My internship: Sophia Month 3

Month 3: August 2014
Buzzing (Satisfaction 5 / 5)

cck team 2014 sophia month3

It has come to the end of the third month of my internship at Coffee, Cake and Kink and there are many exciting things to talk about! It has been a month of social media and PR bonanza and I have been developing my confidence with writing tweets, setting up small social media campaigns and using web tools to search and retrieve contact information for future outreach. Oh, and I baked ;)

I have been using Buzzstream software as a tool to gather, sort and rate contact information in preparation for the PR work we will need to do when the brand launches. The most interesting thing I've found is that there are so many different avenues to explore! Coffee, cake, baking, food, drink, travel and interior design to name a few!

There are also email templates for PR outreach, meaning I can create emails which automatically fill in the personalised contact information relevant to each person we want to get in touch with. It is reassuring and satisfying to do this sort of preparation prior to the brand launch, and it's good to be given right tools for the job!

I have also been corresponding with people who are helping with the new shop, and give them some social media support as one good deed definitely deserves another!

 

I got in touch with Hattie Hassan from Stopcocks women plumbers to help promote her comedy night at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival via our social media. She was really grateful for our support and even suggested organising a comedy night for us in the future which she would perform at and we could give away tickets as some sort of competition over social media.

I also contacted Simon Farrow from Harzfloor - who are putting in our resin floors - to help him raise money for a charity by running the Great North Run. His JustGiving charity page was quite sparse so I sent him some suggestions on how he could improve it. Once he had updated his information I then wrote a small piece about him and why he was doing this run to go up on our Facebook page. I also scheduled regular tweets to go out that week with links to his JustGiving page and the twitter handles of the charity he was running for. I enjoyed organising this small campaign to boost his donations and it was rewarding to help him out and support him in reaching his target (which he did!).

I reached out to different people who organise events in London which are relevant to our audiences to see if we could organise any support for them via our social media to promote their club nights, workshops or events. I was in touch with Dolores from the Kitten Club who organises burlesque nights and classes, she invited us to come along to one of the nights and write a review for the Coffee, Cake and Kink online magazine. She also suggested that we could offer a deal to our followers if we could help promote her events.

I am enjoying corresponding with these people and supporting them in different ways, it is also important to create these positive relationships where we help others out, as when we launch the new brand we too will need support and hopefully they will return the favour when that time comes.

As part of working on the brand and maintaining a presence within our community and followers - we decided to hold a meet and greet at the Southbank with our Kickstarter supporters to not only give them a sneak peek of what's to come, but also receive some feedback on the designs the branding team had been working on for us. We were met by a few of the backers that day and had a lovely afternoon of coffee and cake, discussing people's thoughts and hopes for the new cafe, and their own preferences on coffee, cake, baking - and kisses! This meeting with the Kickstarter supporters really showed me the importance of getting feedback on ideas from the people who will eventually be your customers. I baked cakes!

I can't really identify any low points from this month, though I would say it has been a very busy one, at the internship and for me personally (in a good way!). I just can't believe how quickly the weeks are going and I am already going into my fourth month at CCK. I am looking forward to September as there are lots of exciting trade shows to go to and browse for suppliers and inspiration.