When I was in school, professors often preached that by “the merit of my birth year,” I was destined for social media marketing. As a Millennial, I know the ins and outs of every social platform available, and I expected to be able to transition that knowledge from personal to professional with ease. In reality, the two are not the same. Using social media to support a brand is far more complex than it seems and it takes an incredible amount of strategic planning and a deep understanding of the consumer to succeed. When done correctly, social media can be a humanized extension of a brand that reaches the consumer on a personal level. In my new role this summer as a Social Media Intern at DMA Solutions, I learned the ins and outs of successful social media marketing. Here are the 5 Social Media realities I have encountered!
Social Media is a conversation.
When I take part in social media for personal use, I share photos, thoughts, and memories with my friends and family. I comment on what relates to me and join in conversations that are of interest. As a social media intern, I quickly learned that this is an important insight for brands. Social media is a platform for conversation unlike any other; it allows a brand to speak directly to a shopper and vice versa. In my time at DMA, I learned that there is already a conversation happening about every brand out there. Each client I worked with was tagged in photos and mentioned in comments, and people liked and shared these every single day. I came to understand that this is truly the point of a brand engaging in social media. This conversation about your brand is likely already happening anyways, so why not be a part of it?
I am not the target.
Social media is amazing. When I use sites like Instagram outside of work, my feed is like a museum in which I am the curator, filled with all of the content I enjoy the most. When I started in this position, I found myself tempted to generate the content that I found most appealing. In reality, I am not the “skeleton key” to every target market. My interests are not necessarily the same as the target consumer for every client that I work with. I learned that understanding the needs and interests of each client’s consumer and internalizing them as if they were my own made my content more relevant and more effective.
Reflection is important.
When working in social media, consistency is key. You want to keep your social profiles updated regularly and stick with a central theme or identity to ensure that your fans and followers know what to expect from you, and so that you remain relevant. But in this consistency, I have learned that it is also important to take time (and take it often) to ensure that what you’re doing is working. Make sure that in the effort to keep your brand’s social profile full of content, you do not lose sight of who your brand is and what your consumer is interested in. Look at the analytics behind your social media and see which posts worked and which posts didn’t, and try to figure out why. Find what your fans are engaging the most in and see if you can paint a picture of their interests. Take time to listen instead of always speaking. Through this reflection I learned how to experiment with different types of content and how to remain consistent while remaining interesting.
Social media is an extension of personality.
As I look over my personal Facebook profile, I see my favorite quotes, favorite sports teams, favorite movies and books, all of the places I have been, and all of the things I have done. I see myself in digital form. When I started as a social media intern, I didn’t think that running profiles for brands would be the same experience. I thought that brand profiles would be more professional and less personal, and that they had little potential to be anything more. In reality, brands themselves have elaborate personalities that are vividly painted on social media. Fresh produce brands are especially abundant with personality. I learned how to communicate values of health and wellness and humanize a brand through my voice. I learned that brands can have favorite quotes, root for sports teams, develop friendships, and extend their personalities through social media just as I do outside of work every day. Most importantly, I found that in these personalities, consumers grow closer to brands and invite them into their lives.
Always provide value.
We all have those Facebook friends that over-share or post information that means absolutely nothing to us. In working at DMA as a social media intern, I understood the need to ensure that a brand does not become that Facebook friend. I learned the importance of motivating your consumer and giving them a reason to visit and engage with your social media. Whether it was a meal hack or a recipe, I learned to contribute something to a Facebook fan’s life. Most of all, I found that social media is an experience for people, and in providing value in some way, big or small, I could ensure that this experience was positive and unforgettable.
Before graduating, my use of social media was a completely different world and I was at the center. Through my time as an intern for DMA Solutions, I have learned the similarities and differences in using social media personally and professionally. I have a greater appreciation for the brands that I connect with online, and I understand how powerful social media is in engaging with consumers on a personal level. I feel that I have earned my expertise in social media not by the “merit of my birth year,” but by trial and error, research, and most of all, by listening. Listening to the consumer, listening to my mentors, and listening to what analytics tell me. Social media is absolutely amazing, and I am grateful for the realities that I have faced, as they have brought me to a more knowledgeable, more effective me.
