my-blog

Advice for the Social Media Managers of the Future

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 21:46:59 +0100

Article first published on the BIMM blog

I still remember the feeling; passion and drive mixed with dread and anxiety. Entering into the working world can be daunting, especially if – like me – you know what you want to do but you’re not quite sure how to get there.

After some trial and error (in the form of unpaid internships), I discovered my love for copywriting and social media marketing. So when I graduated from university, I decided to pursue a career in social media – a decision that resulted in months of job hunting, a lot of rejections, and a rather random career path.

As I reflect on my career so far, I realise there are a few things I wish I’d known when I first started out. There are also many things I learned along the way, so to spare you from having to figure this out yourself, here are 11 things I wish someone had told me before I began working in social media marketing.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO PICK YOUR CAREER PATH RIGHT AWAY

I still remember the anxiety around choosing what I wanted to do, thinking I’d have to end up doing for the rest of my life. But the world has changed and it has become a lot simpler to specialise later on and even change course completely. I’ve known social media managers who have become nurses and children’s book authors. So don’t worry so much about your very first job. If there’s an opportunity that interests you, take it and see where it leads you.

IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU START AS LONG AS YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WANT TO GO

The great thing about working in social media marketing is the ability to move industries. Your skills are transferable. Personally, I started working in the music industry, moved into education, then worked in recruitment marketing for almost three years before working in the film industry – which is where I always dreamt of ending up one day.

THINK BRAND NOT INDUSTRY

Working for a juice brand in the fast moving consumer goods industry might not sound too appealing but take a look at Innocent Drinks and their social media marketing, and I bet you’ll feel quite different! So think about brands whose marketing you love or brands you would happily endorse, rather than focusing too much on which industry you want to be a part of.

PASSION IS EVERYTHING

You have to spend a lot of time talking about one particular topic, brand, or industry so if you’re not passionate about what you are promoting, you’ll soon dread heading to work every day. It doesn’t have to be your dream topic or brand, but if you hate fizzy drinks and spend your whole day convincing others to drink them, how happy will you really feel on your way home from the office?

BEING A GREAT WRITER WILL HELP YOU MASSIVELY

There’s a lot of writing in Social Media Marketing and it’s hard enough to say what you need to say in general – having to effectively fit it into 140-270 characters is even harder!

UNRELATED WORK EXPERIENCE COULD HELP YOU GET THE JOB YOU WANT

Working in social media is wearing a lot of different hats. It’s all about making it relevant and showing how you learned valuable, transferable skills. On any average day, I need to write like a copywriter, act like a journalist, think like a customer service agent, talk like a PR manager, see like an art director, film like a camera operator and take pictures like a photographer. The more you know and the more you can do, the better your chances to stand out from the crowd.

DON’T WANT TO DO IT ALL? THEN SPECIALISE!

There are so many different avenues now in social media – from copywriting to community management to paid social media to social analytics. There’s nothing wrong in finding your passion and focusing on it.

CREATIVITY IS KEY

Working in social media is a lot like working in entertainment as a huge part of the job is entertaining your followers. Whether that’s through educating them on a topic, creating a funny video to make them laugh or writing a powerful message that will make them think – coming up with great ideas is a big part of the job.

BE NICE TO PEOPLE

The world is smaller than you think and you never know where life takes you. That other intern you’re working with might just end up helping you to get a foot in the door at another company 5 years from now. There’s nothing to be gained by treating anyone like an enemy but you can never have too many friends.

THERE’S A LOT OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS

To the outside world, social media marketing often looks like a super fun and exciting job but it’s usually not as glamorous as it seems. In my current job, I get to cover the red carpet of movie premieres. All I show you is the excitement, the glitzy carpet, the smiling celebrities. What you don’t see is the 2 hours of waiting for anything to happen, the frozen hands in the winter, the sunburn in the summer, the disappointment when celebrities get dragged inside the venue before they speak to you. The role of social media is to sell you an idea, a story. It’s meant to look fun and flawless.

Don’t get me wrong – a lot of the job is fun and exciting. I love what I do and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But be aware that it’s a lot of hard work. My job is to make it look easy.

How to make a good first impression on Social Media

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 09:38:44 +0100

Originally posted on Digital Gurus blog and featured on WeRSM.

Have you ever considered that it’s not just your friends looking at your social media profiles? 93% of recruiters use social media to vet candidates and – more importantly – 55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on their social media profile.

What’s more, research shows that recruiters make a decision about whether you are a good fit for a job within an average of 6.25 seconds of looking at a CV. If they like your CV, they will look you up on social media – and you will only have a few seconds to make a good first impression! Here are 6 tips you really need to take into consideration:

1. Look Yourself Up On Google

Find out what people will find when they google you by doing so yourself. Are you mentioned on any websites? Is the feedback positive or negative? Which of your social media profiles come up in the search? If the first thing that comes up is your old MySpace profile, it may be a good time to sort out your privacy settings! A great tool to use for this ?yola-link-is-coming=trueis the Social Profile Checker.

