What is a social media strategist?

Looking to pursue a job in social media? Our resident social media strategist explains the differences between content creators and strategists, why communication an important skill and how you can kickstart your career

Participants

• Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ
• Sophia Tang - social media strategist, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ

Transcript

Sophia Tang: In marketing, you realise that people come from all sorts of different marketing backgrounds. So for me, I used to think that like social if anyone was in social media marketing, they would definitely know social media. And that's not true

Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You, the podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ. I'm your host Emily Slade, and in this episode I speak to Sophia.

Sophia Tang: I'm Sophia Tang, and I am the social media strategist at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ.

Emily Slade: What is a social media strategist?

Sophia Tang: So I guess the best way to describe a social media strategist predominately is that they focus on creating a content strategy for social media for the specific brands. So I think it varies depending sometimes with job descriptions and stuff like that. But I would definitely say that it's kind of focused on understanding what social media is about, particularly understanding trends, understanding algorithms, and how you can basically utilise your knowledge to help create effective content strategy for social media. So this is obviously kind of considering what sort of content is worthwhile, the content of the different content types, to, you know, engage with your audience. And effectively, you're also working with across different teams as well to kind of consider how that might work. So with marketing teams with a product and sales to then create, essentially, like a schedule for it.

Emily Slade: And how long have you been doing that for?

Sophia Tang: So I've done this job specifically for about four months, but I would say that I've been in social media strategy for a while. So social media itself for about four to five years.

Emily Slade: Okay. Is that sort of what's your educational history? Is that something that you studied at university?

Sophia Tang: So I went to the University of Nottingham, and I studied International Media and Communication Studies with Mandarin Chinese on the side.

Emily Slade: Nice.

Sophia Tang: Yeah. And then I guess what, after that, I kind of wanted to do a broad degree. So I guess I think that effectively was kind of would allow the opportunities, but I kind of was more focused on that media space. And that's kind of what led me to marketing. So in my first sort of role, I was doing more content creation, I'd see kind of doing digital design, editing videos and filming videos. And then I moved to kind of transition more into the strategy side. So I was doing it originally from like a law agency perspective, where I was working with brands I kind of working behind the scenes to kind of help create, like an overall brand strategy, as well as like, liking or like kinda organic, social health, brief designers to create content for our brands. And then from that, I've now transitioned to more COVID in house and I specifically work for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ to kind of manage their social media platforms.

Emily Slade: So what is, I mean, you briefly covered it there, but like, what is the difference between a social media strategist and say, like a content creator?

Sophia Tang: Yeah, so I would say that, specifically, social media strategist kind of leans towards the eye, there'll be like a social media manager. So specifically, for my role, I find that I'm kind of working day to day sort of activities, which involve like copyright to scheduling. And I work with a designer in my role to kind of help create that content to then be bought classes and published, it's also kind of involves, like community management. And sometimes you do a bit of like advertising work as well. So maybe I do a bit of paid ads, or like boosting and stuff like that. But we do have our own separate kind of like advertising paid advertising team specifically. And then from a content creator role, I think you do find that sometimes we're frauds, that they do overlap. But I would say content, a content creator role kind of specifically focuses on more the idea of creating the actual content, they might have consideration of like the content strategy to kind of to know how to effectively create the content. So for example, you might, the way you've kind of constructed that piece of content. So an example would be like making a video, you might think about how would this effectively engage with your audience making it short and snappy and whatnot, and stuff like that, but you will essentially be involved in the ideation and creating the content itself.

Emily Slade: Cool, perfect. So how did you get your current job?

Sophia Tang: So I was already working in strategy, but I kind of was looking to do a transition from agency life to leave the house to kind of focus more on social media in that aspect is purely because I think agency life can be super hectic. And I transitioned from like working in central London agency ally, to now working in Manchester in the house agency. I was actually I actually found a job while searching on LinkedIn at the time, I was kind of looking for a transition was I still my last job. So it was a bit tough kind of working around hours to do interviews and stuff like that. But I think Jisc itself was making made the process really efficient in terms of kind of the tasks and the process and also just kind of letting them know how I got the job as well.

