When I tell people that I'm a social media manager, I often get a look akin to that of my dog, Lincoln, when I asked if she wanted to go to bed. Whether or not the social media scene is booming or not, many people are still befuddled as to what it is that I could possibly do to make a living working in the field. There are times that I am pitched scenarios, followed by the question, “is that what you do?” All too often, the answer is no, and I'm taking this moment to set the record straight.
We are on ‘Facebook for a living.’ Many people believe that being a social media manager means that I simply scroll through Facebook all day long, and nothing else. Even when I first started this job, people would ask “so, you just play around on your Facebook all day?” Oh, I wish it were that simple, and the possibility of making money hand over fist by doing so was a possibility.
Lots of vacation time. As I sit here, I am recovering from a nearly four-hour surgery, and I'm writing this blog. I've been working all week, not with my normal lightning speed, but working nonetheless. I've logged into a page at 1130 at night, after being in bed for an hour and I've been rousted very early in the morning to satisfy customer needs. There is no off-time for social media.
It’s fun (or funny). Believe it or not, your trolling sucks for me. A simple barb of a comment on a status, means a potential crisis for me. I must quickly discern what the best possible way to handle the situation would be. Do I delete it? Comment back and potentially start a foul-mouthed war? What do we do? Every client is different, so trolling for the sake of trolling is very taxing for me.
We make the big bucks. For some reason, people believe that the world of social media is incredibly lucrative and that I'm swimming in gold coins, Scrooge McDuck style. Nope. We have to keep prices fair in order to be competitive in our field, and many times a client will haggle our prices. This is not the way I'm going to become independently rich, believe me.
We love Facebook. If I could delete my personal profile, I would. People's ability to fancy themselves experts on everything is enough to drive a sane person, crazy. Also, there is a lot more to social media that Facebook. I also deal in Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, WordPress, and my personal favorite, Joomla.
It’s glamorous. Nine times out of ten, we're not working for a celebrity or a super exciting business, and the content well runs dry for us. We've got to really work to make things interesting. I'm usually sitting down to eat my dinner, when a random fact pops into my head and I'm sent running to my office to jot it down to use for a client. I'm not dressed in smart suits and stiletto heels, leading business meetings; I'm the one trying to convince my client that what he's doing isn't necessarily what I've recommended.
It's not glamorous, it's not going to make me rich, and it's often misunderstood, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm well-versed in things I never would've known before (African Safaris, HVAC, and Houston commercial real estate) and I very much enjoy researching the content I write. The majority of the clients I've dealt with are quite pleasant and easy-going, and anything that allows me to write will get my vote. It isn't what it seems, but it is a heck of a ride.
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