Q&A: Interview with Alicia Thompson, PR & Social Media Executive

We caught up with Alicia Thompson and her tops tips for social media, thoughts on the industry and on her favourite campaigns so far.

1. Can you tell me about yourself and your role at Dupree International?

My name is Alicia Thompson and I work as a PR and Social Media Executive for Dupree International. I’ve been with Dupree for nearly 18 months and I have loved every second.

My role is sectioned into two parts, social media and PR. The main responsibility of my job when it comes to social media is planning, executing and running my client’s social media accounts. I work on my clients accounts every day doing social activity, from nailing that perfect Instagram story to jumping on a trending hashtag for Twitter.

When it comes to PR the role is super varied, from writing press releases to planning advertising and securing space, the mixture of clients I work with also means I get to be in contact with such a broad portfolio of magazine’s and one minute I could be writing about Turf, the next flashlights!

In my spare time you’ll find me at my local CrossFit gym working out, I love baking for the office and tend to bring in sweet treats as often as I can. I love to travel, and my guilty pleasure is Biscoff spread with bacon rasher crisps! (Don’t knock it until you try it.)

2. If you could give someone one piece of advice to wanting to get in to a career in marketing what would it be?

Be confident in your ability and knowledge but never be afraid to ask questions. Marketing is a constantly changing in the world with new things coming out daily, show confidence in your ability to respond and perform but also your drive to learn and grow.

Also, always read your # back before you tweet!

3. What has been your standout favourite social media campaign you’ve work on and why?

My favourite social media campaign I worked on was for my client RAGT Seeds UK (Europe’s number one cereal breeder). They launched a wheat to market using a ‘tough man’ to showcase its robustness. For the campaign we created stick on tattoos and encourage users to get involved by getting tattooed up and sending in pictures of their tough faces. What I loved about the campaign so much I think was how diverse it was, it enabled me to push the boundaries with their social media and have some real fun interacting with everyone who got involved. Not to mention the hugely successful analytics to come out of it!