If you work in social media, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Especially if you’ve been using social media for a little while and have a nagging feeling you’ve taken the wrong turn but aren’t quite sure what that is. Whether you work for an agency, a brand, journalist, stylist, fashion house, beauty blogger, we all come across the same problems. These are the common signs you work in social media:
1) You feel like the social media equivalent to a superhero.
Pretty much like Clark Kent in daytime and Superman on an evening. If you are a real life person and have a day job which involves social media for a brand, a blog, a newspaper, then you will be used to using two handles and flipping between screens – OR in the case of Instagram – logging in and out, and in and out, and in and out like a yoyo to use it. You may find that you know the work password off by heart but can you guess your own? Nope! And you may spend all day on Facebook, for work, but never update your personal page.
2) You’ve heard the phrase ‘can we get an intern to do it?’
Social media seems to be one of those things that people are so scared of/don’t see any value in but need to do. It’s quite common to hear the phrase ‘can we get an intern to do it’ without any sense of irony. Most marketers will know that it is perfectly possible to get an intern to run your social media. But if you don’t know how to set the strategy or indeed how to check they are not writing a load of nonsense, then being on social media is pretty pointless altogether.
3) You and social media are like, SO OVER
It’s totally normal to need a break from social media every now and again. Just shout ‘WE ARE ON A BREAK’ , delete all your apps and throw your phone at the wall. Just joking – but seriously if you are finding a social overload try switching everything off and having time out. Life will not grind to a halt because you haven’t used a hashtag for ten minutes.
4) You can write under 140 characters without even blinking
Oh and add hashtags #instafashion #instatwat – you don’t even want to do it but you have to… Social media is almost a science – you know what to put, what to ask, how to keep it short, how to rephrase to fit everything in. Shame there’s no official social media qualification – A Level in Instagram – totes lol – one day there will be.
5) You utter the words ‘ooh this isn’t really on brand for ME? Is it yah?‘
So you’ve taken a bit of a mediocre pic that is perfect for Facebook but doesn’t quite cut it for your uber cool instagram profile, or you’ve tweeted a work pic that none of your Facebook friends would care about. Knowing what is right for your personal brand is as hard as it is at work. If you’re ever not sure – don’t do it!
6) You can have seriously boring chat with fellow marketers about scheduling
Scheduling can lead to as many problems as it solves. While it makes sure it physically goes out, it can look spammy if you’re linking things up. If you’re using hootsuite it will look great via twitter but all wrong on Google plus. If you share things from Instagram to Facebook that won’t link to any other brands you tagged on Instagram. What you share on your personal Google+ page is private so you have to start up a business – which can be scheduled through somewhere like hoot suite. But on the other hand linked in can only be scheduled as a person ARE YOU FEELING DIZZY YET? The phrase ‘just schedule it’ may make you want to blow up like a volcano
7) When they invented Instagram did you think ‘Yey great!’ Or ‘god I hope I can get my handle’.
It’s relatively straight forward if you’re just using your name but runs into problems when you’re a brand, blogger or if you’re a stylist with a catchy name. Often we see things up in haste so these days it’s not uncommon for one person to have amassed numerous social channels which are half managed, blogs which were regularly updated and then disregarded for Tumblr, and shunned when Instagram arrived. Now there’s a new app everyday with Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Snapchat, Pinterest, Vine and Linked In still leading the way. If you hastily set up an account and didn’t think it through you could have very easily ended up with a different name on each platform. It happens to us all, even the might @Britishvogue used to be @vogueuk.
8) You asses people’s very worth on their followers
Common marketer conversation;
‘I’ve just had an email from Fashion Blogger saying they want to work with us.’
‘Great, domain authority?’
’35’
‘Hmmm Twitter followers?’
‘Ooh like only ten, wait there’s Instagram, ooh 135k’
‘Great Instagram campaign it is!’
Sad but true people, sad but true.
9) You become a social media bore. ‘Yah I heard the news – it was trending on Twitter earlier’
A social snore will be refreshing the feed all day long. They are also characterised by knowing random facts – like they are the ones clicking to see why Justin Bieber is trending and THEN trying to hijack the traffic. Also probably knows the most up to date technology, knows how to look for algorithm changes, how to make the most of advertising. Can basically turn social media water into social media wine – behold the social media God.
10) You don’t care who follows you as long as there’s an increase
Yes social media isn’t just fun they are also assessed through KPIs – not just followers either, how many likes, shares, interactions and how influential you are. You will have to get good at defending unfavourable numbers and celebrating good ones. Furthermore you are also well versed in phrases such as ‘well we didn’t get as big of a jump in followers this week but it’s more a question of quality followers rather than quantity.’
Brilliant.. can I just add that you know you’re social when you actually think in 140 characters.