It is week-seven of the Breaking Down social Media Campaign, and if you are still following along with me, thank you! I am a tad emotional today because today marks the end this journey. Although as I sit here looking over my accomplishments and thinking of the future, this is hardly the end! In fact, it’s really all just getting started. I have had a difficult last few weeks, as you all are somewhat aware. I have been pulled away from the original plan a few times now and I must say I have been my worst critic this entire time. But why? Well if you know me, you know I take pride in the things that I do and to be utterly honest, I fear what people may think. There is a vulnerability component to always sharing ones experience. My goal here was to blog this journey with authenticity and raw accounts of the experience of completing this project and not just sharing these accounts through some rose-colored lenses. By being transparent as I have been, it can be frighting at times. But then I remember, I am beyond proud of myself and thankful for this experience. According to David Cummings on Project Management in Entrepreneurship and start-up’s, “one important…trait is being able to see and appreciate what will be achieved in the future, even when others around you have a hard time seeing the potential.”
The Finishing Touches
I have spent the last week adding, editing, and reviewing all of the work I have created up to this point. Everything from the number of reports I have listed, the social media content, and my annotated bibliography (hope you didn’t forget about that one). I also created a separate page one my site which is a full account of the progress made over the last seven weeks (click here to view the Content Creation Project page). It has been a busy week with making final touches, playing catch up due to all the bumps in the road, and you know what? It’s all done! Now the official launch will not be happening until this Sunday but I am so excited for it. I have said it before but with all the bumps in the road due to the pandemic and family matters, I oddly am thankful for being able to find the time to nurture this project to full completion and be able to deliver and launch a campaign that is rooted in research. The devil is in the details. According to the Vela Strategic Marketing Agency, “rushing the creative process is dangerous because it allows details to get overlooked or problems to get pushed aside for later, resulting in a frantic last-minute panic.” My sights were set on the bigger picture the whole time, but I found myself rushing through some of the most important materials to ensure the launch could happen well within the seven week timeframe; and because of being pulled away from the original plan, I was able to see and understand how important patience really is in the project management process. I am happy to say that I now have final drafts to be proud of. The audience report (click here to view), style guide (click here to view), a completed annotated bibliography (click here to view) and a fully completed content factory for the first eleven weeks of the launch!
Seven Weeks of True Reflection
I said earlier in the post that I was a bit emotional over the completion of this project, which is true. However, it is really only the completion of one chapter of a much larger story. The research and pre-poduction, and production phases are done and now it’s time to finally launch Breaking Down PR. With over eleven weeks of content created with solid plans and research backing it all up, now it’s time for a new chapter to begin. Before I get into the future plans, I want to briefly reflect on these last seven weeks. One of the many thing’s I have learned on this journey, is the importance of self-reflection in project management. According to Anthony Cody from the Bucks Institute for Education PBL Works; “Reflection challenges us to think deeply about how and why we learn (or do NOT learn). When we reflect, we can make personal connections to the learning process, which increasing ownership of our new knowledge and skills.”
I started out on this journey feeling incredibly unconfident about completing or even getting started on this project. Life was crazy as it was already, how was I going to manage this? I think much of my accomplishments and my spirit stems from the support, and the feed back I received over the last few weeks from my professor(s) and colleagues. I also believe that I learned an incredible amount about myself and project management all at the same time during this process. I learned a great deal about patience and not beating myself when life got in the way. I owned my flaws every step of the way in this journey and in many ways, it is so inspiring to now see this campaign ready to be launched. I have held a number of social media relations positions and not one of them ever required me to create a whole campaign from scratch. The brand style guide, the tone, the persona, the target audience reports were already created by the time I got there. It was my job to just create social media posts that fit into that brand identity. This was truly my first time creating a campaign from start to finish, and I couldn’t be happier!
The Future of Breaking Down PR
The fun does not stop here! While the bulk of the research is done, the content is created, this campaign will always be evolving. The Instagram is now completed with the first promo image posted. Now don’t get too excited! The page is currently set to private until Sunday. I have created a whole launch schedule with promotional details (click here to view) for Sunday. I will follow the schedule outlined (11 weeks worth) and add to it along the way. I plan to collect engagement data which could take anywhere from a few short weeks to months to be able to actually make genuine changes to posting habits and content material. I see Breaking Down PR as being a baby of sorts. Perhaps that is a strange comparison but it is true! I created this campaign from scratch and I am just so excited to see where it goes. I do plan on recording the experience as well on this blog as I feel as though this blog hold be accountable and I enjoy that aspect greatly. To view my last production journal, please click here.
A special thank you to my content creation professor, my advisors, friends, family, and readers for the continued support.
Thanks for Reading!
-Austin
The Media Relations Nomad 