experience have resulted in troves of advice on how to navigate the professional workplace. Even further, I would recommend you try your hand at digital marketing, even if you aren’t technologically skilled, diving right in is the best way to learn! Canva is a great website to easily create stunning graphics, social media holidays are a great way to churn out more content, and a good Google Sheet goes miles in keeping all your planned posts organized!

Creating content for social media is like solving a puzzle. You start with a few pieces you know you have, and you slowly add on element after element. Sometimes certain aspects won’t fit exactly right. But after a series of trial and error, constantly fixing each component, suddenly everything fits together perfectly. The persistence to creatively problem solve is what makes the perfect social post, and the perfect mindset to solve any challenge life throws your way!