The Black Equestrian Blog
Over the summer of 2022 I had an internship as the social media and marketing director of a social media based blog - The Black Equestrian - whose mission is to promote inclusivity in the equestrian field through partnerships with other platforms and non-profits. This internship had three main goals: create a consistent and integrated online brand identity, revamp the website prior to the launch of a major initiative and add efficiency to the content management process for social media engagement.
I started with an interview with the founder and CEO to get a better understanding of her target audience and vision for the brand, including incorporating a new logo. I then conducted an assessment of the existing website and social media content to create a work plan for making the needed change to align with the CEO's vision.
Step one was creating brand guidelines. I worked from the research I had conducted to create a presentation with color and typography ideas that I reviewed with the client. I incorporated feedback into the final brand identity.
With the brand identity defined, it was time to apply it to their online presence. I created templates for Instagram posts and stories, created and formatted on-brand themes, researched and implemented hootsuite to manage engagement, and added an Instagram social media linktree.
I then updated the website using Wordpress. This included adding the new logo, implementing the new branding and revising the content. I started with a site map and information architecture which helped to identify missing and misplaced content. I reorganized the site, adding a new “About Me” page and separate sections for blog post and key partnerships. I updated formatting of images and blog posts for consistency, edited copy as needed and incorporated Instagram and Facebook feeds.
I then worked on a social media plan and related content. This consisted of two days of photo shoots, photo editing and crating post-ready images staged in hootsuite to be used as needed. Before the end of my internship, I created a video to assist others with formatting and brand guidelines as new content is created and site updates are made. Check out the new Black Equestrian Blog website here.
