Emily Salmon

Tell us about your role and what a typical day looks like for you?

In a normal day, I produce content calendars for a variety of clients in the fashion, beauty, food and drinks industries. I produce social media strategies for each client and carry out community management to engage with and grow their online communities. I come up with influencer marketing campaigns and also produce paid ad campaigns for our clients across Facebook and Google ads. Other days might include going to client events, creating behind the scenes content, TikToks, Instagram reels and other marketing pieces that need doing!

What do you enjoy most, and what are the biggest challenges?

I enjoy the freedom of producing content for brands I’m passionate about, I also enjoy seeing results and being active, following trends and crossing lines in terms of destructive social media marketing. I also just love social media, I like being in an ever-changing and ever-growing industry. The biggest challenge of my role is having to be constantly online - no social media detox for me!!

How do you feel your studies at Solent helped prepare you for your career?

My course at Solent prepared me for the industry, not just specific areas or job roles. We were given such an array of knowledge and experience across every sector in the industry that I feel confident in carrying out brand strategies, social media strategies, consultant work and creative (photography, graphic design work) which has allowed me to show a really diverse portfolio of work. Having the tutors as industry professionals also really helped, they were so hands on with our units which really helped us delve deeper than just the surface level, academic bits. Their experiences and contacts were also so helpful on a networking level!

Favourite memory from your time at Solent?

My favourite memories from my time at Solent were the Carbon LIVE events, where we produced and carried out four live events, it was great to see them go from planning stages and brainstorms to real life events that people actually paid to come to! I also loved seeing our magazine (Carbon Magazine) come to life. Seeing the first ever issue printed in all it’s glory was a really great feeling after so months of planning. Another fond memory I have is being able to attend a festival to do press for Carbon Magazine and getting to photograph and interview some of the artists!

What advice would you give to those wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Make the most out of your time at university - there were so many opportunities offered to us throughout the course, so put yourself forward and do them! The industry is so diverse and changes all the time, so putting time and effort in topics and units that may not seem your cup of tea will pay off in the future. Be really enthusiastic and eager to learn (anything and everything!); a good, positive, can-do attitude will get you further than any experience ever will. Play to your strengths and collaborate, help out others with their projects and network - the more people you know in the industry the better!