My Career & Such...

This past Thursday & Friday DC Networks traveled to St. Louis to explore advertising/PR agencies around the area. Essentially, the trip was a "career quest," or a way for students to learn more about agency life, network with potential employees and explore the opportunities St. Louis had to offer.

It sounds silly, but I feel the need to blog about my experience as a way to organize my thoughts! No, I won't be receiving a grade for my efforts (like I did last semester) but I hope that using this blog outside of a class setting will help me build my experience with social media (see below) and help me process my journey in pursuing a career in advertising and public relations.

To start, here are some of the key things I learned from the networking trip:
1. I need to get a Twitter/Linkedin account.
2. Most employees are impressed with our generation's knowledge of social media - if I want to impress potential employees, I need to show I am engaged and actively seeking to educate myself on such a topic.
3. Internships are ESSENTIAL. Often times, 1-2 internships won't set students above the rest. Several of the agencies stated 3-5 internships would be needed before even expressing an interest in a new hire.
4. I still don't know if a small or large agency is better suited for me, or if nonprofit is the way to go!

I learned a lot about myself and a lot about my potential career - but instead of elaborating on that, I'll start with an addition to # 2: social media. I am currently enrolled in a class called "Strategic Media." One of our first assignments is to subscribe to "mediapost.com" and explore the website. At first I was a bit hesitant - I hate signing up for things online - but after I realized the website is an extraordinary tool for those in Ad/PR, I changed my mind. Already, I have gained new and exciting insights on the world of social media/marketing:

First, it looks as if Facebook will be surpassing Myspace in terms of viewership and popularity. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/13/social-networking-will-facebook-overtake-myspace-in-the-us-in-2009/). Although stats prove that Myspace has over a quarter million more users than Facebook, it doesn't surprise me that it might eventually dominate the social media scene! I've never had success with Myspace (not sure I ever figured out how to use it correctly) and it seems as if Facebook is a bit more user friendly. Heck, if my aunt can figure it out - anyone can! Sure, I liked it back in 2005 when Facebook was exclusively for college students, but it's nice to have some way to connect with long lost friends in a not-socially-akward-manner. Looks like others are jumping on the bandwagon too! I'm interested to see how advertisers use this form of media to target their audience... more later on that!

Second, the increase in the popularity of cell phones/smart phones has caused a clash with media spending. From what I understand, companies are now realizing the importance of digital media and are looking to alter spending efforts on traditional media as a way to reach their targets. I remember reading an article in Advertising Age that highlighted the trends in cellular ads. As of last year, most cell phone advertising was target at younger males. However, it look as if that will be changing in the near future! As cell phones transform into hand held computers, companies will have to learn to take advantage of the mobile market. For now, I'll enjoy my cell phone as simple a calling device.

That's all the info I have for now! I'm not sure how insightful it was, but it sure helped me process :)