I continue to learn a lot. My life has expanded in many directions over the past year or two, so bear with me while I sum it all up in a couple paragraphs and bulleted lists.
New Work Skills
With a generic title like Digital Content Marketing Associate I expected to be diving into a swath of new skills in social media and website content development that I’ve only begun to touch on before taking my current position at Primer 180. So I will now bullet point the rest of these skills I’ve been privileged to acquire broken up into segments:
Website and Social Media
- How to better schedule posts, optimize text and photos for social media outlets
- Understand Google Analytics with a little more depth
- Create online quizes
- Write image heavy listicle articles for websites
- Make engaging product review posts
- Catch on to the Tasty style video trend
- Produce shorter and shorter social videos for web and social consumption
- Learning to filter emails as a manager and point of contact for a brand
- Designing graphics for websites and social media
- Sourcing photos – free and paid – for websites and social media
- Writing an entertaining and brand conscious recipe article
- Utilizing PromoSimple to do product giveaways to build fan contacts
- Navigating MailChimp as a subscription list for Enewsletters
- Designing e-newsletters on MailChimp and scheduling best times to launch campaigns
- Using Ubersuggest for writing better article headlines
- Conducting Pro video interviews with brand ambassadors
- Writing articles for digital magazines
- Understanding better ways to utilize Facebook ads
- Gathering video and photo assets at a convention/retailer show to create killer content
- Got to experience a brand launch and die within a year
- Became involved in banner ad rotations on websites
Video Production
- Got my Drone Certification through the FAA to legally fly a UAV for commercial use
- Producer/Director of second film unit on a large video project
- Had a hand in story boarding, script writing, script supervising on a large video project
- Script supervisor and clapboard technician on large video project
- Filmed the National Lacrosse Championships
- Worked to launch a video brand initiative by producing several videos
- Filmed and tested my first 360 degree video
- Successfully uploaded my first 360 video to YouTube as a test
- Created my first time freeze special effects videos
- Conducted many interviews in the challenging convention environment
- DP, editor, motion graphics coordinator and sound designer for 2017 Zippo product launch
- Location scouting for Zippo product videos in the dead of winter
- Coordinated with a hired producer to generate an outdoor campfire scene indoors
- Studio photographer/videographer capturing assets for e-learning program
- Producing extreme close up videos using lens extenders
New Life Milestones
- This past year my wife and I have managed to buy our first house. Yay!
- Then we went from 0 kids in school to 2 kids in school.
- We became host parents to a high school student from the southern coast of Spain. (Yea, the cold Minnesota weather is a big shock for her)
If you made it this far, you’re dedicated, or you’re a stalker who should focus their attention on something more important in your own life. Anyway, I am blessed to have experienced so much these past couple years and I look forward to what I can learn in the upcoming year.
Keep it real.
Jake Wattenphul 