Art + Social Media.
Tell Valuable and Diverse Stories.
Beginning, Middle, and End.
“Our Mission: We bring people together with art to see, experience and understand the world in new ways.”
Dear Steve,
Hope you are having an enjoyable summer.
In an effort to become involved at the AGO, I pass my credentials and letter of interest for the Social Media Officer (Position Number: 1012518) role to you. As you know, I am inspired by the AGO: the exhibitions, events, management, and goals of the institution. With an innate passion to cultivate and achieve AGO’s objectives, I am certain that my professional experiences and emotional connection to the museum qualifies me as the best fit for the Social Media Officer position.
As you know, my wife and I recently settled in Toronto after spending five years in Portland, Oregon. My professional backbone is primarily from a family-owned design firm. I wish to transition from my former consultancy role, into a new role where I can lead in social media strategy, visual design, community engagement, and content creation. With knowledge and expertise in digital marketing, HTML, CSS, RSS, web analytics, and CMS I am eager to build an inspiring career in at the AGO.
“I wish to transition from my former consultancy role, into a new role where I can lead in social media strategy, visual design, community engagement, and content creation.”
Both my parents went to the Art Institute of Chicago, and I lovingly grew up in the museum. I am a multiracial, millennial, American expat who is a child of the arts and artists. Because of my diverse identities and experiences I have a natural affinity to champion diverse communities and empathy in my work. Growing up, I was always excited to visit the museums because art enabled me to connect with Buddhist and Asian cultures in ways that were advantageous over other institutions. The museum significantly facilitated my knowledge, connection, and empowerment of my own identities. In consequence of my diverse background, social inclusion has become a major theme in my work and life.
After traveling to other cities through the world, and visiting multiple museums, I have witnessed, first hand, that other places are not rich in diversity and inclusion. Toronto, on the other hand, is a unique, incredibly diverse city. Situated in one of the most multicultural cities in the world, the AGO has the potential to become an internationally recognized creative and educational intuition that effectively engages everyone. My goal is to make Torontonian communities and visitors alike, come to the AGO and feel that they belong. My hope as Social Media Officer is to enable diverse audiences to connect, learn, and to witness themselves reflected in art and culture.
“I am known to be creative and original, and have been told that I “Know what makes people tick,” but my real strengths lie in relationship-building and collaboration.”
Strengths that I would bring to the Social Media Officer position include a strong understanding of brand marketing, design and communications planning. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications where I cultivated writing and critical reasoning, and am a marketing specialist and content creation expert by trade. Additionally, I am passionate about generating innovative content, and executing high-quality work with creative teams. Among my colleagues, I am known to be creative and original, and have been told that I “Know what makes people tick,” but my real strengths lie in relationship-building and collaboration. I am imaginative and am gifted with the ability to persuade people to discover themselves in brand messaging, through stimulating creative content and strategic directives.
Community management requires a sophisticated blend of online interaction skills and technical, digital marketing proficiency. Over the past few years, I have been commissioned by Adidas Basketball to create digital, social and print campaigns that influence the overall brand direction. I created original stories, coordinated, and scheduled content for the brand to use on social media outlets such as Instagram and Twitter. Recently, in addition to working directly with Adidas Global Basketball communication managers for social, digital and print, I also had the opportunity to connect with Toronto-based social media influencers, which led to a social media content creation trip at Ford Canada.
I was assigned to demonstrate the intentions for the car in a spectacular way. The result was a series of images captured in Muskoka, Ontario, as well as a refreshed take on the #GoFurther campaign.
Furthermore, in the past I have been an email-marketing consultant for a multitude of corporate real estate properties and businesses.
I have designed and launched dozens of email campaigns as the primary contact, and tracked analytics and data for the company.
A few years back I had formal training in social media and strategy, where I learned better ways to understand and reach various audiences. I created a complete social media strategy and analysis for a client. This gave me the opportunity to create audience profiles, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, text analysis, surveys and sample messages. I have been able to apply this to my work. I also am proficient in Paid Media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, which is an increasingly important skill in social strategy.
Lastly, I have an ability to learn cutting edge technology, computer programs, social media tools, and technical languages, and naturally attend social media talks. In App data tools and Sysmos, Social Bakers, Sprout Social, or Google Analytics can allow me to report based on social data. I use Mintel Academic for robust insights and recommendations based on in-depth market studies. A recent study shows that consumers are seeking opportunities to release their inner-child, known as play ethic. For example if we post “Play dress up with friends and family at the AGO” along with a great and fun photo, it would have great results.
“My project management philosophy is simple: be creative, work hard with purpose, communicate, and deliver.”
During my time here in Toronto I have become friends with many social media influencers here in Toronto, for example Adeyemi (@SoTeeoh). They also help me keep one ear to the ground. My listening prowess and analytical mind allows me to take direction well and execute objectives while speaking on strategic goals. My project management philosophy is simple: be creative, work hard with purpose, communicate, and deliver. This, topped with an outgoing and collaborative nature, I can assure you I will be an excellent fit at the AGO. I look forward to exploring the AGO’s position, leveraging opportunities for example educating and networking, and strategies for building audiences with AGO storytelling on SnapChat, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Thank you Steve, and I would appreciate the chance to speak with you further about how my skills may fit in at the AGO. For more of my work, please visit www.ShaleAdam.com. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns—I can be reached by phone at (647) 990-3749 or by email at shale@twistemotion.com.
Thank you for your consideration. I enjoyed our last conversation and look forward to speaking with you again.
All the best,
Shale Adam Laietmark