I love this category of business, and I love this question that I get all the time: “So, what do you do again?” I can never help but smile when I get asked that, because really, aside from “Oh, I get paid to play Facebook”, most people don’t really know what the heck I’m talking about when I tell them I manage clients’ social media accounts and help them develop their online marketing strategies. So, in effort to combat that today, I’m dedicating this entire post (short as it may be) to making it clear exactly what I do for a living. Maybe the next time I have to explain to someone what a blog is, I’ll be able to send them here, and get all of their questions knocked out in one swat! (Hopefully! 
) OK, so here we go:
First and foremost, let me set up my scenario. I’m an entrepreneur at heart and always have been, but finally, just this past August, I was given the opportunity to actually take that leap of faith, and go out on my own and start my own business managing clients’ social media accounts and helping them develop a more modern approach to their online marketing strategy (should they even have one to begin with). And what expertise do I have to qualify me in this, you might ask? Really, none. But I have spent the past year and a half completely immersed in social media, and especially the revolution going on in the music industry right now. In fact, as you may know, my number one passion is music, but my close second is business, and anything I can learn from anyone around me, at any time, is always welcome – if nothing else, I’m a learner! I try not only to learn, but to apply everything I learn to my exact situation (not to mention possible situations as well). So expertise? None. Willingness to constantly learn, adapt, apply, and rearrange to avoid complacency? Check!
Now, what does managing a client’s social media presence entail? In short, my basic focus right now is on Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere. Why? Because that’s the trend right now, and that’s where the people are. Plain and simple. I know there are 900Million different social networks out there now, but do I care about being on every single one of them? Not in the slightest bit. Having said that, I will try to find a social network that may exist around a particular client’s field of business, and engage there on top of the other three, but again, it’s not my primary focus. People who are on smaller, niche social networks, are generally gonna be on FB and Twitter as well, they may just be easier to find and engage. So with all of that in mind, what I aim to do, is create a strategy from the outset (ie, a goal or focus – mission), one that’s taylored to that client’s own goals and ambitions, and I try to create a consistent form of engagement building around that central goal or mission. What? In other words, I have some underlying goals that I hope to move towards with each tweet, each status update, each blog post, and each engagement in the social world. I hope to grow these goals as time goes on, and those engagements become more consistent, and higher in magnitude! (ie, more talky, more engagy, more better)
These are the primary building blocks that I like to focus on right now. Around that, it really all depends on the client, and what their specific needs are. Generally speaking though, I like to include design modifications to their homepage (should they not have one, I can get them started as well) that will serve to drive up hits, sales, or whatever their goals are, and create the kind of environment people want to experience when they get to your website. Whether or not the client should employ an email list, or a smartphone app, or a video campaign, or any of the myriad of options out there when looking to engage with your audience, your customers, in the right way, is something else I like to work with my clients on just to make sure we’re doing all that we can with our efforts.
So finally, what do I do again? I help brands, businesses, artists, musicians, and the like, reach out and engage with their audience through social media, and help them convert more of those engagements into viable leads, hits, plays, downloads, sales, or whatever it is they wish to do. Or in other words: I get payed to play facebook.
What do you do?
Ross
