A third year Commerce student majoring in Marketing Management, Patrick Henderson has spent his 2^nd co-op work term as a Digital Marketing Intern for T4G Limited, an IT consulting firm with offices across Canada. As his work term winds down, Patrick contributed this post to update us on his experience at T4G and the new app project he’s excited to be a part of.

If you’re as indecisive as I am when considering your future career path, taking a moment to consider what you want out of your work term before embarking on your job search can make all the difference in job satisfaction. Is there a specific industry you would like to work in? What weaknesses are you looking to improve on?

Personally, I gravitate toward job descriptions that offer a wide variety of tasks and opportunities to grow in as many different areas of marketing as possible. I have used a combination of MCS workshops – the LinkedIn workshop I found especially useful – and myCareer postings to find my past work terms with great success. Choosing my applications wisely, I have found that I am able to find organizations whose values I identify with, such as my current work term as a Digital Marketing Intern with T4G Limited.

The wide variety of projects I have been a part of on this work term have been paramount in developing a diverse career portfolio. Exposure to different projects has also allowed me to narrow down my career goals through learning which kinds of tasks I enjoy more than others. In particular, being given the opportunity to create and implement the social media strategy for our Apps 4 Halifax submission, Smilie.st, has given me invaluable insight and experience in the digital strategy field.

Developing and implementing the social media strategy for the Smilie.st app meant that I had to work closely with my team and project lead to create an Editorial Calendar. The Editorial Calendar helps to strategically plan which pieces of content will be posted on Social Media and through which channel(s).  We have also developed a voice standard through which posts are written to ensure we consistently deliver our messages on-brand. I utilize Facebook Insights data to determine when Smiliest’s fans are online in order to ensure my posts are seen by fans. I make note of important dates, like #GivingTuesday, or events such as the Halifax Parade of Lights, and myself or another team member cover the event live through social media in a “mobile journalism” format that helps generate awareness of and engagement with the brand/app.

How does the app work? We want to celebrate what’s great about where people work, live and play in the Halifax Region. Users can snap a photo of what makes them smile and share it with us on Instagram using #HFXSmiles. These happy pics then land on http://www.smilies.st/ AND sometimes appear in the real world too (so keep your eyes open). You can find us on Twitter and Instagram (@thesmiliest) and Facebook. For each smile shared with us, up to a target of 10,000, T4G is going to donate $0.50 to the IWK Health Centre Foundation. There are so many reasons to smile, why not share yours?