A Social Media What Now??

And I’m back. I am two days into my freedom while I write this (do you know how many times I’ve gotten the Braveheart Freedom gif sent to me in the past week?  A LOT)

via GIPHY

But I digress. The last few weeks at my job were odd. Things picked up and people were super busy and strangely enough, the rumor mill at that place really let me down.  I had to tell a lot of people I was leaving, and most others didn’t hear about it until my goodbye card started making rounds (yes I have awesome friends). But regardless of how they found out the conversation inevitably went like this:

 

Them: so, you’re leaving??

Me: yup

Them: what are you doing?

Me: social media marketing. Freelance. I’ve been doing it part time for a while now.

Them: oh, so like website design and stuff?

Me: no, social media, like writing content, creating posts, marketing etc.

Them: oh, so like writing blogs for websites?

Me: nope…like Facebook. Making Facebook posts.

Them: …..that’s a thing?

 

Yes, a lot of people at my job were a bit older and more focused on the science world and definitely not up to speed on social media and what it does but it is really hard to have an “elevator pitch” when someone doesn’t even know that your new job is a thing.  Luckily, I have unknowingly spent the last 23 years of my life preparing for this exact state of confusion.

 

Last 23 years:

Them: oh, you’re a vegetarian?

Me: yup, since I was 11 (oh no, now you know my age! Gasp!)

Them: so, do you eat fish?

Me: nope. No meat

Them: oh. So, no dairy?

Me: nope, that’s Vegans. I eat eggs and dairy. (#ilovecheese)

Them: oh, so what do you eat?

Me: All other kinds of food?

 

I found a lot of times in my life that I don’t explain things enough or my brain will jump to a new thought and I’ll say it out loud without using all the proper nouns and describing words and just totally lose the person I’m talking to (luckily my Life Wives can follow my train of thought and catch right on!). Since this has been pointed out to me quite a lot (thanks Mom!) I try to be better and more adjectivey (it’s a word) when I have a new thought, so I don’t have to backtrack and people don’t look at me like I’m crazy. Knowing that, when I decided to leave I thought I was ready. I had all the explanations about what I’ve been doing the past three years, how I started, what Whale Tales is all that jazz…but then it didn’t matter. The ‘elevator ride’ was already done by the time I got the person off of websites and on to Facebook.

So, for all of you reading this now, who are extra confused since I said I wasn’t leaving to write blogs here it is. I am a Social Media Marketer/Coordinator/Manager. I create content for various social media platforms for a variety of accounts. My job is to create inspiring and inventive posts and images to increase engagement and drive people to websites or to donate or to sign up for whatever my client would like them to do. Sometimes I write blogs, sometimes I edit webpages but most of the time I put stuff on Instagram. Yes, it’s a job. Apparently, you can make a lot of money from it but that’s not why I wanted to do it. Social Media fascinates me. The ability to reach so many people so quickly is crazy sauce. The power you have at your keyboard can be phenomenal. I know we’ve all seen the Dark Side of that, but I try to use it for Good.  Or at least to educate people when they are least expecting it (did you know that Killer Whales are actually the biggest member of the dolphin family? Now you do!).

 

Anyway, that’s what I do now. If you’re in the market for someone to manage your social media accounts give me a shout! But remember I still don’t eat fish.