How I spent 11 months as ATTA's first Indian intern

The brief

ATTA was running a brand relaunch for a consumer travel website aimed at travel planners in the United States. The social channels for it were effectively starting from zero. I was brought in by Murray Bartholomew to restart them, with the objective of growing audience reach and engagement.

Starting from zero sounds harder than it is. What is actually hard is the month after, when the initial curiosity fades and the account has to earn attention on the strength of the posts alone.

What I ran

• The full social media restart, from strategy through to publishing
• Content planning against audience lifecycle rather than a posting quota
• Writing and creative direction, working alongside Diego Arellano on the marketing team
• Reporting on reach and engagement against the goals we had set together

Why three months became eleven

The role kept getting extended because the output kept earning it. There was no conversation about a permanent role or a grand plan. Each extension was a decision made on the work in front of them, which is the only kind of extension worth having.

In Murray's words

What I took away

Eleven months is long enough to see a channel through a full cycle, including the flat stretch in the middle that most freelancers never stay around for. It taught me that consistency beats cleverness, and that the account which posts well every week for a year will out perform the one that goes viral twice.

Read the longer version on Notion →