Emily Slade: Yeah. Oh, amazing. That's brilliant. So what do you love most about your job?

Sophia Tang: Hmm, it's interesting. So I've been here for about four months, but I think there's a lot of really interesting things about it. So I think one of the things that I'd like to kind of talk about is like having the autonomy in my role. Like, I think one of the things that I was told when I joined this role was that I could pretty much make it my own and make the social media as my own. I think that came from the fact that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ had somewhat of a social media presence, that lot less consistent social media presence. So I'd be I'd be kind of thinking about what sort of content with best engage with our audience, which is like, specifically Gen Z, leaning towards Gen Alpha, do you think, and I think that's what made it great, because I could really experiment and they kind of understood that like, it would take time, and to build that consistency with them effectively, kind of help us engage with that sort of audience, which would then kind of pull them to kind of go to our websites and whatnot to kind of learn more about what our brand is all about. I would say also, because of the sense of autonomy that I get, I've been doing a lot more content around like videos and stuff like that, which has allowed me to do a lot of traveling, I think for some people would be can be quite exhausting, but it's also kind of given me opportunities to kind of really go out there in the world and listen to your students opinions, like really getting that authenticity of hearing, like, you know, real experiences. And it's also just been really great to build that sort of relationship with like, employers, and also like, universities as well, that I've been working quite closely with to do this piece of content.

Emily Slade: Cool. So what is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Sophia Tang: I think there's so much pieces of advice that I've received that I think is really interesting, but I think the one thing that I would say is like, take every opportunity you get rather than regret. And I think that's one of the things that I've always kind of stuck with me, I'm like, I'm very much a yes, person always tried to grab as many opportunities. And that's kind of what also allowed me to be someone with very many, many skills, I'd say, if you looked at my CV, we said there used to be a joke around me and my friends being like, your CV would be endless if you put all your different experiences that you actually like, you know, had done in your life. So, I mean, it also just kind of allows you to kind of widen your perspective of the field. So I've kind of been dipped into like various, you know, areas from like PR to working in events, doing a bit presenting, obviously do bit social media, and even doing the content creating as well. And I think that's kind of allowed me to, you know, really enjoy my role feeling like I'm not just limited to do one thing, because I think I'm just someone who's like always pushing to wanting to learn more, and develop this off.

Emily Slade: Perfect. When it comes to your job and your role. What hard skills do you rely on?