2. Privacy Settings

Many of us have pictures online that we wouldn’t necessarily want potential employers to see – but that we don’t want to delete either. A good middle ground is to ensure you have privacy settings in place. This allows you to keep what you want to keep without having to worry about who may find it. Do you use your Facebook profile exclusively for private use? Consider adding your middle name to make yourself less likely to be found. Don’t want recruiters to see your Instagram pictures? Set your account to private.

3. Fill In Your Profile Information

Twitter provides 160 characters in which to introduce yourself. Use this space to provide a positive first impression. Give people a snapshot of who you are and what you are about. The same goes for LinkedIn. Use the space available in your summary to introduce yourself, highlighting your career successes, passions, and showing how you are a great culture fit for any company.

4. Visuals

A picture speaks a thousand words! Make sure your profile picture shows you in a professional light, yet friendly and approachable. Most major social networks also provide the ability to upload a cover image which gives you another way to introduce yourself. If you work within creative, you can use visual focused social networks like Instagram and Pinterest to show off your portfolio.

5. Fill In Details

Once you have nailed the first impression, you want to make sure the rest of your profile is filled in! On LinkedIn, list your work experience and biggest achievements, and ensure you don’t have any typos. On Twitter, make sure you add your location and a link to your website/LinkedIn profile/blog.

6. Keep Posting

Since you never know when a recruiter may be checking out your social profiles, it’s important to keep up your social presence. Post high quality content regularly. Using social media scheduling tools will help you from spending too much time on this. Alternatively, you can follow influencers in your industry and retweet relevant news and trends.

How to get a job in Social Media

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:51:39 +0100

Originally posted on Digital Gurus blog and featured on WeRSM.

While it took some time for Social Media to become a career that’s taken seriously by businesses, it is now well and truly established. In fact, the social media job market is fast becoming very competitive. From Community Managers and Bloggers, to Social Media Managers, Strategists and Social Analysts, the amount ofsocial media roles is on the rise but so is the number of candidates.

So how do you make yourself stand out from the crowd? Here are our 6 top tips!

1. Stay on top of trends

Social Media is one of the fastest moving digital landscapes. Established social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are regularly updated with new features, while newer platforms like Vine and Ello pop up with great potential for marketers. As a candidate in social media, you need to be aware and on top of the constant changes and new marketing opportunities.

2. Think and act quickly

Things move fast on social media. Whether you’re representing a brand or a celebrity, you need to be able to react to a crisis as soon as possible. News spread quickly on social, so you need to have an action plan to reach out to your audience if something goes wrong. Social media never sleeps so you need to be prepared to be available – and think quickly – even on weekends and holidays. Social listening is important for positive commentary of your brand as well. If you promote a piece of content that goes viral, you need to be there to monitor what people are saying and understand the reason for your success.

3. Know your analytics

Depending on your role, analytics may be more or less important. However, showing ROI of social media is significantly simpler if you are on top of the analytics of the posts you create. The good news is that a lot of the analytics are free. Twitter,Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest all provide free analytics for their networks that will give you insights into your audience and their engagement. On top of that, Google Analytics gives a vast amount of insights about website traffic acquired by social media. Plus, there are many other social media analytics tools available for free.

4. Learn to write for social media

Writing quality content is an important part of a social media professional’s job, whether it’s blog posts, tweets, or Facebook updates. Being able to adjust your tone of voice to a particular brand is a very necessary skill of working in social media. In the digital age of 140 characters and 6 second Vines, another sought-after skill is the ability to write engaging quality content that’s short, sweet, and to the point. Getting an audience excited is difficult enough without the character limitations so practice is key.

5. Make a social media portfolio

Having a social media portfolio isn’t obligatory but it’s a great way to show off your skills and accomplishments in a more visual way. Find out what to include in your social portfolio here.

6. Walk the walk

It’s common knowledge that companies and recruiters check out social media profiles of potential employees. In most cases, this is simply a quick glance to find out more about the personality of a candidate. When it comes to social media professionals however, this can be a more thorough search to see how you use social media on a personal level. It’s therefore even more important to know the Dos and Don’ts of what to post on social media.

Why you should have a Portfolio if you work in Social Media

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:51:57 +0100

Originally posted on Digital Gurus blog and featured on WeRSM.

Having a portfolio has become norm in the creative industry, however it’s not just designers and photographers who can benefit from having one. Recently, we were asked whether Social Media professionals should have a portfolio. Our answer? Yes!

What is a social media portfolio?

When thinking “portfolio”, most people think of visual work. However, a portfolio is simply “a set of pieces of creative work intended to demonstrate a person’s ability to a potential employer”. Social media is a creative field and there are many ways a portfolio can really help you show off your skills.

Do I need to have a social media portfolio?

