Here’s the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators, where we ask you to describe your day in your own words. Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
Rebecca DeLuca is a Marketing and Communications Intern at the Boston University School of Social Work. She manages the School’s website and social media accounts, crafts news articles and press releases, is responsible for internal design work and is the lead writer and editor for Currents, the School’s alumni publication. Rebecca is completing her master’s degree in public relations at Boston University and specialized in Visual Communications at the University of Toronto.
Here is her typical day:
Before 8:00 am: I’m a part-time marketing and communications specialist, so my day starts a little later than others. Before 8:00 a.m., I’m still in a deep sleep.
8:00 am – 10:00 am: While I eat myself breakfast, I sift through my work emails. I work every other day so they tend to pile up.
First, I read through my Google alerts about the School, social work, and other graduate programs. I flag the important ones and delete the rest.
Next, I answer emails that only require a quick reply before moving them into their specified folder (I’m currently at 22 email folders.) Today, I answer questions and provide updates about printing estimates, sticker designs and email-blast content.
Some emails require longer responses or further investigations, so I mark them as unread and save them until I get to the office. I schedule any new meetings for the day and take a glance at my calendar before getting ready for work.
I leave for work at 9:30, giving myself time to ride my bicycle around the block while listening to a few chapters of my current audio book. Today, it’s The Hunger Games.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: As soon as I get into work, I update my to-do list with new tasks from my morning e-mail. Then, I get started.
Today, my first major project is to complete two advertisements for the School. I spend an hour designing and editing drafts before sending them for approval.
The rest of my morning contains smaller tasks, including designing an email blast for an upcoming conference on Constant Contact, updating the School’s image library and writing an article about recent news coverage. In between those tasks, I make sure to go for a quick walk around the school to give my eyes a much needed break.
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: The second major project I’m working on is updating the School’s webpage. I need to ensure the most recent news coverage and most impactful stories are easy for users to find. This includes collecting content, finding and editing photos, and updating the website’s coding.
The third project on my to-do list is a redesign of the School’s program information flyers. It is important that these flyers are not only legible, consistent and easy to read, but that they stand out at conferences and other information events. I spend the next hour collecting content, creating a universal template and reworking information to make it more user friendly.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Once I finish up the day’s major projects, I focus two hours on social media.
I use Feedly to collect the top blogs and news sources about social work, social justice and education. I read through recent articles, make notes on story ideas, and schedule social media updates for the next few days.
I then spend time creating inspirational quotes to be shared daily from the School’s accounts. I search for quotes and an image from the Creative Commons that complements it. Then, I head into Photoshop and spend more time than I should choosing a font.
After 4:00 pm: When I finish my projects for the day, I prepare for my next work day. Today, that includes importing audio narration files for a video I will be working on and ensuring I have all the documents I need to digitize a teaching handbook.
I finish off my time in the office by rewriting my to-do list. I remove things I’ve finished and update projects with new comments before riding my bike home.
In the evenings and on my days off, I make sure to keep my phone near by to answer any urgent emails.
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.