Sophia Tang: I think it sounds a bit generic, but actually marketing itself is like a really important. So being able to do understand social media, the landscape, being able to understand, you know, the kind of developments that are going on in social media, like obviously, maybe like Instagram has a new update and stuff and or maybe like the algorithm has shifted and stuff that they think is really important that it's all about experimentation. So be able to try different things and understand how things effectively work helps you kind of get more knowledge into social media. I think the other thing is like reporting, like, it's all great and fun to do all that you know, the content creation, and also like the scheduling and like publishing the work, but effectively, you're only going to be able to see or build an even better strategy by and be able to go back and review your work. And obviously think about how you can obviously maybe adjust your strategy to make sure that it's better because of your results. So if you, for example, find that like maybe videos are working better, then you might more likely lean towards putting more videos and stuff like that, or maybe you find that maybe slightly shorter, like carousels or content that is a bit more interesting. So then that way that you might, you know, reduce the slot and slides that you're having this. I mean, it's all about just testing, I'd say. And I think that effectively is really important. Also copywriting I think be able to think of the way that you construct your words, to target your audience. So obviously be able to understand what your breasts further voices and how you can attract your audience. Because I think copywriting not only kind of goes into the idea of how you construct your words to, you know, target your audience in terms of the content itself, but even you know, social media captions, or even sometimes, like, the stuff that you're seeing in videos and stuff like that will really go a long way. And so the word about the soft skills, or soft skills of me, I think, comes effectively well communication, right? So I think communication is always going to be a big one and not only with the way that you communicate to your audiences, but also how you kind of communicate across your team. So I find that not only on my work with my marketing team, but I'm also working with colleagues and sales to kind of help build and as you know, those relationships aspire to create content. And I think like people say communication is underrated, but actually what people talk about communication a lot today, but I would say that Like actually, being an effective communicator is what's really important. Because if there's any like misunderstandings or you know, even just delegating tasks and the way that conversations that you're having with people will effectively kind of control the way that like your relationships and the way that you work with people, what was the kind of turnout so and then a lot of it, I would focus on like time management and organisation, I think being a social media strategist can be a bit chaotic sometimes, especially when it comes to like, knowing what you want to schedule, the kind of sort of content that you want to be going on, especially when you're running around and do all sorts of shoots and stuff. Like, it can be very all up in the air. So I think it's important that for me, what are the big things I do from an organisational perspective is like, I would build like a social media calendar, like up to like three months in advance just to kind of understand what's the content I need to be preparing for, like, what do I need to film in advance? What do I need to edit in advance? Also part of just being timely. So obviously, we work specifically in targeting a lot of students and graduates that I would say like, as one example, with like, a, there was A Level results day coming up. And you'd probably want to focus on content like clearing or either the auctions after graduation and stuff, or, you know, what alternative routes can you look at if you don't want to go to university. So these kinds of things are like really important to kind of help engage with your audience and ensuring that you know, you're relevant really. And then lastly, I think it just comes down to also time management, this one which kind of effectively links with just the whole organisational aspects. So I'd say that like, for me, like, I find myself doing all sorts of different tasks, I tend to like block up my calendar for like different time blocks to focus on different tasks just to ensure that I'm, you know, making sure that I'm covering all those different things. Because when you're working in so many different areas, or social media, I think sometimes it's hard to keep up to ensure that you're doing all those things. So I always try to like schedule time to fit all those different tasks across my calendar over the week.

Emily Slade: Cool, just to loop back to being an effective communicator, as you say, like the word communication and communicate are thrown around so much in the sort of job world. And you honed in on being an effective communicator, what does that look like? What is being an effective communicator? What are the skills that come with that? Sophia Tang: It's all about transparency. Also, one of the things that I've recently learned about especially from like a leadership perspective, is being able to understand and be adaptive of the way people communicate, because everyone will have different sorts of communication styles. So one of the things that I particularly found for myself and also affected by my own personal cultural background is that I tend to be quite blunt, and very to the point where they talk about things, but that's also just kind of how things translate also from like my mother tongue, we tend to be very like that to the point. But sometimes, like when you talk about things like from like, non British aspect, you tend to be a little bit more. How do I say maybe a little bit more wishy washy? Yeah, so yeah, exactly. Our Yeah, you are in or around the point a lot more. Yeah. And I think that's something that I've kind of had to consider a lot more of the way that I communicate, but also just, I think, tried to find that balance of being like when you dedicate what delegate work, and also just try not to be too micromanaging. I think that's also quite important in terms of communication. But I think in the end, like I said, I think transparency is probably the biggest thing, like, be able to be clear with what you want. And obviously you're having that person communicate, ensure that they understand what you're talking about more than in create that effective relationship.

Emily Slade: Are there any expectations you've had about your career that turned out to be different in reality?

