Week 4: A Conversation with Guest Speaker Joel Paramo by Mary Zavaglia

By UCLA X469.21 Student Mary Zavaglia

Mary Zavaglia

I entirely enjoyed our week four guest speaker, Joel Paramo from Porter Novelli. He was energizing, enthusiastic and ready to share lots of very useful information. It was interesting and reassuring to hear that Joel started out by interning at a few PR agencies before landing at Porter Novelli.

I very much enjoyed learning about his favorite social media tools and how they assist him in planning yearly content calendars for his clients. The discussion helped me realize that developing a social media calendar is not much different than developing a yearly planner in publishing, which is my background. It’s easy when you plan a year in advance like Joel suggested, highlighting obvious annual events such as Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, etc. You can then add any newsworthy or otherwise timely items, such as the content Joel developed for the California Almond Board when President Obama said he ate a handful of almonds each evening. 

Joel Paramo

Because social media is always evolving, Joel explained that we must adapt and learn the latest tools as they become available. His discussion also reinforced the value of THE PESO MODEL for paid, earned, shared and owned media, and how it can help social media pros fill holes in their campaigns.

I loved this class!