For this generation especially, being a social media marketer sounds pretty easy. We all know how to use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and anything else the social networking world throws at us. Sorry to tell you the truth, it is not that easy. For 5 and 1/2 years I have worked at the same pizza shop in my hometown, Stachey’s Pizzeria and for about 3 years now I have run the Instagram account @stacheys_pizza. The pizzeria is highly successful at doing things for the community however, every company needs a social media marketing in order to stay relevant.

What Even is a Social Media Marketer?

Some people confuse being a social media marketer with being an influencer. An influencer is someone who already has a following or lifestyles account and they are paid to sponsor brands. A social media marketer is a form of public relations (PR). Companies pay someone experienced in the social networking (with some sort of communications or marketing background) to promote their brand, idea, company, or organization to either get exposure or more customers.

Posting Content, Not Just Pictures

Who knew that Instagram, a picture sharing website, is not really about sharing pictures. Sharing content is about things you create to up the quality of your social media sites in order to get earned exposure. “Earned exposure is defined as when customers ‘Relay their positive experiences” to others ‘via social media sites for reviews and ratings’ (Tuten, 2008, p.121)” ( If you have quality content, you are appealing to more people, not only by aesthetic but also gaining trust with your readers. This isn’t only done with pictures and videos on Instagram, but as well as on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter. According to Jeremy Lipschultz, advertising your company/ brand through social media helps them find what they need, learn through engagement, validate information that they have already heard, and they could advocate for after purchase (Lipschultz, 2015, p. 93).

You Need a Plan

One thing that people do not tell you is how demanding it is to push out content and constantly post to your business accounts. A great way to ensure you are posting quality content is to have a Social Media Marketing Plan. You want to make sure that you have a plan in order to ensure that you are being consistent and appealing to your target market. HooteSuite, a social media marketing site, put out an 8 step plan to achieve your social media marketing goals.

Step 1 is to set social media goals that align to your business. This could be difficult if you are not sure exactly what is it is that your company wants to get out of this. An easy start is to create awareness of what your company offers and then think if there is anything you can promote. One way to get followers is to create an incentive to follow by starting competitions or even following sprees. Step 2 is to learn everything you can about your audience. What I did for this step is looked at the demographics of my hometown and of our customers already. With this knowledge, I noticed there are a lot of surrounding businesses that come in for lunch and that there are a lot of orders from Merrimack College which is located just 3 miles from the store. I decided to market the fact that Stachey’s is quick and convenient for those on their lunch break yet, we have large portions at a low price for those college students looking to get a bang for their buck. Step 3 is to research the competition. It’s important to understand how they are marketing so you can make yours stand out. Step 4 is to conduct a social media audit, this will help you make sure you are on the right track!

Step 5 is to create an account or improve your existing account. Before I worked at Stachey’s, they had already made a few accounts but definitely needed some work. I was able to gain access and find out what was needed to get more activity. Step 6, find inspiration. This one is probably the most underrated step because you can find inspiration anywhere for any company. The prime step, Step 7, is to create a calendar. This will help you be consistent and stay on task with how much you post. Step 8 is to test, evaluate and adjust your plan to ensure that you are successful in this process.

Don’t Be Afraid

As hard as it seems to be a social media marketer, people also don’t know how fun it can be to get a different perspective of social media itself. It is nice to log on and not have to worry about the typical negative effects of social media like body shaming or FOMO but instead to just interact with the followers and talk about a company or brand you (hopefully) really like! As much as I am inconsistent with my posting on the Stachey’s social media account, it nice to see people tagging us in the food they ate, messaging us about how great their order is, and all around being able to engage with our customers rather than in the store or on a customer service call. If you are someone who loves being on social media and are super creative with your content, I highly suggest this field for you!