My Erasmus Traineeship in Marketing
Coming from working in a full service marketing agency in Cologne in Germany my Erasmus visit to Belfast is based around achieving the following objectives:
– to learn about more about online marketing and tools
– to gain experience abroad and get to know other cultures
– to improve my English language – written and oral skills
On my first day in work in Belfast I spent time with Chartered Marketer and founder of TrainingMatchmaker.com Christine Watson defining my learning goals and training plan for the month ahead. My month long digital marketing skills development plan is full of free online learning, complemented by attendance at face to face learning opportunities and skills practice. The learning that I will undertake includes aspiration to complete the following courses:Hootsuite Academy – Introduction to Social Media
– online videos to learn who is using social media and which networks appeal to which demographics. The Hootsuite Academy also offers free online training on How to use the Hootsuite scheduling platform – so that you can plan your posts for specific days and times in advance on a number of social media networks.Google Digital Garage
– Free tutorials from Google on everything from your website to online marketing and beyond. I can choose the topics that I want to learn, or complete the whole online course for a certification from Google and IAB Europe. I aspire to complete all 23 topics in order to earn the esteemed Digital Garage Certificate of Online Proficiency. 102 certification topics and bonus materials my investment in time will be approximately 50 minutes per session.Google Breakfast Briefing
– a one hour seminar in Google European Headquarters in Dublin which teaches attendees various Google platforms and marketing channels. The 3 August Google breakfast briefing focuses on the interesting platform YouTube and is led by the YouTube Ireland Lead – Elaine Doyle.YouTube PlayBook for Creative Advertising
– a free online guide on how to be an expert in YouTube. You have the possibility to choose between 4 courses: YouTube Basic, creative studio, media plan and topline – strategies and analytics tools that will help you grow your YouTube audience.The Art of Storytelling by Disney Pixar with Khan Academy
– this course is all about the topics that make a story great and what makes someone a good storytellerVideo editing using iMovie
– a one hour face to face tutorial on how to edit video content using iMovie courtesy of the Apple store in BelfastFacebook Blueprint
– in this course you learn the best practices of Facebook marketing and how you can use Facebook effectivelyHarvard University – EdX
– with 1,700 courses to choose from across all sorts of disciplines I chose to study: ‘Leaders of Learning‘Twitter Flight school
– Twitter is a platform that I have not been using in my traineeship in Germany, however my Erasmus Traineeship in the United Kingdom has raised it as being a popular UK social network platform that I should be aware of and learn to upskill in. My traineeship with TrainingMatchmaker.com also requires weekly online networking activity on a Thursday evening between the hours of 9pm and 10pm using the hashtag: #BelfastHour.Snapchat Explore
– an all-inclusive learning experience to learn all about Snapchat, lead generation, strategies for designing and advertising on the platform Other skills development areas that I plan to build over my month with TrainingMatchmaker.com in Belfast include:- The Content Marketing Matrix and The Content Distribution Matrix
- The Marketing Technology Landscape
- Website Development – Using WordPress
- Blogging: Writing blog posts
- Using Instagram for Business including posting to Instagram TV
- Using Pinterest and creating Pinboards
- An Introduction to LinkedIn
- Video creation and editing using the free Quik App by GoPro and Lumen5
- Photoshoots and creating Photo Briefs – my Traineeship Employment is supervised by a Chartered Marketer – Christine Watson and she has recommended that I become familiar with creating a photobrief to help manage photoshoot activity.
- Events Marketing – my Traineeship Employer has identified a free face to face learning event entitled: Marketing Attractions, Festivals and Events with The Chartered Institute of Marketing Ireland region at the Ulster Grand Prix circuit on 7 August 2018.
- Lego Serious Play with Alan Branagh – my Traineeship Employer has identified a paid for face to face learning event with Lego Serious Play Facilitator Alan Branagh of The Insight Factory at the Bullitt Hotel on Thursday 9 August 2018.
- Using Hashtags – my Traineeship Employer has recommended that I read the blog: https://www.watsonsmarketing.com/top-hashtags-for-tourism-marketing-in-northern-ireland/ and use the learning resources quoted at the end of the blog to build my skills in the areas of hashtag marketing.