A Very Social Introduction

My name is Lauren Bowes, and I am a recent college grad. Welcome to my blog! I hope to entice, entertain and inform you with my Social Media experiences-- but first, let's get the basics down.

Social Media as a career was never something I actively pursued. I sort of fell into it, and since then I've encountered my fair share of obstacles and triumphs. My Social Media career started following a very brief period of unemployment immediately after graduating. I received my B.A. in Advertising/Public Relations from the University of Central Florida  and was ready to enter the PR field the day I graduated. I've always been a go-getter, and with one internship under my belt I knew I was ready to break into the biz.

 While searching for the perfect PR job, I stumbled upon a  local PR firm's website. I met with my would-be boss for an interview, where we discussed my previous experience with Social Media that I acquired during my internship. Luckily, I came prepared with a few samples of Social content for restaurants, a design studio and a natural deodorant company. A couple emails and a one week trial period later, I was an Account Executive/Social Media Specialist at Bitner/Hennessy PR.

As I began the  nerve-racking process of learning the ropes at my new job, I began noticing a trend with my new clients: while most had a Facebook or Twitter account, Bitner/Hennessy wasn't in control of them. Red flags went up immediately. For the past two semesters at school and during my internship, I had the marketing benefits of Social Media repeatedly drilled into my head to the point where I knew Social Media was now a huge part of the PR world. So shouldn't my new company be taking advantage of it?

My boss, Kimbra, has been doing PR since before I was born. She's amazing at what she does, and I soon found out that her business partner, Nancy, is equally as brilliant in PR. What I soon learned, however, is that neither of these talented ladies had really dabbled in the rapidly expanding world of Social Media. It quickly became clear to me that Social Media was a form of PR Bitner/Hennessy could be tapping into, and I knew I could contribute to the process with my Social experience.

With Kimbra's blessing, I devised a package plan for Social Media services.Together we approached clients about helping them with their Facebook and Twitter accounts and started to build up a clientele for Bitner/Hennessy's Social Media services.

With this blog, it is my goal to bring the importance of Social Media to light, to inform readers on the best Social Media practices and emerging trends, and to share my experiences with Social Media. For privacy purposes, I will not specifically name my clients or share links to their respective Social sites, but I will be as detailed as possible in writing about my experiences.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to The Social Life!