By: Zoe Parris, Career Community Ambassador

Social media has become vital to our everyday lives, as students, people, and employees. Corporations are no different; this is why you see all your favorite – or least favorite – brands on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. Behind each post is a creative team analyzing engagement, brainstorming ideas, and curating the content that you see.

Behind the Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook of Wow Bao, is DePaul alumna Georgia Coriell. Coriell graduated in 2021 with a BA in Communication and Media with a minor in Television Production and History. Behind Crunchyroll’s E-commerce Social Media Department, is DePaul alumna Neely Battle. Battle graduated in 2018 with a BA in Public Relations and Advertising.

These two lovely folks gave DePaul’s Career Center a bit of their time to be a part of our “How I Got This Job: Social Media for a Corporation” panel. Here were a few key takeaways: 

How did you come into this role?

Coriell: “I was a Communication and Media major in college, and then from there I had internships throughout college in social media, and then out of college. I worked at an agency for a couple of months, and then I decided I kind of wanted to switch to something more in-house, and a little more creative. I found Wow bow and interviewed with them, and just loved their creative voice. Now, I’ve been there for about six months.”

Working with a Corporate Agency versus In-House

In-House, or within a company, is what both Coriell and Battle do now. This is having your full attention and work focused on the content curation of a single company, whereas in a corporate agency, your attention is split between multiple companies that outsource their advertisements. 

Both Coriell and Battle prefer in-house due to creative flexibility and forming a relationship with their company of choice. This applies especially to Battle, whose love for anime brought them to Crunchyroll in the first place.

What kind of obstacles did you face in looking for your first job or in your career in general?

Battle: “I would say I got rejected a lot. And I did have a second interview at a company that I really wanted and didn’t get it. So you know, I was feeling a little disheartened by that. But then this job popped up in-house, for a company I love. I got that job, so I think it goes to show you might get rejected, but there’s going to be something perfect for you.”

Typical Salary for an Entry-Level Position

Both Battle and Coriell agreed that applicants can expect a range of 40k – 50k for entry-level social media positions.

Social Media Management is not as easy as it sounds

Coriell: “I think a lot of people are like: ‘Oh, you just post once a day.’ ‘You just scroll through Instagram all day,’ and that’s not what it is. I think people think that content, planning, and content creation are very quick and easy because they’ll do it on their personal channels, but when it’s for a brand, or you have to constantly be on it all day, it takes a lot more time than people think.”

As a Communications major, there are those jobs and internships that you frequently see, like Graphic Designer, Communications Intern, or Social Media Manager. As often as I have seen these job postings, I still knew very little about the actual ins and outs of working in a Social Media department at a corporation or how to break into that field. Events like these help remove some of that confusion, making it easier for me — and other students — to make informed career decisions.

The event hosted by the MCAE career community entitled “How I Got The Job: Social Media for Corporations” is one of the many resources the Career Center provides to help students in their career exploration journey. You can see the complete panel here where Coriell and Battle answer questions like “What does a workday look like for you?” “How can someone gain experience outside the classroom?”  and “What software/hardware do you use on a regular basis?”

Watch the full event recording here:

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