“So you work in social media?”
“What exactly do you do?”
“Do you just troll Twitter, Instagram and Facebook all day and retweet and share stuff?”
“So basically, you get paid to do absolutely nothing?” (This question is usually pebbled with a little disdain.)
These questions have been posed to me so many times. Looking back, I don’t think I ever gave a clear answer. So today, I am going to attempt to cover all the bases, provide insight into the world of a social media professional. Be warned, it’s not all pretty – at least in my experience.
I AM A SOCIAL MEDIA PROFESSIONAL in the fashion/beauty/lifestyle industry. Here’s a look at my day:
5:30 a.m. to 7:00 – I’m usually up before 5:00 a.m (I have insomnia). On my nightstand, I have all the latest fashion/beauty/lifestyle magazines. Each magazine has been earmarked with beauty products, recipes, fashion items that I am interested in learning more about. I am an avid note taker, so I also have a notebook where I jot down pertinent verbiage that will effectively convey my message to readers of my personal blog and also promote the company that I work for.
7:00 a.m. – 8:10 a.m. – While brewing coffee, I log into all of my social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). I’m kind of a social media junkie and like to look at all of my accounts simultaneously. What this means is that I may have Facebook open on my computer, Twitter open on my iPad, and Instagram open on my phone. I cross reference posts across all three platforms and jot down a few more notes.
8:20 a.m. – 9:00 – Travel to work
9:00 a.m – 6:30 p.m. – Throughout the entire workday, I am constantly gathering information. I’m glued to my laptop or I’m outside snapping pictures and posting to Instagram (like a beast sometimes). I’m browsing Instagram feeds and Facebook accounts of other brands – analyzing how they are sharing information with their followers and presenting new ideas to my supervisors and conversing with other SOCIAL MEDIA PROFESSIONALS. This can be tedious. It is time consuming – especially since I also manage my own blog and have to align both jobs in order to further my career.
When I started my new position, I had no idea that it would be this time consuming. I was just excited that I was finally in a position where my passion and my job would become one. Managing multiple advertising campaigns, streamlining social media calendars, attending countless meetings (even though these meetings can be very informative), scheduling photo shoots, writing and re-writing posts, waiting for approval (OMG, that is the bane of my existence) before posting and sharing on social media networks. By the end of the work day, I’m exhausted. But my day doesn’t end there. When I get home I have to get a head start on content I want to share on my own blog as well as and ideas I want to share with my supervisors. A major part of being successful as a SOCIAL MEDIA PROFESSIONAL is understanding the social media landscape. This includes understanding SEO (search engine optimization), your target audience, and generating original and relevant content. I recently have gained clearer insight into how the technical aspects of social media play a major role in the content that is shared across the various social media platforms. Truth be told, up until very recently, I was not aware that I was over saturating the landscape with repeat information and not conveying my message in a way that was impactful to readers.
What does that mean? Well, here’s my experience. When I first decided that I wanted to pursue a career in social media about five years ago, the first thing I did was start a blog. Being an avid shopper and finder of all high fashion items at mass market prices, I decided that fashion would be my focus. I tried that for about three years. I followed every fashion outlet I could find. I followed them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I retweeted, shared and liked the shit out of everything. I commented like nobody’s business. I had a few hundred followers on my blog and a few hundred followers on Twitter and a few hundred followers on Instagram, but I wasn’t satisfied. I was accepted by marketing affiliate programs by brands I loved and believed in – still I wasn’t progressing as fast as I knew I could. So I started a Facebook page for my blog as another avenue to promote my blog. That is where the over saturation began. I would post to my blog’s Facebook page and then share it on my personal Facebook page. I thought I would garner more views that way. That didn’t really seem to move the needle in my favor. I started to become frustrated. I asked the VP of Media what I could do to finally get my blog more visibility. I explained what I was currently doing and in mid-sentence he stopped me and simply said, “Tag the shit out of every post, share it on your most viable social medial platform. That’s it.” I sat there in awe, and then I realized that he was right. He told me to visit blogs and sites that I liked and see how they were tagging their posts. I tried it, and it worked. All this time, I thought I had all the answers, but the truth is there is so much to learn in this field.
Social media moves at lightning speed. In fact, I’m convinced that it might move faster than lightning. If you miss the moment, it’s gone – FOREVER – unless you quickly come up with a new way to present what is now an old idea. Granted, you most likely won’t garnish the same buzz if you were first on the scene, but you can offer a new perspective on a topic that has been presented that might intrigue the masses.
Now, back to work…both jobs that is…
And remember come back tomorrow…The Weekly Roundup will be available at 1:00 #stayclassy