I'm open for social media business!

June 22, 2010

My job hunt has taken an unexpected turn. A good one.

Though I’ve applied mostly for journalism positions, plus a few other writing-heavy jobs, something different keeps falling into my lap: social media gigs.

I resisted it at first. I see “social media consulting” and immediately think snake-oil salesman. I mean, who really needs someone to help their company with social media? Everyone knows how to do this stuff!

But everyone, apparently, doesn’t. Look at the job boards, and you’ll see tons of social-media positions. (Mashable Jobs is my favorite social-media-heavy board.) Lots of companies that want to expand their client base through social media don’t have the know-how or the time to do it.

These positions keep finding me. Here’s one example: I applied for a writing/editing position with an international organization. The woman in charge of hiring wrote me an e-mail saying that yes, I looked qualified for the Web-writing position, but what they’d really noticed on my resume was my social media skills. Would I be interested in a job along those lines?

Now, social media is on my resume, but I hadn’t exactly highlighted it. Mostly because I didn’t realize how much I could leverage my experience in this field. Yeah, blogging and building online communities and using all sorts of social networks is part of my daily life. I use those tools because they help me accomplish what I need. I ran the @freeroxana Twitter campaign because I thought it was an important cause. I created a Ning group for writers of travel memoir because I saw a gap in the writing community. I figured out the ins-and-outs of using social media for networking because it helped me with my job hunt. I put that experience on my resume because I thought it made me more marketable all-around, not because I expected an employer to hire me specifically for those skills.

But small businesses and organizations are offering to pay me to build online communities. C’mon. How can I say no to that? I’m excited to help them!

On top of that, it seems that all the press releases I threw into my trash as a journalist are now coming in handy. For small businesses looking to build online communities with the end goal of finding new clients, it turns out I have something else to offer: I can write a damn good press release, and I’m smart about figuring out who to send it to. I’m an affordable one-woman social-media-slash-media-relations band! Who would’ve thought?

So I’ve started taking on clients. And thanks to this bridge-builder we call the Internet, they can be in the next town over or across the country. I’m not jumping off the job search train just yet, but this might have the potential to turn into a full-blown business.

If you know a small company or organization who wants to extend their reach and needs help doing it, you know where to send ’em.

If you’re in the social media biz too, I’d love to hear from you.

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    10 Replies to “I'm open for social media business!”

    • Natasha says:

      That sounds so very interesting to me! Do you have to travel or work out of the office sometimes, or is it more of something similar to freelance? I’ve never done freelance before and it makes me wonder when I will make the plunge!

      I work in Fargo, ND so not too many jobs like this fall into our laps. I have a lot of experience with social media, as well. I am also heavily involved with our local sci fi and fantasy convention where I am in charge of rallying people together from Winnipeg to Minneapolis.

      I really admire your attitude of getting out there and trying different things. That is one thing I wish I have mastered. Congrats on your new endeavor and can’t wait to learn more about your experiences!

    • zoezolbrod says:

      Congratulations, Alexis! You’re on to something good, and you’ll be very good at it.

    • Megan Hill says:

      Hey Lexi,

      This is awesome! I do a bit of this type of work as part of my freelance business, and I definitely think you can pull it off full-time. And I’m sure you’ll enjoy being free to travel and work, too 🙂

      Good luck!

      -Megan

    • littlehousesouthernprairie says:

      This is awesome! I would totally hire you.

    • Alyssa says:

      I really want to convince my Mother to do this!!! 🙂

      I love your ambition.

    • That’s great! Things are changing fast and how wonderful to be there to get all those opportunities.

      I may be doing the social media, on a volunteer basis, for a non-profit. I’m looking forward to learning more and it’s good to know that it could lead to paying gigs.

      Good luck!

    • Karen Walker says:

      Wow, Alexis, from journalist to PR person utilizing social media. Good luck. I think you will do an awesome jobs for clients seeking this kind of marketing support.
      Karen

    • simonemarie says:

      I think this is perfect for you. You will be awesome at this kind of work. And, it sounds like, potentially free to do some real traveling!

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