Confessions of a Newly-Minted Social Media Manager

Armed and dangerous. Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

First, I never thought I’d end up in this business.

Second, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.

Why did they even hire me?

Maybe I’m being uncharitable; as of late, our social media engagements haven’t been complete garbage.

But dammit, we aren’t going viral, either! Even when we break out the memes and ride all the trends.

The bandwagon only goes so far before the horse gets tired of hauling all our collective asses, and then it’s back to the drawing board back at square one. Let’s hope this next campaign will be the one!

I’d guess the same could be said of a million other brands, companies and schmucks blasting out content online on the daily: stumbling over each other for a chance to scream into that digital bullhorn loud enough for people to pay us mind. It’s hard as hell to get people to so much as leave a precious like on our content as it is to trust they’ll stop to engage with it in a way that matters to the metrics.

But is virality really the answer to getting people to see our company and what we could be offering them? Doesn’t building a brand that lasts involve time and growth, and not quick short-term fixes of fleeting Internet fame?

This is the dichotomy at play inside my mind: the marketer clashing with the casual social media user. Who’ll take home the title at the end of the day?

This is my life now. Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash.

I actually have to wear two special hats — social media manager and content creator! Some of it involves repurposing stuff, some of it’s re-sharing and @ mentioning other accounts, some of it busting my chops creating wholly original content like a Van Gogh on demand.

Necessary for the fast-paced, assembly-line world of content production that we live in now, but almost unsustainable for the artistic purist in me.

Many a time the question’s entered my mind: will I still have my job down the line, or will they can me and get someone else infinitely more qualified than I’ll ever be? It’s cost me a few nights of sleep here and there when I feel the self-imposed pressure really come down on me.

Why did they even hire me?

But somehow, some way…I keep going.

I keep coming back, day by day, ready to do the best I can to help my company make its mark on the vast, the alien, the ocean that is the Information Superhighway; that endless series of tubes.

I understand that there are absolutely no guarantees of success for our efforts. Everything we send out lives on a wing and a prayer, no matter how many hours and how many nights I stay up at the (literal) drawing board, fleshing out the next advertisement, or at the desktop editing the next piece of video content from scratch.

What keeps me going? It’s gotta be more than the pay…even though the pay kick ass and is holding me up.

Some people say God, others say luck, still more say drive and ambition…me, I got my own opinions on it, but I’ll keep those to myself.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.

At the end of the day, in one way or another: I’m loving what I’m doing, even after confessin’ all this stressin’. It’s why I continue to create art: I love it, and I wouldn’t be me without it.

Because after all, I could be back in the status quo.

So I’m pretty blessed.