By Sezin Topaloglu: BSc Marketing 2nd year
As a part of my 2nd year Marketing degree at the University of Bristol, I am excited to say that I’ve completed my social media placement at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. It has been an incredibly comprehensive and invaluable experience, significantly enhancing my social media skills and deepening my knowledge of plants. Throughout this placement, I engaged in a variety of tasks that allowed me to develop a strong understanding of content creation and social media strategy.
As a part of the social media strategy, I have used various analytics tools to track engagement such as instagram insights and analyzing the performance of previous posts which have shaped our content strategy. By analyzing the performance of previous posts, I’ve identified the trends and preferences of our target audience. The video content, especially reels, were more successful in driving engagement compared to photos. Therefore, I focused on capturing high-quality video content that captured the beauty of the garden through the storytelling approach using the POV (point of view) format.
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I have created narratives around the seasonal changes in the garden while providing an immersive experience for the followers. One major project during my placement was helping my placement providers, Andy and Corinne, organize the Easter Sculpture Festival by creating my first promotional reel on Instagram to generate awareness and excitement about the event. This has not only improved my content creation skills but also improved my teamwork and communication skills as a part of the professional skillset. We have managed to increase the number of followers by 2.8% in less than 6 months through the consistent use of storytelling and POV (point of view) reels.
This placement not only enhanced my professional skill set but also encouraged a greater appreciation for nature and its beauty while allowing me to learn about various plant species and their responses to seasonal changes. My favorite moments were touring around the garden to shoot content for the Instagram reels as it always made me feel so peaceful and grounded. It was a reminder for me to be in the moment and appreciate my surroundings especially during times I was overwhelmed. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the garden’s social media presence and witness the positive impact of our efforts.