While it’s not strictly a matter of NEEDING to have a portfolio, it’s a great advantage over other social media professionals who don’t. It will make you more memorable over other candidates and give you an edge as you’ll be able to show the work you’ve done, rather than just talking about it.

What should I include in my portfolio?

It’s up to you which of your work you feel is worth including in your portfolio. In general, we’d advice using one long piece of content as well as a variety of short social posts in order to show off your writing style and being able to adapt to different voices. Screen grabs will give it a more authentic feel. Any special social campaigns you have done are also worth including, and reports or analysis should be included too. Showing off the results of your work is just as important as showing examples of your work itself.

Note: Be sure not to include any confidential information.

How long should my portfolio be?

We advise to keep your portfolio to a maximum of 5 pages. Don’t make it too flashy. Keep it to a simple PDF file that gives a simple overview of your work samples.

What do I do with my portfolio once it’s done?

If you have a website, store it on there and put it on your LinkedIn profile. That way, you can send a link to your portfolio along with your CV and cover letter while you’re job hunting. As it’s bound to be a fairly big file, it’s worth not sending it as attachment. Once you get to interviewing stage, you should bring a printed out copy to the interview with you.
Overall, you can’t go wrong by having a social media portfolio, whether you’re looking for a new job or not! It will give you credibility as a social media professional and help you stand out from the competition!

Work in Social Media? Do you have a portfolio?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Where has the year gone?

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 10:58:25 +0100

So it's almost July. Half the year is over. An absolutely crazy fact that stuns me!

I've been very busy at work and even more so in my private life but I hate the fact that I've not been posting to my blog. That's why I decided to share the blogs I've written in a professional capacity. They're also posted on my LinkedIn!

The upcoming blogs were written on behalf of my company (Digital Gurus) as guest blogs that were featured on a website called WeRSM. Hope you find them useful! :)

Mr & Mrs Boyd - [Day 21]

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 22:26:43 +0100

Day 21 of my #100HappyDays challenge was a very special day indeed. My baby brother got married to the woman he loves, the mother of his children, and the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

I'm not really a wedding person as I'm not sure I believe in the concept of marriage, but even the cynic I am, I couldn't help but tearing a little up during the ceremony because you could feel the love and happiness inside the room as my brother and my now sister-in-law said "I do" in front of the family and friends. I am truly happy for my brother who managed to find someone special to him, and I am also very happy to introduce a new Boyd lady into the family!

I love you both very much and I look forward to seeing you over Christmas, and hopefully getting to meet my newest nephew/niece! ;)

Leaving on a jetplane - [Day 20]

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 22:15:49 +0100

I know, I know. It's been ages. But I SHALL be catching up. Starting from where I've left off, Day 20 of my #100HappyDays challenge.

There were many things I was happy about that day. Here are but a few:

Getting a lift to the airport by my sister made the journey infinitely less stressful/more enjoyable.
Flying from a tiny airport (Southend) meant everything was super quick, relaxed, and without queues!
We landed in FMO (Flughafen Münster Osnabrück) which meant no lengthy train journeys to get to mum's, plus we got picked up from the airport.
And, of course, I got to see my family!

All in all, it's the fact that it is so really rather quick to get home from tiny airports on tiny planes that made me really happy that day. Here a picture of the plane we took. Note the man in the front putting a suitcase on the plane to see just how small it was...

Big thanks to my sister for driving and her friends for picking us up from the airport. :)

(Wo)Man vs Machine - [Day 19]

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 05:24:19 +0100

Since I've got time right now, I might as well catch up on day 19 of my #100HappyDays challenge. I'm on my way to the airport for my brother's wedding tomorrow and may as well use this time productively.

Yesterday was a very busy day as I tried to do 3 days work in 1. One of the many things I had to do yesterday was check in online and print my boarding pass. Unfortunately I didn't have my passport so couldn't do so at work. Luckily, I had this:

Huge thank you to Joe and Marta for giving me that printer for free! I was a bit scared I wouldn't be able to get it to work... It's odd how in a day full of more and more advanced technology, printers are still so temperamental/complicated. But after installing the drive on my laptop, I was able to print my ticket without any problems. =)

Girls just wanna have fun - [Day 18]

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 04:59:40 +0100

I've been having a busy week and it's only going to get busier so this week's post will be late. I'll try and stay on top of things though and will post as and when I have time.

So let's catch up on day 18 of my #100HappyDays challenge. It was a Tuesday, which is really all you need to know about work. After I went to see my friend Emma.

We had a lovely evening, catching up and eating home made vegetarian curry. Thanks for a great time, lovely Emma. I love you lots and I'll see you when I'm back!!!

Sunrise, looks like mornin' in your eyes - [Day 17]

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 07:28:50 +0100

So yesterday was day 17 of my #100HappyDays challenge. It was a long and rather exhausting day.

Still, the point of this challenge is to find one good thing about every day. Yesterday, I woke up to this view:

Still, I reckon it's time for those clocks to change...