New Starter Series: Ben Harrison

Meet Ben

Hi!

I’m Ben Harrison, and I’ll be kicking off this new starter series introducing you to all the fantastic new members of the FI team.

Since the start of this year, we’ve taken on a raft of new hires. The first of these was me, joining the company in February as an Account Manager and Social Media Executive.

Starting a brand-new role in the middle of a global pandemic was crazy enough, but I also began this role 160 miles away from our Altrincham home in Newcastle upon Tyne. Thankfully the entire team was incredibly welcoming – despite only being able to meet everyone through a computer screen!

Prior to joining FI, I was completing my master’s degree in Digital Marketing at Northumbria University, as well as running social media content for a non-profit organisation, Women in Foreign Policy. The goals of the organisation were to achieve a foreign policy workforce fully representative of contemporary society, and we did this by interviewing women working in sectors like diplomacy, journalism, NGOs, and academia.

Managing a team of volunteers to devise a social strategy for an education-based non-profit was an incredible experience, especially utilising my knowledge from my undergraduate politics degree, but ultimately, I craved the excitement of agency life!

I began working remotely for a small London-based agency (The Inclusive Branding Agency) on several small clients and I couldn’t get enough. I began looking for a full-time agency position, and that’s what brought me all the way down to Manchester!

My role at FI

At First Internet, I take care of the majority of our social clients, meaning I manage strategy (paid and organic), content research and writing, scheduling, reporting, and everything in-between.

It’s great being able to work with such a huge variety of clients. We manage social for businesses in a variety of industries, including medico-legal, contract flooring, interiors, fuel, and real estate. More than anything, this keeps my role super exciting!

Alongside social, I also work with the Client Services team, assisting with project management, admin issues for clients, and dealing with incoming communications. I’m enjoying learning this side of the business.

I’m really looking forward to progressing within FI, working on proposals, and building out our managed social services!

What do I enjoy most about social media & FI?

Social media is easy to get excited about, as it’s a dynamic industry which allows you to develop skills in a wide variety of areas. From a content writing standpoint, it’s also constantly changing, keeping things exciting. It sounds cliché to say, but every day really is different!

In terms of working at First Internet, my first positive would be the team and the office atmosphere. We’re a huge family and have the best time both inside the office and out.

Spinning that into a more business-focused answer, my favourite thing would be being able to work with the entire team on big projects. We recently built a brand-new website for a longstanding client which I now run social for. The new website was designed by our UX designer, built by our development team, and included initial SEO handled by our marketing team. I assisted with the testing and snagging phase of the site build and monitored progress whilst planning a social campaign to promote the new site. This really was a whole team effort and seeing the final product come together was the icing on the cake!

The phrase ‘full-service agency’ gets thrown around a lot, but at First Internet it couldn’t be more true. The projects we all get to work on together are the most successful ones – and coincidentally, they are also the most fun!

This article is part of a series introducing the new members of the First Internet team. Visit our blog to read more.