Careers in Social Media

Social media consistently amazes me. Since I’ve started blogging, I’ve been learning more and more about all the different platforms, but the possibilities for sharing nowadays are endless. I worked on my blog a little bit recently, playing with the colors, the layout, and the “widgets,” and although the changes are probably barely visible to anyone other than me, it really was a lot of work.

I can’t stand when there’s so much information on a page that it becomes difficult to navigate, so I strive to keep mine well organized, and that has been the first challenge I’ve faced. I’m not very technically savvy, but I’ll tell you, the amount you can learn about website design from a combination of Google and trial-and-error is astounding. Just about every problem I came across had already been solved by someone else on some message board or other site out there. I wonder if someday I might want to have someone who actually knows what they’re doing build me a really fancy site, but for now, I’m having fun learning.

The second challenge for me, which has been equally as difficult as the technical side, has been trying to seamlessly connect all of the different social media sites back to my blog. I have accounts on Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and making them all work together hasn’t been easy. I try to have them all sort of look the same, with similar usernames and color schemes, but I still have a long way to go. My goal is to be able to post in one place and have all of the accounts link up, but I don’t even quite know if that’s possible yet. In the meantime, I’m doing my best to stay abreast of all of them, enjoying what each one has to offer.

My new Facebook page is alive and well.  I feel like Facebook is where a lot of people see that I’ve posted, and where a lot of comments come in, so I enjoy keeping connected that way.

I also love following people and playing with the different photo options on Instagram (my username is megduv) whenever I think of it.

I used to go on Tumblr all the time, but now it mainly just links back to my blog for those readers who prefer finding content there first.  Sometimes it can be fun to see what other people are up to though!

Pinterest is probably my favorite social media platform out there right now – totally addicting. I’m pinning whenever I get a chance.  (If only I had more time to actually make/do the things I pin, life would be perfect.)

I’m kind of a lurker when it comes to Twitter; I like to check out what other people doing but I’m not huge on tweeting myself.  I do tweet about new blog posts though and I find that it’s a great way to stay connected with what’s going on.

A couple weeks ago, I was excited about my find at Joann Fabrics so I decided to let the world know:

And not more than five minutes later, I got a message back saying that the company had made my tweet a favorite… very cool!   (A similar thing happened when I tweeted my Chocolate Cookie recipe at Peanut Butter & Co.)

It makes me feel pretty cool that we regular people can connect with companies in this way – and it also really makes me wonder who is actually behind all of these corporate usernames. How cool would it be to manage the social media accounts for your company?  To blog and tweet and Facebook and e-mail and meet people who love your brand for a living? To get involved in the community and sponsor events and send people stuff as your job?

Between my love of writing, my business background, and my knowledge and interest of connecting with others through today’s ever-growing social technology, I think I would be perfect for that role. I would absolutely love to make a career out of connecting with people, and perhaps more importantly, I think I would be good at it. Today’s social media might be just a trend, but companies will always be looking for the hottest way to connect with the public and get their names out there, and the search for the best new ways to do that will never go away. 

For now, I’ll keep plugging along, gaining experience, and building up my resume, but it’s definitely something to think about.  I’ve learned that you do your best work when it’s something you’re passionate about, and I’m on the quest for finding a career which will allow me to do and be both.  I never thought starting my blog would lead to all that much, but it has shown me what I’m really passionate about, so maybe there’s something to that.  There are so many career possibilities out there that I never even considered growing up, but as I get older, my path seems to be shifting in a different direction.  I’m not quite sure where it’ll take me, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  

Questions:

What social media platforms do you use?  Which is your favorite?

What do you think are the pros and cons of each?

What is your dream job?