This week, The Water Cooler caught up with Social & Video Producer, Alex Breda. Alex loves all things socials including BeReal (FRL!) and has worked for a little over a year with 10 News First at Adelaide.
He generates a variety of social media content for maximum likes, loves and LOLs and it’s fair to say that Alex is part of the big Paramount family with his Mum introducing him to TV through her job at ADS.
Alex has made the outrageous claim that Adelaide has the best beaches in Australia and invites you to email him if you believe him to be incorrect, which of course he is. But what does his job entail, how does he handle the haters and how can we go viral? Read on as Alex gives us the low down.
What led you to Paramount?
My Mum worked at ADS for over 30 years as a makeup artist and I still remember visiting as a young boy and thinking how cool it was that I was there. I’ve loved every second of it since joining but I do miss the hot chocolates from our old building’s machines.
Can you tell us what a typical workday looks like for you and what do you love about your role?
Every morning before I get in, I’m listening to morning radio to try and get a post up as soon as possible to get the day started – usually a pretty light-hearted one. Then I’ll head to our news meeting to work out what the rest of my day looks like content-wise. Adelaide is a “unique” market so I’m always looking for the weird and wonderful. I usually don’t have to look that hard.
Have any of your videos gone viral and if so, what was the secret to the popularity?
My first post that went viral was at the end of my first week and that was about an Adelaide adult entertainment agency putting out a callout for ‘dadbod strippers’. No idea why that one went viral??? Take a look for yourself.
More recently, a video I uploaded of a Labrador running onto the pitch of an international football match went off. Check it out.
So yes, only the really hard-hitting news gets the best numbers!
With so many social media platforms out there, what’s your preferred channel and why?
All of them are good for their different reasons. Adelaide is a big Facebook market and that’s where we usually get our best numbers. But I’ve been working hard this year on our Twitter presence and I’m slowly starting to fall in love with the platform.
What do you think about new social media kid on the block, BeReal? Flash in the pan or here to stay?
I. Love. BeReal. I find it so funny seeing all my friends at work during the day and wondering how they act around their colleagues. If it stays exactly how it is, I think it will stick around. It’s the sort of thing that’s not addictive in its current iteration which is definitely best-case scenario.
Who do you enjoy following on social media and what’s your advice to people wanting to up their social media game?
I’m a big sports fan, and I love the twitter account @WorldWideWob, quick hits on highlights and some pretty funny commentary. Betoota Advocate is another good one of course. Especially being in the industry that we are in, it’s a good chance to laugh at ourselves a little.
In terms of upping your social media game: Be genuine with your followers and pump out as much content as possible!
There can be a lot of haters out there, what’s your advice to anyone getting heat on their socials?
This was probably something I wasn’t ready for when I started. But I quickly realised that there are going to be nay-sayers whatever you do, so I just live with it (sometimes laugh at it) and move on!
The City of Adelaide, A-town, Adders, lays claim to being one of the world’s most liveable cities. What do you love most about living in Adelaide?
This might sound weird. But I love how small it is. City to sea in next to no time is pretty awesome. Also having the best beaches in Australia is great. Feel free to hit me up via email if you want to argue that, I look forward to proving some people wrong,
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love hanging out with my brand-new baby nephew Hugo (he’s the best), playing footy (badly), and watching The Office (for the 8th time).
