Social Media Marketer Spotlight : Georgina Thomas, Marketing Assistant at Tilhill Forestry
Continuing our social media marketer spotlight we interview Georgina Thomas, Georgina is a part-time Assistant Marketing Manager at Tilhill Forestry, the leading forestry and timber harvesting and marketing company in the UK. Georgina is also a freelance Social Media and Marketing Manager at her company Carbn for a clothing company and a cat rescue charity. She also works around the clock as a local Conservative Councillor and School Governor.
Years Experience:
1 year Tilhill
9 years Music Industry
15 years marketing
The Questions:
What does your day to day work consist of?
My day to day work varies dramatically from one job to the other but as a Marketing Assistant at Tilhill Forestry it involves creating and scheduling content whether photos, videos, articles and blogs. I collect content from over 200 staff members across the company and work out ways of sharing it. I also create our company newsletters, create adverts, update the website, market our events and create press releases all whilst engaging with potential clients and the forestry industry.
What are the challenges you face as a social media marketer?
The challenges are staying creative all of the time, you have to stay engaged with the digital marketing world to always ensure you are learning and keeping things fresh and keeping you and the company you work for relevant. Also it can be a challenge as a modern day marketer to keep all your different plates spinning with the multiple things you have to deliver. There used to be a job role for individual operations such as PR, writing, filming etc but now you need to be able to film, edit and post, write, publish and distribute all whilst keeping a high quality output.
Are there any social media tools you use to make your job easier?
I live by Buffer as my scheduling tool, I have been through a few and have settled with this one as I have really got to know it. I absolutely love Canva to create my visual posts, it's so easy and has a resize tool so I can make the correct sizes for all the social media platforms. I use Biteable for quick videos and mailchimp for newsletters. I also use Evernote for my note keeping and use Lucy Hall's Social media and Content Planner as it thoroughly helps me structure my work week.
There are so many changes in social media, where do you go to get the latest information and stay on top of your game?
I use Social day updates for the industry and read tonnes of up-to-date articles from across the web. I listen to Gary Vee's podcast on the way to work as he gets me fired up and usually helps me unlock creative ideas. I swear by Lucy hall's Little Book of Social media for tips, ideas and inspiration throughout my day.
For someone looking to get into a social media role, where would you advise them to start?
I would advise them to practice with offering their services for free to help a family member or a friend or even a charity. Use this opportunity to experiment with posts and platforms that you find work well. Invest time in the craft and network with other digital marketers and social media managers at events such as Social Day. Learn through articles, blogs and others too. Practice running adverts, creating email newsletters.
What's been your best social media success story to date and why?
There is no one particular success story as everyday offers a new win, whether it's a full house to our event, reaching 8,000 views on a one minute video organically, reaching an all high time in graduate sign ups for our programme or getting press coverage in several publications for our press release. In Social Media you can't predict the success of your posts or content so when something exciting happens such as a surge during a campaign it's a wonderful feeling.
Finally, has been your favourite social media campaign (Big or Small) this year so far and why?
I loved getting involved in Women's International Day and creating fun posts as part of the #BalanceForBetter movement. I got to collaborate with another company to start trending the hashtag #Ilooklikeaforester it was such a rewarding campaign and enjoyable to participate.
I also loved our first theme of the year 'Our People' which focused on Q&A's across the company which I was able to promote on socials, it felt like such an organic creative way of getting our expertise out to our audience.
Contact / Socials:
www.facebook.com/tilhillforestry
www.instagram.com/tilhillforestry
www.twitter.com/tilhillforestry
www.linkedin.com/tilhillforestry