As a member of the Metaverse social media team, I’ve been on the greatest journey of my life for almost 2 years now. Working in social media has allowed me to push the limits of my skills and creativity, while granting me the privilege to work with some of the most exciting brands around! But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that despite social media’s growing influence on business, there are still many misconceptions about what folks like myself do.  So, I decided to cobble together my very own 10 Commandments of Working in Social Media! Enough of the small talk, let’s get to it…

10.  There’s More to Social Media than Posting All Day
Us “social media folk” are like octopi – we have tentacles juggling tons of different tasks at once. Posting is only a small fraction of our daily duties. Most of the time we’re creating fresh content, building reports, and blueprinting strategies to optimize our overall performance. If you’re like me and work at an agency, you’ll be doing working multiple projects expertly and efficiently throughout the day (like a Masters in time-management!).

9. Social Media is a Piece of the Business Puzzle
Working in social media doesn’t mean you work in the “social media business.” Social Media is a dimension of business, which means it is usually connected to a spiderweb of departments, such as: marketing, advertising, public relations, branding, customer service, and more. Working in social media requires a lot more than an understanding of how social channels operate. It’s important to familiarize yourself with other areas of business to build an understanding of your brand’s principles and objectives. 

8. There’s No “I” in Team
A successful brand’s social media duties rarely fall upon on just one person. Social media is a team effort; therefore you’ll find an awesome variety of jobs along the social media career path. Do you prefer to get hands-on by managing and interacting with your audience? If so, you’d make a great Community Manager! Perhaps you prefer designing tactics to help achieve certain objectives? Then Social Media Strategist is the job title for you! There’s no one-size-fits-all in Social Media (and we at Metaverse Mod Squad pride ourselves in being flexible for our client’s needs, and with a wide range of talents and expertise — as a team).

7. Social Media NEVER Sleeps
Despite what you may think, the web doesn’t magically turn-off when you sleep at night. Every second of every day, news is being created. Sometimes there a controversial events or crises taking place that require you to take action at 4am on a Saturday. Often times there are users reaching out with questions, comments (both good and bad) and other times there are trolls who just want to watch the world burn. Working in Social Media, you have to be on top of your game 24/7, ready to swing into action, like MacGyver. 

6. Game of Tones
Could you picture Sean Connery representing a children’s toy line? How about 2-Chainz preaching the importance of dental care? As cool as it sounds, these scenarios wouldn’t work very well. Every brand has its own tone of voice and working in social media means you’ll need to have the ability to replicate that tone of voice. Fortunately, Metaverse is vastly diverse and can staff projects with people who are actually part of a brand’s target community!

5. Riding the Current
Remember how I said “news is happening all around the clock”? Well, the same thing goes for trends. One day, everyone is talking about Miley Cyrus swinging naked from a wrecking ball. The next day, everyone forgets all about Miley, because the web is abuzz with Kim Kardashian being naked in Kanye’s music video. Follow the trends and find a way to build them into your strategies. Although, I would stay away from the whole naked-celebrities thing, that’s just fodder for internet trolls and Reddit.

4.  No Country for the Reactive
As cool as I am, if I were to walk into a crowded room right now, no one would run up to me and kick-off an exciting conversation. The same thing goes for your brand in the crowded room that is social media. You won’t build your audience by expecting users to reach out to you. It’s called social media for a reason! You must always strategize creative ways to target and engage your audience. Remember, speaking is an action. Conversation is an art form.

3.  Social Media is a Stage 
As a hobby, I perform standup comedy from time to time. Social media is very much like doing standup comedy – you’re on a proverbial stage and the audience is providing you with real time results. If you’re content sucks, you’re audience will let you know pretty fast and sometimes it can be painful. Anyone who works in social media will tell you that it’s imperative to invest a lot of thought and planning into everything you do. Tomatoes can come flying at any minute and the world is full of hecklers – a good social media team will always have a backup plan. Or two.

2. Evolve and Adapt
Just when you thought you conquered every social media channel, a new and more exciting one pops up! Sure, you can dismiss new networks as being “useless,” but when other brands start finding massive success in the space, you’ll run the risk of being late to the party. Social media grows fast and so should your skillset. Test out as many new networks as you can and think of fun new ways your clients can use them. In other words, be a forward-thinking trendsetter not a cotton-headed ninny muggings!

1. Social Media is Here to Stay
The number one most common misconception about social media is that it will be obsolete within the next few years. That’s a pretty close-minded statement, if you ask me. Social media is more than just posting on channels – it’s giving your brand the means to create a dialogue with your community and interact with them on a variety of levels. Can you envision the web without blogs, forums, comments, reviews, content sharing, and the general ability to network? I can’t!  Fans build connections with brands, and that relationship revels in voicing needs and hopes in social platforms.

As of September 2013, social media usage is up 800% for adults in the US in just 8 years! Over 50% of the world’s population is under the age of 30 and 96% of them have joined a social media network. But it’s not just for young people – the fastest growing age group is users over 65, which has tripled from 13% to 43% since 2009.  Oh yeah, and 60% of baby boomers (50-64 years old) are now using social media as well. Zing!

Is your brand ready to get social? Metaverse can help! Contact us to learn how we can tailor a social strategy that will add buzz to your business!

Vincent Grippi
Social Media Manager

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