This day in my life...

"You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you."

- Joseph Campbell

Fantastic. Looking towards the next days in my life in such an amazing way...

Until another day in the life...

It's all a learning process...

I am slowly (painfully?) learning that everything is a learning process (even finding out that everything is a learning process has been a learning process.) Confused yet?

I have a lot of experience with social media. Not just the normal, "I use facebook and twitter 12 of my 13 waking hours a day" experience, but also experience in developing and utilizing social media for networking, business building, etc. What I am realizing is that I still have a lot to learn. With two months open, my twitter site for the spa & salon has just over 100 followers, a number that was reached in the first three (ish) weeks of being launched. (My personal site is pathetic...)

There is a lot to be said for the fact that the effectiveness of social media is most definitely not based on the number of followers you have but as Social Media Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Marketing are Now the Same Thing (read the article, draw your own conclusions), I feel that the number of followers you have does have an effect on your reach in your audience (Obvious? Maybe.)

So here is my endeavor - to sharpen my ax (as it is so eloquently put in a devotional that my mother sends me daily... this one was relevant). I want to learn how to more effectively use my social media sites (personal and professional) to reach my intended audience. So I am going to do it. Learning process commencing now.

I think I might start with Kyle Lacy's "Branding Yourself" or "Twitter Marketing for Dummies."

Yet another day in the life (of an entry-level PR professional).

The beginning of the end...

Soooo. Last week was the last full week of my internship hours at the Conrad. Because I am completing my hours today, I decided to be a bit belated in my blogging and write today for last week and this week. Last week I worked on updating our social media to include pictures of our facility as well as pictures of our work. I also opened a Yelp business profile and created a Google profile page which you can view at the links included at the bottom of this post.

In addition to the work I did regarding social media, I also continued to work on building partnerships with businesses around the city. I compiled a list of possible partners with whom I have talked recently and included the contact's name, contact information, the website of the business (if available) and information regarding what the partnership would entail as well as details about my discussions with the contacts.


Along with my parternship write - up I also included a business pitch to our director regarding a business that I believe we should partner with. The pitch included the mission of the business as well as details of the work they do. Because the pitch deals with selling the company's product in our salon, I also included pictures of the product and an explanation of why I felt that the company would fit with our mission, vision and goals.



Today I am continuing to monitor our social media and make updates and I am working on getting things ready to continue with a few projects that I am currently working on. After my internship is complete, I will continue to work on our social media guide (when it is completed, it will have instructions for editing and updating our sites alongside picture guides to make it more visual). I will also continue to work on our website which, though launched, still has things to be added, completed, and updated.


Make sure to check out our Google Profile and Yelp pages!

Google Profile
Yelp

Let's do launch.

So today was an exciting day to end quite a busy week. Not only did I spend quite a bit of time updating and developing our social media pages (which are coming along nicely, if I do say so myself), I also spent a good deal of time working to develop partnerships with other companies. Last night I attended Schmoozapalooza to eat, talk, get free stuff and, well, schmooz my little heart out. And schmooz I did. I talked with three different companies about working with Evan Todd to build ongoing relationships that will continue to grow as we build packages with each of the companies individually. It was exciting to be able to do this for a company that I am coming to love working for and, also, to get the experience of pitching partnerships in a relaxed setting.

I also began working with a designer we have hired (who also happens to be my wonderful father... talk about networking) on business cards that will contain our contact information as well as our social media sites and a place for our stylists to write their names when they hand them out. (Because we are an Aveda salon, the process of getting personalized business cards for our stylists is tricky and this seemed to be one of the better routes to take.) I am also working with our designer to design a bridal piece that will be inserted in the bridal packets that go to people who are saying their "I do's" at the Conrad. It is a new experience for me to be working with a designer (especially one I am related to) but I am excited to do it... not to mention that I think my dad is very talented and I was able to get a slightly lower rate for Evan Todd because I used my connections.

We also hosted two bridal open houses today to show off our space to local wedding planners, coordinators, etc. Both were very successful and I was so happy to be a part of them and be able to use the knowledge I have gained about Evan Todd in a more personalized way!

)))DRUM ROLL PLEASE(((

I mentioned that today was exciting and I am sure that you have been waiting anxiously to hear why... well maybe not, but today, after weeks of hard work, editing, learning to write HTML, learning to edit a site.... I have successfully launched my first website and am so excited to announce it!

And so should you be! Check it out! :)

www.evantoddindianapolis.com

Now for a nap. Just another day in the life...

Websites and Partnerships

This week has been fairly slow but still interesting. I spent a small portion of time creating an informational card listing our current specials and preparing them for distribution in the hotel (I would include a picture but apparently the file got deleted). I also began meetings to discuss a partnership with our wine bar, Tastings. I attended my first PR/Marketing/Sales meeting on behalf of Evan Todd and worked with Element Three on finishing our website. The website will be launched no later than Friday and I will include a link in this week's blog. I have been continuing our social media development and will be announcing our follower of the week for last week tomorrow morning. We have had great social media involvement already and I am happy to see that it is starting to pick up.

We also received a great review from Pretty Indy and one from local PR "guru" Elizabeth Friedland both of which you can read at the links below:

Elizabeth Friedland - Circle City Snark

Pretty Indy - Pretty Indy

More to come this week and stay tuned for our website launch! (Which I wrote quite a bit of the copy for and edited! So excited!)

This week at Emmis I did more office work and worked on the 1070 the fan sports calendar. I also worked the IREM Indy Run for Ronald where more than $11,000 was raised for Riley services!

Promotions, Promotions, Promotions...

This week I have been working on promoting the social media that I set up last week. In order to gain followers and, thus, increase awareness of the salon - which will hopefully increase business - we have set up a promotion for those who follow us on Twitter and Facebook. On Friday we will be drawing one follower from each site to receive a free haircut and style at the salon. In order to promote this, I designed and wrote copy for a promotional card which sits at the front desk of the hotel, the front desk of the salon, and has been distributed at Emmis (where I am doing my other internship) and Indianapolis Monthly due to the large amount of traffic they receive within our target audience. So, without further ado, here is the promotional card:

I have also designed a 20% off card for those who receive our complimentary seated chair massages in the lobby of the hotel. The colors and design have been changed a bit to avoid reprinting of the coupons!

I have also been promoting through social media and trying to draw users. We, as of this moment, have 60 followers on Facebook (which is not bad for not promoting the site until this week) and 19 followers on Twitter which I would like to increase by promoting through the Conrad and other promotions. We have also put out our new client promotions and a new service promotion for our spray tanning services. We have been promoting the heck out of the company -- you should all stop in!

Emmis -- Well, last week I did not grace the halls of Emmis because my office hours fell during a holiday, but this week I spent filing filing filing away sales invoices and creating an event photo recap collage (Below). Friday I will be working the Relay for Life with Hank FM which should be fun. I hope to also post photos from all of the events I worked recently. 

More posts later! 

Oh -- like us on Facebook -- www.facebook.com/EvanToddIndianapolis and follow us on Twitter -- www.twitter.com/evantoddindpls!

What I've been up to...

Not at Emmis this week because of wonderful Memorial Day (thank you troops, veterans, all) but I have been busy at Conrad Indianapolis! I made the final edits to our website copy and launched our three social media sites which you can check out at the links below. Today - working on writing up our social media guide so other people are aware of how to update each site and probably doing some article research to include in the packet for people to read up on proper etiquette, etc. (Social media training may be expensive, right, but simple awareness of etiquette doesn't have to be!) Hoping to get to writing some bios of our staff if I make it through everything else today so we will see where the day leads me... click the links, check them out, remember we just started so they might be a bit bare at the moment!

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