Three Tips from Her Campus Boston University’s Let’s Talk Social Media Branding Event

Olivia Mannion, Account Supervisor at PRLab

On November 28th, Her Campus Boston University invited six social media influencers to speak on their journey to becoming an influencer and to provide tips on how to best utilize social media. Here are three of their tips:

1.     Define Your Social Media:

Give the audience content that they can’t find elsewhere. @bostonfoodies sets herself apart by staying away from restaurants that can afford public relations and incentivize influencers because other food accounts are already in that space flooding users with the same content. Instead, she researches restaurants with unusual food and provides new content to her users.

Connect on a personal level with your audience. @venturetravlist focuses on making her account one that followers can invest in by always going the extra mile to be authentic. She does this by answering direct messages, creating mini Q&A campaigns, and cross-promoting with people all over the world from the United States to Bali and Australia.

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2. Content Creation with Regards to your Audience:

Quality over quantity. @samuel.thompson suggests not overwhelming your followers with posts. Instead, post content that people can engage with, ask questions in your captions, get your followers talking with you, and about you. Post quality content that will make people stop scrolling to look longer at and that will entice them to click on your profile. If you post too frequently, your content will not be rememberable or digestible; You’re taking the time to create content and you want people to stop and take notice.  

Have a Rhythm. Give your followers something to look forward to everyday. @bucketlistboston does this with one post a day and labels every post for her followers to follow along with. She also suggests being timely with your posts, know what’s going in the area where your followers are. Be relevant as you’re posting.  

Have a story. @emjohnjewelry discusses how her passion of creating keychains turned into an entrepreneurial journey of putting herself through school at Boston University by selling her work on a social platform. She believes this narrative along with her work being produced in the United States has attributed to her great success.

3.     Social Media Leading to Career opportunities:

Articulate your value. @venturetravlist explains that because social media is so new, it gives students in this generation a leg up. Knowing how social media can be a tactic in achieving a goal in the workplace allows negotiations with businesses, which are often run by older people who are not experts or knowledgeable about the power of social media content.

Be creative. After opening her own Public Relations agency, @venturetravlist discusses how job applicants have used creative ways to apply to social media jobs at her agency including video resumes, tailoring resumes based on their personal social media use, and highlighting successes they have personally had due to being an influencer including securing free trips and merchandise. However, she warns that by overdoing this, it often becomes apparent that applicants solely want the position to learn social media tactics from her and shortly thereafter leave the company to focus on their personal brand. Thus, finding a balance is key.