Praktik week 3: Facebook and fika

Hello again! My weekly blog post on life as a praktikant at Salgado is coming to you a bit late this time, but for a good reason.

Last week I was tasked with writing two dispatches from the social media front line – firstly keeping our readers up to speed on the livestreaming “war”, and secondly identifying the top 3 changes you need to know about from Instagram’s latest update. (Incidentally, both of these were also discussed in Salgado’s first live broadcast on Periscope last week!)

Not wanting to hog the limelight too much, I thought I’d hold off on my weekly update until after the weekend – but now I’m back with some thoughts from my third week at Salgado.

Coming from a nonprofit background I’ve been used to driving social media engagement organically – in other words, with a $0 budget. Crossing over to the commercial world means I need to skill up and learn how to navigate things like ad campaigns that actually cost money.

That’s where Facebook Blueprint comes in. An e-learning resource for Facebook’s marketing tools with dozens of bite-sized courses that you can take at your own pace, Blueprint has been a great way for me to get my head around the ins and outs of advertising on Facebook. If you want to know the difference between “boosting” and “promoting” a post, or how a “custom audience” is different to a “core audience”, take a look at Facebook Blueprint here.

Fika from FågelsångenLast week also brought something that every immigrant to Sweden gets taught about from their first day in the country: a real fika break. I was, frankly, shocked when I first started at Salgado to find that there isn’t an official time every morning and afternoon when everyone convenes in a “fika room” to drink coffee and eat buns. Conferring with other participants on my course reveals that a lack of institutionalised fika isn’t actually particularly unusual, which leaves me wondering why it’s often talked about as if it’s a core pillar of the Swedish economy.

In any case, thanks to CEO Lotta and her fondness for Uppsala’s Fågelsången bakery, Thursday saw the Salgado team gather on the sofa for a coffee, chat and (for Stellan) a vanilla heart pastry. Thank you Lotta for restoring my faith in fika!

Until next time,

Helen