In an effort to help the campus navigate the ever-changing digital environment, the University of Connecticut social and digital media team is hosting Social Day today, March 13. (@mkhmarketing/Flickr Creative Commons)
Whether you like it or not, between Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and everything else on the radar, social media has become a part of everyday life and is continuing to become a part of the job application process. In an effort to help the campus navigate this ever-changing digital environment, the University of Connecticut social and digital media team is hosting Social Day today, March 13. The day consists of two separate event tracks: One is a series of events targeted towards students applying for jobs, and the other is designed to teach professors and faculty how to better navigate and utilize social media.
In addition to the talks throughout the day, there are several special events happening. From 1-3:30 p.m., you can get a professional headshot taken in Student Union Room 330 and from 1-4 p.m. you can get a one-on-one social media consultation.
Influencer Sarah Merrill of @BigKidProblems will be in the Student Union Room 331 for a lunch from 12:15-1:15 p.m. Later in the day, from 3:30-4:15 p.m., NFL Analyst Dan Orlovsky will be talking about the fundamentals of fan engagement in the same room.
The student track kicks off at 2 p.m. with a 20-minute discussion on professional branding. It will be hosted by Matthew Necci and Halloran Sage in the Student Union Room 331. They will discuss how social media can act as a powerful branding tool and how best to use it to build your personal online image.
From 2:30-2:50 p.m., Kailey Townsend (class of 2019), Alexis Angelini (class of 2020) and Ama Appiah (class of 2019) will be hosting a social media roundtable in the same room. The students will be discussing their own personal experiences with social media and the personal and professional success they have found because of it.
From 3-3:20 p.m., Heather D’Amico, the senior director of social media at Travelers, will continue the discussion with her talk, “How Employers Use Social Media to Screen Potential Hires.” She will be discussing how to clean your digital footprint to increase your desirability in the job market.
If you can’t make any of the above times, the events repeat later in the afternoon. They will happen again at 4:30-4:50 p.m., 5-5:20 p.m. and 5:30-5:50 p.m., respectively.
The professor and faculty track will occur in Room 310 and features a social media lounge and a talk titled “The Nuts & Bolts of Social Media.” Similar to the student track, the events repeat again later in the afternoon.
Social media has become a critical part of many peoples’ lives, and it has become an important resource that many companies use when they are going through their hiring processes. Today is a great chance to learn what steps you can take to make yourself more hirable. Or, if you’re a complete social media newbie, you can learn how to navigate the complex digital landscape. The sessions are short and explore a variety of useful topics, so if you’re in the Union today with 20 minutes to spare, consider stopping by!
A full schedule, along with more information on the events can be found at https://blogs.uconn.edu/social/social-day-2019/.
Courtney Gavitt is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at courtney.gavitt@uconn.edu.
