MARKETING AND AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING - I School
As a social media communications intern for the UC Berkeley School of Information, I led Facebook advertising campaigns for their Masters of Information Management (MIMS) program. This process involved strategizing target audiences, installing the Facebook pixel, designing advertisements, and organizing a weekly budget from 7 months prior to the program application deadline.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - The Daily Cal
As the current social media deputy editor for the Daily Californian, I am in charge of publishing posts for breaking news briefs and overseeing our social staff. Each workday, I review 10-20 posts designed on X, Facebook, and Instagram, editing for AP Style, clarity, and style. Below are a few examples of breaking news posts I have designed and published.
AD SALES AND BUDGETING - The Highlander
Since Carlmont’s publications are entirely self-funded, I was in charge of managing all advertisement and subscription sales for our $20,000 budget. All money raised went toward print and production costs for Highlander, upholding the website for Scot Scoop, and funding journalism competition costs. Each journalism student is required to raise at least $250 per semester, which primarily comes through ad sales.
Below is a visualization of our budget and income progress from the first semester of the school year.
AD ORGANIZATION
For each issue of Highlander, we had around 10-30 ads to organize throughout the spreads. To do so, I used both Trello and Google documents to keep track of each ad sale and set up the page order.
Utilizing ad insertion orders are essential to the organization of sales. In the process of selling an ad, students provided this page for companies to specify the rates, sizing, and other details.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
As another method of self-funding, we offered $30 per year subscriptions so readers can get all six issues delivered straight to their doorstep. Typically, we targeted these subscriptions toward families and friends of students so they can have their own copy at home. Listed below are the details of issue 2 sent to Aprintis, the site we use to order physical copies of Highlander.
AD DESIGN - The Highlander
For each ad, we offered a free ad design service for the companies that do not already have one to provide. Along with my managing editors, I designed around 5 ads per issue that are organized throughout Highlander.
STUDENT BODY ENGAGEMENT - The Highlander
As a campus newsmagazine, it was essential to us that we knew our audience, what they like, and how to address their interests throughout Highlander. Addressing the needs of our student population remained a top priority as we planned the pitches, writing process, and design of each issue.
OUR GOALS:
Ensure Highlander spreads — both writing and design — appeal to our community
Effectively promote each issue to the student body
HOW WE ACCOMPLISH THEM:
1. TRELLO AND PITCH MEETINGS
Trello was the app we used to organize pitches for both class periods in each issue of Highlander. We managed the pitches to avoid overlapping ideas between the issues and ensured they correspond to our first goal of appealing to our community. To do so, I added a category within writers’ pitch requirements where they specifically outline how their story connects back to the student body.
Period 5 Highlander Trello boards for issue 4
To the right is an example of a Trello board pitch by one journalism student. In her pitch, she specifically outlined her angle, why it is unique, how it connects to the student body. Additionally, she attached her design ideas for the spread.
After each person has pitched an idea for their issue, I lead discussions with my managing and section editors about which pitches can be approved, adapted, or re-developed. During this process, we considered the “connection to the student body” aspect of each student’s pitch heavily. If the story idea did not relate to members of our community, editors worked with their writers to re-formulate a new idea.
2. MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTION AND PROMOTION
One of my primary goals for my senior year involved increasing student body engagement with Highlander. To do so, we worked with our social media team to market each issue on both Instagram and Twitter. Hoping to make copies accessible to every student, we distributed 50 copies to each English classroom. Beyond this, we place free copies on our newspaper box and create chalk murals in a prominent area to advertise each issue.
Issue one of Highlander is advertised on our chalk wall, with a “Burn Book” cover drawn on to symbolize that issue’s theme of “Defying Student Labels.”
Posing next to the “free newspaper box” displaying our first issue!
Showing off our first mailed-in copies of the year!
Journalism students Leanna Gower, Phoebe Gulsen, and Amber Chia plan to deliver issue 2 to classrooms.
We also used Instagram to promote each Highlander issue online, typically highlighting the theme of the center spread. You can view examples of this promotion below.