Social Media is not Graphic Design is not Web Design October 19, 2012

    

So, I was talking to a woman about a job in Social Media yesterday. One of the first things she asked me was:
“Do you build websites?”
No. I do not build websites.
“Can you do graphic design with Photoshop?”
No. I send pictures to my friends to play with for me.
I do Social Media.
“The position is 9-5, Monday through Friday. Can you do that?”
Of course I can. Should I? No. I explained it to her like this:
Social Media is engaging with people on various social networks to help companies with branding. Your stores don’t close at 5, do they? No. They are open, and get the most business, after people get out of work to shop. It’s the same thing with Social Media. Let’s say, for example, you owned a restaurant. On a Saturday afternoon, someone posts a question on your Facebook page about your weekend hours because they have family in town. What if that happened every weekend, but your “Social Media person” clocked out at 5pm on Friday afternoon for the weekend. Would that be good for your brand?
I could see a light bulb go off over her head. Some businesses, of course, can do Social Media during business hours, especially if you find opportunities during the day to engage and build relationships. The poor woman was given a task to fill a position that she knew absolutely nothing about. I was really patient with her, explaining the basics of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
Next was the discussion about graphic design and web development. I told her that those people are often the opposite of social. They are geeks. They love what they do. My friends who are in these fields aren’t always the most social people you would meet. They sit at their computers, put in their earbuds, and work like that all day, even in an office full of people. It’s just not the same thing. Web coders have different languages, too. What if they wanted me just for support on their website, but I wasn’t familiar with whichever coding method the designer used? I don’t know much about it, but I do know there are different ways to do it. Graphic design? Well, I’m really good at drawing Hangman with my 9-year old niece. I’m not an artist, especially on a computer.
I told her, quite frankly, that she would have to hire at least two different people, but three would be ideal. Was the company prepared to shell out three different salaries? I gave her a range of what each usually pays. She got quiet for a moment.
“What should I do? What would you suggest?”  This woman was really trusting me. I had applied for the position. This was a phone interview for ME to get a job. It may sound like I was shooting myself in the foot, but I had to be honest with her. She then informed me that they had offered the job to two other people, but they had turned it down because of the wide range of skill sets needed. This woman thanked me profusely for explaining things to her in normal, laymen’s terms. I told her for all of the things they were looking for, they could get three different contractors and not have to pay three salaries.
They really want someone who is there, because it’s a company that’s been family-owned for over 40 years. They want the people who work there to really grow relationships with everyone else and be more like a family. I told her that I’d have no problem spending time there on a weekly basis to get to know everyone and get a real feel of the company. I know some people who do that for their clients.
The call ended with me agreeing to send her some blog posts to show the business owners, so that she could make a case for getting people from outside to work as consultants. I even told her I would be more than happy to go in and talk to the owners myself, to explain the differences. Heck, if they didn’t hire me, at least they would be moving in the right direction. It’s a great company and I am a fan of their brand. I made sure to mention that, too. I’m pretty sure things will work out well for me, doing Social Media, as a consultant, for that company.

Life is weird. October 17, 2012

Seriously. Life is fucking WEIRD. Today was one of the roller coaster days. I felt pretty low this morning, because business has been slow and I’m realizing I may need to get a job. I’ve applied for a few and had a phone interview today that went really well.

I met up with a really awesome woman today who messaged me on LinkedIn a couple weeks ago. I’m all about meeting new people and learning about what they do. Networking can be a powerful thing in this world! We had a great time and it eased my mind about the earlier part of the day.

I got home and had a phone interview. I do Social Media. A lot of companies want to be in the ring, so to speak, in SM Land. The thing is, though, they don’t understand it very well. I’m great at teaching it and putting things into laymen’s terms so they can get a better grasp on things. This poor woman! They wanted someone who could keep up with their website, run ads, do graphic design work AND handle all of their Social Media.

I’m not saying that there aren’t people out there who *could* be talented in all those areas, but they are rare. The thing is, Social Media has NOTHING to do with web design/development. It has NOTHING to do with graphic design. I let her know this, too. I told her that what she needed were three different people. I even asked if they could pay three salaries. I talked to her for an hour about the differences and told her that they didn’t need a full-time Social Media person to sit in the office from 9-5. Social Media is NOT a 9-5 job.

What if you were a restaurant, and someone posted on your Facebook page at 6 on a Wednesday night. “What time are you open until?” The Social Media person clocked out at 5pm. Who’s going to respond to that post? We are an instant gratification society. Those people want to eat there TONIGHT, yet there’s nobody there to answer their question. I explained this to her and I could almost see the light bulb go off above her head. She was starting to get it.

I told her exactly what they needed: Contractors. If they wanted the BEST results and expertise in all areas, they would have to contract out the work, instead of thinking they could get one person to handle it all. It’s just not possible. Design geeks aren’t usually social people. I can’t do Photoshop for shit. I email pictures to my friends to touch up for me. They email it back. They are good at what they do, I am good at what I do.

I wasn’t going to pretend to be able to do it all, just to get the job. I don’t like letting people down.

I can’t build your website, but gosh golly geewillikers, I can rock your Facebook page and Twitter account!

I’m a bit down this evening, though. I’m really missing someone and I’m just plain sad. There’s nothing really to say about that.

 

 

Pretty much how I feel today.

My best friends. Some, I just met last week. October 4, 2012

When I started working for SmartWrap, I had to tweet for 3 different companies. One was a spray-on bedliner for pickup trucks. Not very exciting, but Twitter is about branding. I had to engage with other accounts, mostly in the construction industry. We all followed all of each other’s accounts, too, to help each other out. We chatted about benign stuff and about business.

One day, we started talking about getting jackets made for us. Somehow, it got into a Pink Ladies discussion and we started calling ourselves “TPLs” for Twitter Pink Ladies. There were days when we all stared at our Twitter feeds, with nobody but us engaging and interacting. You know, what you’re SUPPOSED to do on Twitter.

I think it was the very same day that one of the girls made a group on Facebook, just for us. The name changes once in a blue moon, but we always just call it “The Break Room.” We go there to vent about anything in our lives, share ideas & articles, and just…take a break. It’s as if we’re in the office all day together. We started doing Google+ Hangouts several months ago. There are 13 of us. Not everyone can make the Hangouts, because we are all over the country. One in Jersey, one in D.C., one in Tulsa, and the rest of us are out West. The time zones don’t make it easy, but each and every one of us tries hard to attend.

I’ve met a couple out-of-state girls face-to-face. I spent a weekend in Vegas with Pam. I had a long lunch with Bridget, in Orange County. Many of us talk on the phone. It’s an incredible dynamic. Everyone has their own talents, as well as all of us sharing the same passion for Social Media.

This past weekend, we had a 4-day vacation together. Cyndi lives in Cottonwood. She got rid of the kids and husband for the weekend so that we could save some money and stay at her place. You’d think with 9 women and a 9-month old baby that there would have been some sort of drama or blow-out. There wasn’t.

As the weekend came to an end and I drove Roxanne, Luther (our “nephew”), and Bridget to the airport, I felt a little sad. Well, I was also glad to go home, but we had a great time all weekend. Even though we are all total nerdgeeks, we didn’t work until the last evening. To take that much time off of work, in our field, says a lot. We wanted to spend time with each other!