Briana Gil
social media & tech portfolio
Analytics
While pursuing my education and exploring internships, I started my own business by way of developing my music career. Through striving to expand my artistry I have gained significant insight into social media marketing and successfully scaled multiple projects and platforms.
<Community Building>
Engaging with my audience has been a critical part of building my brand. My personal and professional goal is always to encourage users to explore my work across various platforms (e.g., Spotify, YouTube). By selecting and responding to comments that resonate on a wider scale, I foster deeper connections with my followers whlie forming new ones. This increases engagement across platforms as demonstrated in specific examples I've provided below:
Responding to comments and direct messages has allowed me to establish a genuine bond with my followers. To strengthen my community even further, I set up a channel on the platform, Discord, so my audience could interact with me and with each other.
<Keeping Up With The Algorithm>
While my content creation is driven by originality, I recognize the importance of tuning into trends and platform algorithms. Using new app features or incorporating popular sounds can significantly increase visibility. For example, I have effectively leveraged TikTok’s slideshow feature to align my content with algorithmic boosts, while maintaining my artistic authenticity.
Consistency plays a key role in my strategy. In 2022, I launched a campaign to promote my music by releasing a new YouTube video and song on SoundCloud every week for 21 weeks. This campaign alone is responsible for the majority of my subscribers on YouTube.
<The Future is Niche>
As the digital space continues to evolve, niche audiences are becoming mainstream. Building a unique brand identity is just as vital as keeping up with trends. Something special that has become a part of my brand is custom-made T-shirts for fans. It originally started with a series on my TikTok called "making T-shirts until my music blows up". The positive response online led me to sell the shirts on Depop, further reinforcing my brand’s connection with my audience.
Coding
As someone eager to broaden both my creative and technical abilities, I am always intentional about pouring my energy into both. My interest in software engineering began in high school after attending a few summer classes at Columbia which later on led me to complete a 6-month coding boot camp at the university. This course has nourished my passion for STEM and provided me with the tools to navigate HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, SQL, and more. Here are a few highlights from my GitHub Portfolio:
README Generator
I created a command-line application using Node.js that generates a comprehensive README for GitHub projects, helping developers save time by automating documentation.
Track Your Travels
I collaborated with two other programmers to develop this travel blog application. This project showcases work I've done with HTML and Javascript.
Employee Tracker
This command-line application, developed from scratch, manages employee databases using Node.js, Inquirer, and PostgreSQL. A video walkthrough is available for demonstration.
E-Commerce Back-end
This is a walkthrough video demonstrating the functionality of the backend of an e-commerce website I built. This project included database design, CRUD functionality, routing, and schema implementation, all of which were scored based on performance and design accuracy.
Creative
Over the last four to five years I have made myself familiar with a variety of editing apps and softwares. I have been commissioned by organizations like Harvard Business Publishing for content creation, while also producing and editing my own work.
Lyric Videos
On my YouTube channel I have a playlist of lyric videos I have edited in Final Cut Pro. I have also worked with and am comfortable nagivating other video editing software (e.g. Adobe Premiere, iMovie).
Live Sessions
I have academic and personal/professional experience recording and editing audio using Pro Tools and Logic Pro. Most of the audio found on my YouTube channel has been recorded and edited by me.
Longform Content
I have experience editing long form, podcast-style videos, cutting down hours of footage into engaging and digestible content.
Shortform Content
I regularly use Splice and CapCut to edit TikTok and Instagram Reels. These apps are integral to my workflow for creating visually compelling, captioned videos. I’ve included screenshots that link to full-length posts as examples:
Proof of Concept
The skills I’ve cultivated and the strategies I’ve implemented have led to measurable results. The brand I’ve built has successfully translated across multiple platforms, with Spotify being the most significant for an artist like myself. Below, I’ve included statistics that reflect the growth driven by my social media marketing efforts and creative vision.