Yo-Pro Hour with Karla Khodanian
A chat with a Digital Media All-Star and Current Digital Community Manager
School?
Karla graduated from UAB in 2013 with a Communication Studies: Mass Communication-Public Relations degree. While at UAB, Karla worked as a Digital Media Intern and Fellow.
Big Break
After graduating, Karla turned an internship with REV Birmingham into a contracted position, after working events at REV and other organizations around town as an independent PR contractor, she had the opportunity to join a creative start-up company called Dogtrot Studio as a Brand Manager.
“I really wanted to go into the start-up world because I still wasn’t sure how I wanted to specialize, and in a smaller setting like that, I could find my niche.”
Karla saw the full life cycle of a start-up business, from opening the shop to closing the doors. After that experience, Big Communications reached out to her to join their content team and “has been there ever since.”
Day in the Life
As Digital Community Manager at Big Communications, Karla is a member of Big’s “Content Team” where they “sell the idea that you can’t just be tweeting into the ether” to make a company’s social media successful.
She told us that she spends most of her day researching, listening to the news, following trends, and writing — which she says is the biggest component of her job.
“I write everything from a 140 character tweet to a long-form blog post, so just different ways…depending on the client.”
Karla keeps all of five of her clients and all of their schedules organized by creating a monthly content calendar, where she asks for client feedback and works with different teams at Big to make the content flawless.
“It’s my job to be on the internet all the time.”
Tips for you
1. Learn how to collaborate
“I could not do the job that I’m doing now by myself.”
2. Don’t be afraid to speak up for your ideas
“Your opinions matter, and if you don’t stick up for your ideas no one else is going to stick up for them either.”
3. Do your research
“Consume all the information out there about your craft…Throw yourself into this, and don’t just follow your friends on Snapchat, follow brands on Snapchat, see what they are doing on Snapchat and see how you can do it better.”
4. It takes a lot of work on the front-end to chill on the back-end
“Sometimes you need a little break for yourself…when I go home…I just want to Netflix…chill with myself right now and not look at my phone for a few hours…being prepared gives me that peace of mind.”
5. Don’t network to hand out business cards, network to get to know people and build those relationships
“For me it was…reaching out [to the person you admire at a company] and asking them out for a cup of coffee, like you buy their cup of coffee. Just be like, I want to get to know you, what you do and how you got to where you are.”
Missed our Yo-Pro? No worries, we recorded it.
