Let us take you behind the digital screen of PPG People social media channels. Meet Anna Pekarova from our Shared Service Centre in Brno, Czech Republic as she spills the cyber beans on what it’s like to be PPG digital & social media expert for EMEA region.
“Social Media Is Very Natural to Me”
Anna is responsible for managing PPG People social media and administering this very blog that you are reading right now.
She has been with us for nearly three years, having started in an HR position part-time while still finishing her master’s degree. Therefore, when she joined us full time, she was already a fully-onboarded advocate of The PPG Way.
Managing social media was something very natural to me. And though I hadn’t a huge amount of experience, I’m a keen learner and believe that where there is a will, there’s a way.
Proud to Share PPG Successes and Connect People
She says that those following the Facebook page tend to enjoy inspiring career stories, while on Instagram, people love seeing colorful and uplifting photos, especially when it comes to our COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® projects. Twitter is popular among those who like being up-to-date with our latest innovations and business news.
Anna enjoys digging out interesting stories from around EMEA and frequently even global ones. She is also great at coming up with engaging campaigns for our channels.
One of our longest running and still popular campaigns is
'Famous Buildings by PPG', where we feature buildings around the world coated by our products. Since 2018, we have featured over 50 buildings and recently started publishing country road trips articles.
One of her all-time favorite campaigns is ‘5 Questions With’, a series of videos building familiarity around different business units and unique people and their job scopes.
I like to say, we are giving our colleagues the power to be heard and creating a sense of belonging to the company and local communities. Also, we show how PPG cares about them, our customers, local communities and the sustainability issue.
Engagement Equals Good Communication
Anna says the role of the EMEA Communications team lies in different areas, which overlap. It’s about internal communications, where they need to make sure people get the right news on time. This is very much connected with employee engagement, where they give colleagues a sense of belonging and excitement. And last but not least, it’s about building brand awareness and brand familiarity, both internally and externally. Even though people might sometimes take their role as a matter of course, there’s so much more beneath the surface.
What I like about my job is how diverse it is. We connect people across the business, across different cultures and functions. PPG is such a diverse company and we love to show it to the world!
Anna takes pride in highlighting inspiring female engineers, like during the International Women in Engineering Day. She also enjoys learning about the cultural heritage of our employees, for example, through the recent video campaign for World Day of Cultural Diversity. She is not scared to tackle societal topics such as LGBTQ and inequality by promoting these good causes.
Keeping Up With Fast-moving Social
Anna says that while she loves the constant changes and developments in her field, it can be very challenging keeping up with the fast pace. She not only ensures she is up-to-date with the latest news in social media, but also engages with social media professionals on LinkedIn and via specialized Facebook groups.
I’m constantly learning new tips and tricks. I’d be lost within weeks if I didn’t follow the latest news.
Since the world of social is so fast, Anna prefers to recharge her batteries in a more leisurely way in her free time. She loves going for walks in nature or clearing her head by roller-skating. With her husband, they enjoy spending time in Brno’s cafés and restaurants, travelling and taking care of their furry friend – a pet bunny called Oliver.
Coping with COVID as a Team
When the pandemic hit, the team had to react very fast to what was happening externally, but especially internally to insure all employees are well informed in time. This came with a creativity challenge, which was – finding a way to engage and stay in touch with our colleagues and still maintain the feeling of belonging, even when they were working from home and not on site.
That meant to change the whole content plan and start from the scratch. We had to be sure we are giving people information they need, but at the same time keeping hope and positive mindset. We managed to cope with all this by sticking together as a team, which is something I’m proud of, as a true team person.
Dazzling at Work and in Her Spare Time
Anna has been running her own personal lifestyle blog called Dazzlicious (focused on beauty, travel, food and places to visit in Brno) for over ten years now. If that weren’t enough, she is also a member of the local Young Professional Network (YPN), which is an employee resource network at PPG.
I get to extend my organizational skills, e-meet interesting people and network with the other YPN members.