Volunteering in Social Media: Help a non-profit, help your career

Volunteering in Public Relations

When you are new to an industry, every day is a learning experience – especially when it comes to the social media industry. A few months back I started at BG as an account coordinator, and since then have been taking in everything I can about social media marketing. I have participated in brainstorms about social media strategy, managed social media measurement for clients and attended trainings on best practices for various social media platforms. With all this background I was ready to take on a new challenge – the actual execution of a social media campaign. Enter volunteering. By giving my time for free, I am able to not only to help a non-profit using my skills, but to gain experience for my career, and my agency, along the way.

I am now part of the social media team for a local marketing organization (PRSA San Diego) and have been tasked with the daily management of their social media program. As I’ve settled into my role here I’ve realized there are quite a few things that you can learn about social media by volunteering.

Here’s what you can learn by volunteering:

• Finding a company voice – When you are running your own account, the only voice you have to take into account is your own. However, when running an account on behalf of a client, it’s important to learn how to portray the organization’s voice consistently.

• How to adjust/create a strategy - As with any new social media program, begin with research, do some benchmark reporting, then create a plan and goals for the account.

• How to get creative - Since you aren’t working on a company client there are less limitations and boundaries. You can take this opportunity to get a little creative, try a new platform, and test out different approaches to your strategy.

• What works and what does not – As the account grows, you will see what types of posts garner more interaction, what time of day posts are re-tweeted most, what words/tone is best, etc. These types of issues are discussed frequently at Bailey Gardiner, however being the one to actually make the updates will teach you subtleties in execution that you could not have picked up from reading or listening.

I recommend new PR pros (or anyone new to their industry for that matter) consider volunteering in the industry in which they work. As someone new to the PR industry, I can attest that volunteering is a great way to gain firsthand knowledge and experience, not to mention networking.

So, how will you volunteer in your industry?

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