CRyder Design

Over the past few weeks, I have spent time developing a social media strategy pitch for the Herff Jones Yearbook brand. As someone who has never dove too deep into the inner workings of social media in the past, it was surprising how much the insights from initial research were used to inform the direction of the pitch. In the pitch, I identified organizational goals and key findings from prior research, as well as presented big ideas, S.M.A.R.T. goals, key metrics, an influencer campaign, a potential paid advertisement, a proposed budget, and the roles needed to execute the proposed strategy. 

Why HJ Yearbook?

As a young teen who was a part of the ever-so-popular (kidding) yearbook committee, my team and I used the HJ Yearbook software. During this time as a yearbookee, I was introduced to the wonderful world of graphic design through the Adobe Creative Suite. Now, I know you may be thinking “Okay, and? So what?” Well, little did I know at the time, but this would be the entry into my future. From that moment, I began to develop my college hopes and dreams around being a graphic designer and where it had the potential to take me outside of my small town.

A few short years later, I was off to college to study Graphic and Interactive Design (and would later find my NEW love for User Experience and User Interface Design) and follow my dreams. I would not have found my love for digital arts if it wasn’t for this program, and if they helped me, I would love to help them develop the spark in other students that I found in myself.

The Pitch

For a description of the social media pitch, in a nutshell, I thought that HJ Yearbook could benefit from giving its social media a little more time and love. I proposed that they should spend more time listening to and interacting with their audience, and meet them where they already are. As well as hiring the necessary personnel to execute the strategy (as well as providing them with a potential budget to do so)! Although their social media may seem up to date, the minimal (at best) engagement that they get is not going to cut it in the long run. This little bit of extra effort in the social media department could help them drive their sales through the roof with time.

Moving Ahead

I had a great time learning the ins and outs of the HJ Yearbook social media, and I loved learning about all of the working parts of the Social Media Practice course. I can’t wait to put my newly developed skills to the test in my career in the future, and help out the social media and marketing departments where I can! If you have an interest in developing a pitch, even if it’s just for fun, I would highly recommend that you do it!