I wasn’t exactly too sure what to expect when I turned up at Eventure on the first day of my placement. Nor did I know what I’d actually be doing. After all, what did an Ecommerce company want with a Journalist? I knew I’d be writing, but I didn’t know what for, or how long, or (as a Journalist) how truthful I would actually have to be.

Guest blogging? What’s that?

After given a brief introduction to the electric atmosphere in the office I was soon given a crash course in to the estranged world of guest blogging and all that it entails. I still can’t say for sure what it’s about, but I can safely say that it’s nothing at all like journalism.

They both involve writing articles, but guest blogging is, in many ways, a more demanding task than journalism. Both mentally and physically. It can boggle the mind sometimes about the depth and breadth of different audiences you can end up writing for. One moment you could be writing a whimsical article on uses for leather jackets, the next moment writing a deadly serious article about how to protect yourself from lightning. And that’s not the kind of information you want to get wrong, lest there be a lawsuit on your hands.

In truth you don’t need to go out and look for stories, all you need is right there in front of you – a trusty Google search bar in front of you and a keyboard at your fingertips. But the ability to switch between personas in an instant requires you to be a schizophrenic or a very talented wordsmith. It’s something I’ve had to build up over the two months I’ve been here and only now does it feel remotely natural.

There’s also the struggle of finding someone who actually wants to publish your article. I get an impression that this is what it’s like to be a freelance journalist – one day you can get five articles published and then the next day potential editors merely do so much as scoff at your title. Admittedly though, these are bloggers, not the editor of the Guardian. It’s a little easier.

Social Media, It’s Not As Simple As You Think

I was also tasked with engaging with social media, which I always assumed took about 10 minutes a day and look! You gained 300 likes. As it turns out, I was pretty off the mark with that, too. You can spend as much or as little time as you want engaging with your followers, but it’s all directly linked to the growth of your audience. Post twice a day about engaging content and you’ll have twice the reach of someone who just posts once a day advertising a new product.

I think the key is balancing the amount of time you want to invest in expanding your social media empire with the running of your business. I think that’s definitely an area where companies like Eventure can step in and put in the time that each individual business needs to in order to see growth.

I also learnt that the audience is just as important when tackling social media as it is when you’re guest blogging. On my second day I was about to send out a Facebook post for a ladies’ makeup brand, suggesting that they try our new deodorant if they have problems with body odour. I was soon told that probably wasn’t the best way to word it. I mean who was going to share that post without alerting all their friends to a severe B.O problem?

All in all, I found my time at Eventure really quite interesting. It’s not often you get to see what goes on behind the closed doors of the internet. But rest assured it’s not as easy as it looks.