ISU Pop Up Shop

During my senior year at Iowa State University, I was offered the opportunity to work on the ISU Pop Up Shop's Instagram. It is an event that offers gently-used free business attire to all students to prepare for the career fair, interviews, conferences, etc. The event lasts two days every semester. I was hired as the Social Media and Public Relations Intern for the start of Spring 2023. When I graduated, I was invited to continue my services.

My role is to:

Create a social presence for the event
Create content that advertises the shop's impact
Build partnerships with student organizations, community businesses, and alumni

Social Presence

My goals to increase social presence:

Branding

My plan is to strengthen the page's brand image to have a cohesive look, archive posts & story highlights that did not apply to the present or future.

Technology

Created a Linkt.ree that has more information about the organization's cause and ways to connect.

I am currently in the process of a creating a website.

Engagement

My plans are the increase educational, informative and personable content that aligns with Gen Z's values on professionalism.

Advertising Impact

My goals to increase advertising shop's impact:

Analyzing Impact

Finding out how the Pop Up directly impacts students.

Increase Advertising

Increasing marketing avenues all throughout campus.

Building Partnerships

My goals to increase and strengthen partnerships:

Student Organizations

Identifying other student organizations that pursue similar goals and interests as ours, and figuring out how we can support each other

Local Community

Identifying businesses in the community that pursue similar goals and interests as ours, and figuring out how we can support each other

Challenges & How I Overcame Them

CHALLENGES:

When I interned, I had to work remotely because I was studying overseas for the semester. It presented unique challenges such as:

Differing time zones created a barrier for communication
Creating content without the raw materials to do so (capturing new photos, videos, etc.)
Since the event only took place once a semester, it was tough to create posts when there was nothing going on for the remainder of the term

SOLUTIONS:

The team started creating bi-weekly zoom meetings while I was overseas
When I relocated back to Ames after graduation, I started most of my work in-person.
- I only work remotely 1x per week
During my internship, I used professional copy-right free photos for the time-being
- I plan to take more photos and videos of the event now that I am back in town
I created a sound-board list with all of my future content ideas related to professional attire and the workplace (ex: dress codes, holidays, history facts, memes, etc.) , and then compiled them into a Social Media Calendar
- Therefore, even if the event isn't happening, I still have a lot of material to work with!