I'm Katie, and I'm a social and influencer lead
Describe your job
My job involves leading on the strategy and implementation of social content and influencer campaigns at a creative advertising agency. It is a weird and wonderful mix of work, disciplines and outputs which makes for a really interesting day. Part of my role is helping clients to understand when they should be using social media and influencers or creators, and how they should be using them. Another part is working closely with creatives to develop the ideas for their social channels.
I also get to work with production companies and creators to make the ideas happen, and this kind of hybrid role is relatively new – but fast growing – within creative industries and makes for electric projects and a big range of work. It’s a cliché, but I literally learn something every day which can be both a good thing, and challenging.
What are the most important skills you need to do your job?
A strong (and ever-growing) understanding of what social media is, how it works and how people use it.
Most importantly you have to like it and get excited about making great content and trialling new things. It’s ever-evolving.
You don’t have to be growing your own influencer profile (I am definitely not), but being interested and spending time online is just so important to knowing what you like and don’t like, and what works and what doesn’t.
It helps to be open minded and flexible too, because there are often curve balls and surprises and you’ll find yourself jumping through a number of roles in a day. You don’t need to be ‘a creative’ at all, but creativity is still a huge part of the job and so you need to get excited about ideas, the creative process and working with a mix of people and skillsets.
I left school and...
I actually followed a pretty expected and standard path at that time to be truly honest. I did an English degree (with some drama), left university and went straight into working.
I got into PR initially by applying for a front of house job at a fashion PR agency, desperate to work in fashion. I was offered a role in their Beauty PR division at my interview and so I took it, because I was broke and needed to get working. But it was an amazing opportunity and it’s meant I’ve been able to shape a less linear path for myself.
I decided to move into social in 2015, when I started working with YouTubers and realised that there was something in it.
I’m most proud of...
Most recently our work with the Institute of Coding is really close to my heart. It’s all about getting diverse audiences into tech industries and we’ve worked with amazing people along the way to create content, host workshops and share stories. The content we’ve made with them is also just cool.
Before I started my career, I wish I knew…
Never be afraid to ask.
I probably ask more questions now than I did when I first started, and I wish I’d understood just how ok it is to not know everything. I spent far too much time worrying and not enough time just asking for help.
A mistake I made which you can avoid repeating is...
Not asking about money. You have a right to ask to be paid what you’re worth, and I have often made the mistake of being too scared to ask, and missing out as a result.
So, what’s next?
Short term(ish) I’d just like to keep doing more and more of what I do, on a bigger scale, with even more collaborators and even more exciting clients. I’m lucky enough to work in an area that is continuing to grow and change, and so there’s never an end point. I’m just excited about making even more noise about it.
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