UCFB graduate sets up his own freelance media specialist business in Australia

A UCFB graduate has moved back to his native Australia, where he has set up his own business as a freelance media specialist.

Matt Skilton moved to London to study BA (Hons) Multimedia Sports Journalism at UCFB Wembley, where he graduated in 2021.

After graduating, Matt went back to Australia where he worked as a journalist and then editor at the Ministry of Sport before setting up his own business.

“My main focuses are PR, content creation and social media management,” Matt said, “but I’ve recently stepped into a bit of digital marketing.”

Matt’s business services include creating PR campaigns, conflict management, content creation and social media management.

Talking about what it has been like forming his own business, Matt said: “The transition has been somewhat seamless, finding clients and work is always difficult, but wearing so many hats as an editor has prepared me for it.

“It’s also not too bad transitioning into PR from journalism, as the core skills and things to look out for are the same. As an editor I knew what angles I wanted for stories and now I need to pitch the angle rather than write it.

“As for social media, this stays the same, most major organisations will have a social media team, who will cover the marketing, PR and content that is published. However, as the manager of those platforms, I know how to maximise growth with each post.”

Talking about his time studying at UCFB, he said: “It gave me a head start against others applying for similar jobs in sport because of how specialised it is.

“The multimedia aspect also helped me in the digital media age as it gave me the knowledge to succeed online.

“Additionally working with video, photo and social media in my degree helped me bring that into my work from day one.

“The work experience module also helped me get a step ahead since it’s part of the degree, which is different in Australia, where work experience isn’t incorporated into degrees, meaning students may not think about that sort of thing until they’re ready to graduate.”