I am now in the middle of my 8th full week as Social Media Strategist for Powwownow and this is the most common question I get asked. I am asked this by other staff members, by people I meet when I’m out and about, by my friends, and last night I was asked by my 82 year old grandmother! Considering she is yet to grasp the concept of the internet, explaining my job to her was no easy task.
One of my friends favourite answers to the; “What is it that you do for a living?” question is “My job does not define me!” And although I do agree with her on this, it is understandably a natural first question for people to ask. Although your job doesn’t necessarily define you it does give people a feel for you and something to talk about with you until they know you better.
The description of what my job depends on your knowledge of the internet in the first instance and Social Media in the second and because of this, before you know it, what I “DO” for a living can dominate the conversation! So in order to keep it short and sweet I have tried and tested a number of explanations in order to find the one which best describes my job quickly. My top two definitions include;
- I promote the company I work for on Facebook and Twitter (or on the internet depending on the individuals knowledge) and other sites like that – but I hate this explanation because it’s not really about promotion – yes that comes into it, but it’s not the main purpose, and it’s not just about Facebook and Twitter.
- I work in Online/Digital PR – but in the long run this description only generates the same questions as saying I’m a Social Media Strategist.
As you can see I’m not exactly making great headway in developing this explanation. I think the reason for this is because it’s not really that easy to pigeonhole my job. Yes it is about Communication and yes my background is PR – but for me being a Social Media Strategist is so much more than that. I use social media as a tool to try and achieve these things like this;
- Making sure we have a strong online presence
- Engaging with our online community
- Providing our current customers with fantastic customer service
- Listening to our customers to see what they think could improve
- Looking for opportunities with new customers
- Listening to our competitors’ customers to identify the mistakes our competitors are making – to make sure we don’t go down the same path.
At Powwownow we believe Social Media work involves every department. The Social Media Strategist is there to build the plan behind it (the what, why, who, where and how), to get people in the company excited about it, to get people outside of the company excited about it, and to manage it. This is what I “DO”– I make it happen!
Oh and just in case you were wondering – I LOVE IT!
