My Research on Social Media

I was messaging a very lovely woman named Marlinde on Instagram the other day. She is a big part of the online world. We were talking about how I HAVE to get out of retail. It's wearing on me physically AND especially mentally. 

I keep telling my friends (and I always felt bad about it), that I feel like I'm meant for more. 

But while messaging this woman, I told her "you know, I kind of want to be some kind of manager one day. I don't know. I love social media so maybe a legit career in that, but I don't want to go back to college."

She surprised me by saying "WHAAAAT? You don't have to go to college to be a social media manager! Absolutely not!" 

I was taken aback because everything I Googled said "You need to go to college for marketing. End of story". And I was not in the mood to wreck my mental health by taking more college classes. The first round of college was enough. 

But...a social media manager? Me? I only have 200 followers on Instagram. I mean, I have a good amount of readers on this blog (THANK YOU) but I don't have a legit "following." Could I still try?

I talked to my mom about it. I told her all the things that come with being a SMM (Social Media Manager) and for once in my life, she said it sounded like a really good idea. I usually have dreams way too big for my head and she's used to those. But she actually thinks this is great.

So I Googled. And I researched. I found a podcast called Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner. It has over 400 episodes and most of them are SO good and relevant on what I need to learn. 

I listened to 7 hours of that podcast in 2 days. I wrote notes. Learned a bit of lingo. 

But I still had questions. I HAD to talk to a SMM at some point to ask my question I've been dying to know: "How do you like your job?" So I went on LinkedIn and searched. I wasn't allowed to message any of them or connect with any because they were 'too big' for me, or whatever LinkedIn says. 

I went on Instagram. I messaged this another woman who I KNEW would give me some names. But as it turned out, her answer really peeved me. 

She said back to me: "Of course I know a lot of social media managers! But their time is too valuable and they won't answer you unless you build rapport. That means, you need to pay them to ask them any questions. Let me know what you decide to do!"

I was...shocked. I had one question. A simple question. I'm not paying for that! That's not good business, that's being rude. 

That led to me unfollow her and write what I've learned so far on here! FOR FREE! So many people on social media are WAY too secretive on what they do and how they do it. Which I get, but as a beginner, I need every tip I can get. No one is mentoring me, so I picked up a notebook and started writing notes down in it on what I learned through (ahem, FREE) podcasts. 

I really want a niche in individual branding (but definitely am willing to work with companies) and I'm going to start with one platform at a time, and right now, it's Instagram. Because Instagram fascinates me.

If you ever want to learn behind the scenes of social media, here's what I've learned so far:

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-When you're just starting out as a social media manager, or you coordinate some sort of social media, your pay rate most likely should be by hour. $15 is the lowest you should go. When you get more experience, you can get paid per campaign. 

-Organic social media= posts that don't have a paid promotion behind it. Some people say organic is dead. For me, I think it's the only way for someone small to build a following. Be organic at least some of the time! People can tell when you're getting paid; don't over do it. 

-ROI= Return on investment. The formula I've heard for ROI is 'money earned minus money spent divided by money spent'. Pretty much, you want to earn more than you spent. Keep in mind, doing online ads are not part of ROI. It's it's own separate thing. (sorry for the money talk. Trust me, I'm shocked I understand this...)

-For every $1 you put in for an online ad, you need to make $4. You need 400% . It is the simplest way to increase your income. I don't suggest small businesses do too many ads at first because it's pricey. One ad is fine; you need to make a name for yourself. But more than one without building a following first is risky to your paycheck.

-Utilize apps.
~I'm into Hootsuit, which I'm using for Instagram right now. Hootsuit is an app where you can schedule your posts, which is nice for people on the go. You say "hey I want this picture to be posted on my Instagram tomorrow at 12 pm" and Hoosuit will do it. 

~Mailchimp. I've always wanted a newsletter and I JUST got into it a few weeks ago. Mailchimp keeps my followers up to date on what I post and where I post. You can play around with templates to make it and really, it's not hard at all. People who subscribe care about what you post. Keep that in mind!

-For someone who is really into coding, UTM is the way to go for analytics. Pretty much, UTM will track where your followers came from. For example, I put a certain UTM code at the end of my blog link on Twitter. Whenever someone clicks that specific link, you KNOW it's from Twitter because I put a special code at the end. The more you know your analytics, the better!

- My go-to podcasts (as of right now) are: Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner, Blogging Unscripted with Danielle Gervino (I learned SO MUCH from this one), and Awfully Ambitious. If you want to learn from these podcasts, keep a notebook handy! 

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I hope you enjoyed what I've learned so far! I still have a ways to go (LOL) and a lot I have written down in my hand dandy notebook (pictures above). 

First and foremost, I HAVE to grow a following on Instagram before I can even think about doing any of this. So if you can, please follow me on Instagram HERE. Tell your friends to follow me too! I try and take cute pictures, I promise!

ALSO, please let me know if anyone knows of a NICE social media manager that I can talk to! I would love to see their website!