29 Mar A Day in the Life of a Social Media Strategist
When I try to explain my job, especially to someone outside of social media, I usually get the question: “So, you are on Facebook all day?” While that is true, there are many other aspects to what I do all day. My role isn’t as clear as some of the other social media positions, like interacting and engaging with fans on brand channels, or placing really targeted media buys. As a Social Media Strategist, there are 4 important parts to my job: always learning, brainstorming, collaborating both internally and externally, and pitching plans and programs.
#AlwaysLearning
The first thing that I do every morning is read. I have a collection of blogs and social media sites that I scan for relevant industry news. When I find an important update, I share that knowledge internally with my coworkers and externally with my clients. Keeping my clients up-to-speed on the latest happenings in the social space and how it impacts their brand is a core component of my job. I love being one of the first to know ‘breaking news’, which is why I am always logged in to my social accounts and reading in between meetings. ‘Always Learning’ is one of our Core Values at Ignite and one that plays a very important role in the day in the life of a strategist.
Brainstorming
The creative side of my job, which I love, is brainstorming. As a strategist, I lead brainstorms multiple times a week. For the most part, these are internal meetings with the brand’s ‘team circle’. But brainstorms can also include the client or partner agencies. It is my responsibility to give the appropriate background information, help guide the brainstorm, and make sure we are accomplishing the goals that were established for that creative session. We have brainstorms as a part of planning exercises and to come up with larger social campaign concepts.
Collaborating Internally & Externally
As a strategist, you have to be a team player. While many times I am responsible for leading plans, consulting requests, and developing program concepts, I lean on the expertise of our other internal discipline teams to bring it all together. Before anything that is client-facing goes out the door, we hold reviews with the team circle to make sure everyone is aligned and that it is in the best interest of the brand.
In addition to internal collaboration, external collaboration is just as important. As a strategist, we have the second most outward facing role, after the Account Manager, to the client, partner agencies and vendors. We participate in client meetings, planning sessions and vetting vendors. Working together with all of these groups is the only way we can get our job done.
Pitching Plans & Programs
Last, but certainly not least, as strategist we are always pitching. We spend a lot of time in PowerPoint creating presentations that we then pitch to our clients. Those presentations range from holistic strategic plans to social program concepts. Strategic plans involve almost all discipline teams at Ignite, but the strategist is usually the primary ‘storyteller’. We are responsible for making these plans ladder up to the clients overall business and marketing objectives. These plans ensure that social media is a piece of the overall marketing plan and doesn’t appear fragmented.
Finally, we take those social program concepts that we brainstormed into integrated campaigns. The images to the right are for a social campaign we did for our ‘Go Red for Women’ client to support American Heart Month. We think through: how it works, the user flow, traffic drivers, and key performance indicators. Once a program is sold through to the client, we are responsible for seeing it all the way through execution.
Well, there you have it, the day in the life of a social media strategist. It is a good mix of creative, logical and analytical side of things. Every day is different and I am lucky to say that I truly love my job.
