I have been a big supporter of providing students with real-world, applied, and integrated projects they can use as part of their portfolios as they enter the workplace.
Several of my students this semester have not gotten the chance to do an internship – and by taking my social media class – they have not only the opportunity to create a strong strategic social media proposal, but one for real clients.
#Freberg15 [my social media class this semester] has two amazing clients this semester with two leading social media, marketing, and branding professionals here in Louisville. Gathan Borden and Bella Portaro are two leading professionals I have had the chance to meet over the last few years virtually and in person.
Gathan and Bella meeting #Freberg15 today in class for client introductions
Gathan represents the Louisville Convention & Visitor’s Bureau – a HUGE presence here in Louisville that is in charge of all of the tourism, conventions, and generating awareness/PR for the city. Bella Portaro works with the Unbridled Eve Gala event, which is part of the Kentucky Derby event line up and one of the premier events to go to.
Each client has two student groups working on social media campaign proposals for them this semester. Each group will be producing a social media campaign proposal [a group project] and will do final client presentations at the end of the semester during finals week.
What does the social media campaign proposal assignment entail? Well, I like to tell my students in this assignment, I serve as an “honorary group member” where I am available to bounce off ideas in brainstorming sessions. I also tell them that I will be like Anton Ego, and will ask them throughout the process: What does the student have that is new for social media? 🙂
I have really enjoyed seeing what the students have done over the years for their social media campaign proposals. Some have had the opportunity to actually implement them for their clients after they finish the class while others used these as an example of their work to get jobs.
As a professor, I find it very rewarding to see the growth among the students over the course of four months in their strategic thinking, creative brainstorming, and systematic approach and drive to make the best product possible for their clients.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
