Why 365 Day Media Group Based Their Business Model on Hiring University Students
When I was coming up with the idea to start a social media marketing company, I knew I wanted the company to be more than just another marketing company. I wanted to give back to my community, and one such community that is close to my heart is university students.
Having been a student for many years (I really loved going to university, so took a few extra years!) and having two sons in university, I knew how hard it can be for students to manage a job while going to school. So I set out to build a company that allowed students to have a flexible work schedule and receive great work experience while attending university.
And thus 365 Day Media Group was formed, with students filling the roles of Marketing Assistants, and the company benefitting from all the great things that come with hiring students.
At first, people wondered if this business model would work. And would the clients feel they were getting a good service if it was a student managing their account.
But after a year, it has proven to be a wonderful partnership. The clients receive not only 365 Day Media’s management team support, but they benefit from the students being on the team as well.
I believe that hiring students is the best business model for a social media marketing company, and this is why:
They have creative minds and automatically see things visually, which is so important in this world for social media marketing.
They are innovative and not afraid to try new things. They keep on top of trends and what is working in social media.
They understand social media and the power of it. They really don’t know a world where there wasn’t any social media, so they know how and why communication through those avenues is so important for a business.
They are the generation coming up and for most clients they are an important demographic to be connected with. They are the consumers. They know what they like and are excellent at keeping this in mind when providing social media for the clients.
They are willing to learn and keen to know more about business. While students have the social media know-how, they don’t automatically know how to provide it from a business context. The 365 Day Media management team work with the students to help grow their understanding.
They love to be connected and in the moment, and this is a great benefit to the clients.
Of course, working with students can add some different management requirements, especially since all the students work remotely rather than in the 365 Day Media offices every day (and lately, as far away as Europe and eastern Canada). So how does the team make it work?
The management team works in collaboration with the students and the clients, usually having the management team be the point of contact with the client.
The whole team takes advantage of technology to stay connected. Slack is out go to communication tool and we use Asana to build out our content calendars. This allows us all to be able to work together on the content.
Because they are students or newly graduated students, the management team knows we won’t have them forever. We make sure the systems are in place so the transfer of knowledge is always clear and easy for the next student to pick up.
Working with students has its challenges (which can be said for every age category) but I really feel that having our students around makes our company unique and exciting for our clients and their customers.
Plus watching the students graduate and move on to career positions is a proud moment for the team at 365 Day Media Group! I can’t wait to watch many more faces graduate in the years to come!
Blog written by Tami Tate, CEO of 365 Day Media Group