Victor Mkhetsane - Social Media Coordinator

2020

Victor Mkhetsane – Social Media Coordinator

Category: Young journalist

Country/area: South Africa

Organisation: News24

Organisation size: Big

Cover letter:

I am Victor Mkhetsane, Social Media Coordinator at News24 the biggest Online News Publication in the continent of Africa. I came with a Film and Television degree into the world of journalism and completely submerged myself into it all. My job specs mostly included social content publishing of all news articles as soon as they are published, yet I took everything further by developing engagement producing mechanisms that will be helpful in terms of aligning the social media audience that we cater for and the best way to give them stories. News24 deals with issues that I have always been passionate about. My 9-year Social Media experience has seen me be a user too meaning . I know what stories people deserve to see on social media and how best to curate them as soon as they are published. Especially on Facebook where users never have data to click on a particular link that was shared and read more on that particular story. I always find ways to cater for such audiences. What I enjoy the most about what I do, is giving those individuals a chance for them to see these stories on such platforms to make sure that even if they don’t have enough data to read, they can at least engage with the post. My multimedia skills have also been helpful in terms of creating cool graphics to use on social media. Especially when I have to illustrate a message on a story with a picture. Being a journalist and learning all of this in the real world has been an eye awakening for me because I get to see all the current affairs stuff as they happen in the real world. One of the hardest moments was working throughout Uyinene Mrwetyana’s stories and the Gender Based Violence marches that took places after that. Dealing with stories where women were being killed, reading all the graphic stories and trying to package and process them for social media, while taking every response that is coming through was challenging for me. This is mostly because I was never trained into handling the hardcore, graphic and intense moments of journalism during my undergrad, I am learning everything as it happens in the real world and expected to still deliver no matter how triggering it is. Having to keep emotions in check or better yet, switch them off was one of the things I had to do in order to survive that period. I knew that it was not the end, there may be times where fun and lighthearted current affairs moments are going to come. Way harder and emotionally mind whirling stories are also going to come in the future, however learning and preparing for those days now, is a good start. The thing is, I entered the Journalism field mid 2019 where I was only supposed to come and handle the Social Media pages in the absence of the individual who was on a maternity leave. My contract was expired end of October, however I was called in to come and Freelance during festive season in the similar position. During that period, the same position I filled in for was opened as the team was looking at expanding the team and then I applied for it, luckily I got it. Hence, I am now in this space forever. This position keeps me learning and experiencing something new on a daily basis and receiving this recognition means that my seniors and editors made a good call and saw that I habe the potential to grow and be one of the

Description of portfolio:

My Portfolio URL: http://portfolio.victormkhetsane.com

I happen to have a portfolio of a Social Media person for a news publication, hence some people call me a Social Media Journalist for News24. This is quite unusual as not a lot of people do have them but then I figured that it would be a good representation of all the work that I have done in journalism up to so far, it will also serve as a hub that houses my achievements in journalism and some of the testimonials from prominent individuals plus the projects that I have been involved in.

The front page gives a brief description of me as an individual, while also noting the more intrinsic parts of my job which is being Social Content Publisher and an Engagement Producer. At the bottom, it enables you to go straight to my resume where you will get a detailed curriculum vitae that points out everything that I have done in any of the positions I held in the past, the media skills that I possess and also a pdf version if anyone is keen on downloading the traditional version. It also houses a brief note of the institution of high learning that I attended.

My bio answers the “tell me about yourself” question but mostly reads like how I would be explaining my journey in journalism. I had to highlight only the important parts like my experience in Social media with how I got introduced to digital content creation. This then points you into how I got to join Media24 and found myself in journalism plus the multiple brands that I happened to coordinate in my role. Another thing that it includes is my motion picture skills where it highlights two of the most unique projects that I worked in as an undergraduate and then closes off with my graduation and where journey is currently as a journalism enthusiast.

My Portfolio tab, which is a bigger and pivotal part has list of all projects that I deemed important which I worked on. Clicking on a singular project, like an example “News24 – Social Media Freelancing”. That takes you to a page from a main site that shows few things that I did during my freelancing period. It also highlights the highest performing social media post that I created during that period but also has some of the ideas that I worked around including a brief social media stat reported as compiled by the Deputy Site Editor. Another tab is the News24 – Social Media Coordinator which was compiled when I was on a temporary position. It has icons of every platform I was curating the social media content for, and when you click on each of them, they take you to a pdf page of the compiled report. Other projects listed are a documentary I worked on, a short insert that show cased garments made for plus size girls, including a short film.

For now it is dressed up as it is, however the main site is still under construction and set to live on 1^st April and that will be a bigger detailed background of me.