9 Things I’ve Learned About Social Media (After 9.5 Years in the Industry)

This year marked nine years of my career in marketing and social media. If you’d told me at 24 that I’d still be in this industry or on this path, I’m not sure I would have believed you. I wanted to be a writer and figured I’d do social media or marketing for a few years to get some experience before moving on. Turns out you can be a writer in marketing, too — among other things.

One thing is true so far: I’ve learned a lot, not just skill-wise, but about marketing life, the agency environment, and the industry as a whole. Maybe one day I’ll write a book, but for now, this will suffice.

If you’re hoping to pursue a career in marketing or social media, or if you’re early in your career, here are my best tips and lessons I’ve learned in my nine (and a half) years in the industry.

Agency life isn’t for everyone, but everyone should do it once.

I’m an agency veteran. All of my career before going freelance was in the agency environment, with eight of those years at the same one. The typical agency turnover is two to three years, so eight years at one place is pretty unheard of these days.

I didn’t think I’d start my career — let alone build it — in the agency world. There’s a lot to learn in an agency, both positive and negative. You get to wear a lot of hats and taste different disciplines, especially early on. You work with a wide range of roles, people, and personalities, in house and with clients. You’ll figure out your strengths, what you like and want to specialize in, and perhaps more importantly, you’ll figure out what you don’t like.

If you have the opportunity to work in an agency, do it. But don’t feel obligated to spend your entire career there. Learn as much as you can, and take your talents to the brand side, a startup, or work for yourself.

Take time to disconnect.

I wish I’d been more intentional about this earlier in my career. It’s easy to get burned out when you spend your working time and free time online and on social media. In my case, my free time was spent building my food blog and personal brand. I didn’t realize I was hella burned out until it was too late. In our perpetually-online world, it’s increasingly important to make time to disconnect, for our mental health, eye health, and other side effects.

Learn from my mistakes and be intentional about disconnecting from social media. Find a way to disconnect that works for you and stick to it.

You don’t have to be on every single platform or use every single feature or tool that comes out.

Both as a brand and an individual. There will always be something new and flashy: an app or platform, a feature or tool, emerging tech, something. If your audience isn’t there, or if it’s not relevant to them, it’s likely not worth the time or effort to build a presence. More often than not, the platform or tool will fizzle out when the newness wears off. Lemon8, anyone? I’ll be interested to see where Bluesky is this time next year.

However, if you are going to put forth the effort, the early-mover advantage is real. Platforms tend to reward accounts that use new features quickly with increased reach or views. Capture attention early to make an impact — and maintain momentum to keep viewers engaged.

Sometimes, simplicity wins.

I think sometimes, in pursuit of creating the best ad or the most memorable campaign or the funniest spot, we add too much fuss and too many frills. We think too hard about the manifesto or the problem or the message. We crave impact. It’s only natural; we’re marketers, after all, and we want to tell a good story.

I don’t know what the room was like when Nike thought up their Caitlin Clark record-breaking piece. Or what the brainstorm was like that led to The Farmer’s Dog’s emotional Super Bowl commercial in 2023. But both of those are recent examples that sometimes, the simplest story or most concise words can have the strongest effect. As a fellow dog mom, The Farmer’s Dog story was particularly relevant to me, and it got me good.

Know your audience.

And no, your audience isn’t “everyone” or “women 18–40.” Going a step further, you wouldn’t communicate with moms of toddlers the same way you’d communicate with moms of high schoolers.

Get to know your audience on a deeper level: their likes and dislikes, lifestyles and habits, problems and pain points. How can your brand fit seamlessly into their lives and make their lives easier?

Know yourself.

You as the person, and you as the brand. We love a self-aware king or queen. The more you know about your brand and yourself as a marketer, the easier it’ll be to create, strategize, and execute for it. This will also help when working with a larger team.

Don’t try to be like another brand.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a client say they want to “do it like Wendy’s” or “be funny like RyanAir’s TikTok” or “do what TSA does on Threads” or whatever the cool brand du jour is, I could have retired a year ago. Maybe sooner. (For the record, TSA is one of my favorite Threads accounts.)

Just because something works for one brand doesn’t mean it’ll work for you, your brand, or your audience. Sure, we can (and should) draw inspiration from other brands and learn from them. But there’s a big difference between being inspired by them and copying them. Take what you like from other brands, think about what you might do differently, and bring it to life in a way that’s meaningful for your brand.

The only constant is change.

I swear something changes every day in this industry: a platform updates its algorithm, a social media network introduces a new tool, a new trend takes off and you have to make a TikTok right now so your brand doesn’t look lame, a client changes their mind about the campaign you just submitted for approval, someone on your team is out and the deadline is EOD.

Change is unavoidable; we have to be prepared for it to happen at any time. Be flexible, be adaptable, be nimble. It won’t be the last time you have to shift on short notice.

Always be learning.

My grandfather always said, “Nothing learned is ever wasted.” Always keep your eyes open for learning opportunities. Read a lot. Listen to podcasts. Whatever is your preferred method of absorbing new information, make an effort to do it daily. You never know when that seemingly random tidbit of knowledge or that TikTok you bookmarked the other day will come in handy.