Sophia Tang: I mean, it's interesting, because I think that when you go and apply for a job role, it doesn't necessarily translate in every single company. And I think it really depends on what the company has, versus like, what they expect from you as well. So one of the things that I realised is that even though I've worked in two different strategy roles, the job description is very different, I'd say so like, obviously, I was working to create briefs and to designers and stuff like that, effectively doing a lot more like overarching brand strategy for like, a lot of big projects when my agency life. But now I'm literally become more like a social media manager, and I have that autonomy to create what I want to do, but it can be hard, because like, essentially, you're working very, very independently as well. And I think, also when it comes to like to working, I think as someone who pretty much graduated during the pandemic, my idea and concept of working has really skewed I mean, I remember when I first started my job, everyone's talking about, ah, five days a week in the office and I was like, what's that like? You know what that's like either she saw his my first job remotely and then switch to hybrid and now we're flexible working. And then I think being able to kind of adapt to that working culture. But not being afraid to reach out to people is really important because I think it's sometimes like with my role it can need someone isolating? So it's important to, you know, reach out to people. Don't be afraid to bounce off ideas as well, like, yes, you have a little autonomy. But sometimes it's a great way to just talk that I think it's great that like, by talking to people, you can help to the verb, your ideas, and you know, you end up falling into this echo chamber of like, pretty much doing the same thing, because that's all you can think about.

Emily Slade: Yeah, nice. That's so interesting. I hadn't even considered that. So would you argue that there's also within soft skills, that wider lesu embassy but more understanding of going into the working world and working with these people that have been used to a completely different working way of life pre 2020, than what the now new generation of workers, these entry level workers are gonna have experienced? And it's about understanding where everyone's coming from in that respect.

Sophia Tang: Yeah, and maybe another thing, particularly with marketing, that really surprised me, and is there anything bad to say, I'd say, but it's also the fact that like, in marketing, you realise that people come from all sorts of different marketing backgrounds. So for me, I used to think that like social, if anyone was in social media marketing, they would definitely know social media. And that's not true. I see a lot of my other colleagues, when I was working with them, like a previous agency, I found that they would already know much about social media, like they knew enough, but I was always be that person, because I was the gender your person to go to advice when it came to anything related to social media. And I'm not to say that like, then bad marketers, but it just also comes from the idea that maybe the kind of experience that they've gained, and you know, over the past years was very different. So maybe whether it came to the prints, or whether it came to like TV ads, where we're, you know, this penance was a lot more full of a generational shift, I would say, because I think those kinds of things were really relevant at that time when they were obviously becoming marketers. But nowadays, it's all about social media. So being able to understand and work with people and also be open to hearing about people's ideas is our kind of learn and develop as a person as well.

Emily Slade: So what advice do you have for anyone entering into this industry?

Sophia Tang: I'd say, don't be afraid to upskill yourself. Like, I think one of the things that I found is that I'm constantly always trying to challenge myself and learn new things. Because marketing is such a broad field, and you can literally do anything if you really wanted to. So it's important to kind of be able to utilise the different resources that are available, I think, the great thing, especially after the pandemic, there's so many free resources as well. And also lots of interesting programs that you can pretty much do remote and like online to, you know, grow yourself. So like, personally, for me, I recently just did a crash course on like SEO, just because I thought it'd be really interesting, especially because we do stuff with a website. Or I also kind of joined a program with sales and marketing, which is a digital marketing growth program. And particularly, because I've already got a bit of experience in marketing, I just kind of wanted to hone in the life skills and like develop them as well. So I think there's some really great resources out there like FutureLearn. And also they do go off, there's a lot of interesting stuff LinkedIn learning. So I would say that, like, if you have that time, definitely, like, take that opportunity to really, you know, build yourself in that way. Because I think that's how you, you know, showcase your determination as an individual. But also show to like, you know, any recruiters or people employees that you know, you're willing to, you know, develop yourself in this field.

Emily Slade: Thank you so much for your time today.

Sophia Tang: Thanks, thank you so much.

Emily Slade: Thanks again to Sophia for joining me. For more information on how to pursue a job in social media, you can head to prospects.ac.uk If you've enjoyed the episode, you can leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. Thank you as always for listening and good luck on your journey to future you.

Notes on transcript

This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.

Find out more

• Read more about Sophia's role as a social media strategist.
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