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Fresh Out of College: SM Marketing

by lucho29
6 replies
Hello,

I'm new to this forum and am hoping to find answers (and provide a few, every now and again) for some of my most pressing social media questions. As indicated by the title of this post, I'm fresh out of school.

I graduated from BYU (Provo, Utah) in December and am currently working as a PR/Social Media specialist of sorts at an ad agency. Things are going great and I love the work! That being said, sometimes I feel a bit lost in the insane amount of work/results that are expected of/from me.

Question: Any tips for a newbie looking to make a splash in the industry? Thanks for your willingness to help
#ad agency #college #fresh #marketing #social media
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    Try making a list of the top 5 - 10 objectives that you are supposed to accomplish as the SM person.

    Then rank order them in order of importance and work on the Number 1 priority until it works on its won bringing in results on a consistent basis with as little manual labor as possible.

    Then start on Number 2.

    Most times though, when you take the time to thoroughly evaluate the priorities and take care of Number 1, the others get taken care of too.

    A good question to ask in doing this is "Why?" Like: our number one priority is to increase our Facebook fanbase, and then you ask: Why? After a while you will get to the real idea and it is almost always to increase profitability.

    When you know what the real reason to be doing social media is, you can almost always set up a workable system to accomplish this goal that won't overload you.
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    • Profile picture of the author lucho29
      Thanks so much for your words of advice. I've read a few books on Digital PR/Social Media Marketing and have found them to be extremely helpful. That being said, this is my first time using a forum to obtain new knowledge and your responses have already shown me that this is REALLY where I need to be.

      Fortunately, my current boss is a guy who's very patient with his work staff (most of us are pretty young) and is more than willing to work with us. I do consider him a mentor of sorts and am grateful for the space that he's given me to learn by way of experience (mistakes included).

      The hard part with all of this is making sure that I'm satisfying the demands of my respective clients while also taking time to focus on the "chunks" of my job description. I really appreciate all of you reaching out. I'll make certain to put these things into practice!

      One more question before I take off: why is there so much turnover in Digital PR/Social Media Marketing? Maybe I'm just crazy, but it seems like people struggle to stick around after landing a sweet gig. If you've got the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        Originally Posted by lucho29 View Post

        Thanks so much for your words of advice. I've read a few books on Digital PR/Social Media Marketing and have found them to be extremely helpful. That being said, this is my first time using a forum to obtain new knowledge and your responses have already shown me that this is REALLY where I need to be.

        Fortunately, my current boss is a guy who's very patient with his work staff (most of us are pretty young) and is more than willing to work with us. I do consider him a mentor of sorts and am grateful for the space that he's given me to learn by way of experience (mistakes included).

        The hard part with all of this is making sure that I'm satisfying the demands of my respective clients while also taking time to focus on the "chunks" of my job description. I really appreciate all of you reaching out. I'll make certain to put these things into practice!

        One more question before I take off: why is there so much turnover in Digital PR/Social Media Marketing? Maybe I'm just crazy, but it seems like people struggle to stick around after landing a sweet gig. If you've got the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
        Most people who call themselves SM experts are not and when they find that its a lot of work AND they need to understand the new trending work processes before they become standard, many people cannot do that well. Sounds like you are wll on your way to a great career though, I hope you keep enjoying it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Alwell
    Enjoy the process and don't focus so much on the outcome.

    PR and social media marketing is deep and there is a LOT of content out there, and it's constantly evolving. It's easy to feel frustrated and overwhelmed.

    Break it into chunks. Focus on mastering 1 thing at a time.

    Find mentors and industry leaders who are putting out great content and study from them. Do what they are doing (this is called Reverse Engineering).

    Be sure to spend more time applying what you study, rather than just studying, as knowledge is only effective when it's put into action.
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  • Profile picture of the author flyingskill
    I will second the opinion of finding a mentor.

    Get your plan of action devised.

    Set your personal targets to be achieved and go there slowly but steadily. " Working hard on your job can make you living but working hard on yourself can make you fortune."

    Spare some money from your current job and invest it in the project mentored by a great mentor.

    Learn from your mistakes and carry on applying new techniques to find the pace required to hit the goal.

    Without 'personal motivation' you will get distracted. Find it if not have it yet.

    Regards!
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  • Profile picture of the author lucho29
    Michael,

    Thanks for your kind, helpful words! I look forward to learning from everyone on here
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