Emily Correia comes to TRA360 this summer as a Social Media/Marketing Intern through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Summer Internship Challenge. Emily recently completed her sophomore year at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She will graduate in 2014 with a Degree in Sociology with a Pre-medical and Pre-business concentration. As part of the Pre-Business program she has participated in business and executive leadership courses that enhanced her leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills.  

In her role as Social Media/Marketing Intern, Emily will work with Amanda Pensack, TRA360 Social Media Strategist, to develop better ways to communicate with TRA360’s clients and prospects, to market through social media and determine how different social media platforms can be best applied to the company. Emily will focus on ways to expand TRA360’s current social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, TRA360Network on YouTube, and LinkedIn. She will also advance her skills in blogging and learn to make audio and video podcasts.

For the last year, Emily has worked within the Holy Cross Admissions Department where she focused on social media strategies including online chats and Facebook forums to aid prospective students in their college decision-making process. In 2011 Emily also participated in an internship project with BioScale, Inc., an innovative life science instrumentation company, to research YouTube channel usage by its competitors and created the company’s YouTube channel.

Saeid Kordi has joined TRA360 as a Business Development Intern. Over the next 3 months Saied will be working under the supervision of Timothy Rosa, founder & CEO, on business development dynamics for TRA360. The company is expanding two of its core practices—Regulatory Writing and Technical Documentation—to new territories.

Saeid is a graduate student at Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA USA. He will be graduating with a Master of Finance in August 2012. Saeid is a native of Iran and has several years of experience in Iran’s pharmaceutical industry. He graduated from University of Pune, India with an MBA-Biotechnology and Marketing specialization in 2008. He received his Bachelor of Agriculture Engineering with a specialization in Irrigation from the University of Mazandaran in Sari, Iran.

During his three years professional experience with Pharnak Gostar in Tehran as a Commercial Manager, Saied drove several initiatives from the startup phase through promotion and implementation. These activities allowed the company to expand their product portfolio and develop new alliances with international technology sources. During his time at the Ministry of Health, Pasteur Institute of Iran, where he was working as a Marketing Officer; his market analyses and summary reports increased managerial efficiency. The keys to Saeid’s professional success so far have been in building strong partnerships and mixing persistence with innovative thinking.

What if social media and technology formed a partnership to take over the world? Although many of us are not concerned with a digital world takeover, the top three social media and tech players are vying for the most attention and popularity. Welcome to the world of Apple, Google, and Facebook, three of the largest online networks and game players in the social, digital and tech fields.

As in any game, whether it’s a reality television show or board game, a player must possess strategy to win. With strategy, comes the formation of alliances, knowing who you want on your team, and the formation of enemies, who you collectively decide to revolt against. The idea of the largest social network in the world, Facebook, partnering up with Apple has been widely discussed to develop an even greater digital powerhouse. If Apple and Facebook are making big plans to change the world through technology through an alliance, what happens to their teammate, Google?

According to an article by Computerworld, Google can’t make a direct alliance with Twitter or other social platforms because they always end up stealing the show. For instance, why else would Google share their plans for three-dimensional Google Maps the same time as Apple’s WWDC event? Is Google raining on Apple’s parade because they are jealous? Is Google being recognized as Apple and Facebook’s latest enemy?

What do you think about the possibility of Facebook teaming up with Apple? Should Google join the mix to create a social media/tech takeover or will Google be left in the dust to fend for their selves? Let us know your thoughts and comment below!

Blogging, tweeting, facebooking, instagramming, pinning…the world of social media and branding can be extremely confusing. Where do I begin? Why do I need social media? How can I benefit from it? These questions can oftentimes feel overwhelming to businesses, especially when many brands know they can benefit from social media but don’t know how or where to begin. Specifically, Twitter has become a social network that brands and businesses are still trying to fully understand. Finding a starting point and understanding where to begin can help create a clear picture of how to fully utilize Twitter to its full potential.

1. 1. Survey the Space

After creating your new Twitter account, take a minute to survey this new space. Twitter can feel overwhelming to new users, especially when a brand is clueless how to effectively use the new social network. Poke around and get a feel for who is already on Twitter, especially your competition. Find out what your competitors are doing and think about how you can do it better. Before tweeting, take a good look around and devise a social media strategy plan for your brand.

2. Content is Key

Tweeting is great, but many companies are tweeting mindlessly. Yes, Twitter is a constant feed of news, information, and interesting articles that your “following” will receive on a second-to-second basis, but tweeting out only relevant content to what you are trying to accomplish will help your brand stand out from the millions of other tweet-ers. Although brands should be tweeting often, companies tweeting all the time get boring, repetitive and ultimately obnoxious.

3. Goals, Goals, Goals!

While creating your social media strategy plan, devise a list of specific goals your brand would like to accomplish by using Twitter, and a specific time frame in doing so. Refer back to your goals often and make sure your brand is staying on-track. After all, it’s easier to diverge from the analytics side of ROI than to stay on top of it! Hint: at the end of each month create a Google Analytics report so you can visually see how your Twitter efforts are paying off (or not). If the stats are not in your favor, try a new strategy! Being open minded to changing your Twitter initiatives is part of the social media world. Remember, social media is always changing, as are social media initiatives. If one plan doesn’t work out, try another!

Do you have any Twitter tips and tricks that have helped grow a brand’s presence? Let us know and comment below!