Social Lives #98 | Buck Up, Buttercup
While I'll never charge for 'Social Lives,' it does take half a day to put together each week. I realise that times are super tight for everyone right now, but if you enjoy reading this newsletter and can spare the cost of a coffee, it would be appreciated.
You can donate to my KoFi via https://ko-fi.com/cattington. If you can't do that, please forward this on to friends - and enemies - who may be interested!
BUCK UP, BUTTERCUP
Last week was one of those weeks where I felt very, very bad at my job. Which is...inconvenient given people pay me money to be very, very good at my job. I’ve didn’t make any huge fuck-ups - it was more of an accumulation of little things. I spent three days on a huge copy project (without a brief!), which was ripped to shreds by the client (proof that you should always give copywriters a brief before they start a project!) I’ve also been thrown into working for another, very complex client with a very minimal handover, meaning that I’m learning on the job. And when you learn on the job, well, that’s where mistakes happen.
When I write these things down, I can see why last week went badly. Being supplied with incorrect - or no - information rarely leads to great work. But I’m also one of those people who is very hard on themselves whenever something I deliver isn’t absolutely perfect. I live in terror of clients telling each other that I’m ‘useless’, ‘incompetent’ or (worst of all) ‘overwhelmed’.
When you’re a freelancer, there’s rarely enough time for a proper handover as the person you’re replacing is about to leave or has already gone. You’re working from notes that could be out of date or contain incorrect information. Sometimes the team you’re working with expects you to know things before they do. You’re groping in the dark and hoping you don’t break something important.
I’ve also worked in social long enough to know that ‘move fast and break things’ is pretty much the industry’s motto. Things often aren’t right first time and you’re constantly having to repost content because a grammatical error wasn’t spotted, or the asset has changed, or you’ve been given the wrong URL. I know that the vast majority of my work is barely going to make a ripple in the gigantic social media ecosystem, but I also know that you’re only ever as good as your last piece of work. And I want to make sure that my last piece of work gets shouted about.
Freelancing - or any fast-paced, creative career - has peaks and troughs. I often look back at my journalism career and cringe. For various reasons, I quit that industry ten years ago. While I’ve never regretted my decision, it’s coloured the way I look at work I did back then. In my head, all of my music and food writing is cringe-worthy. I tried too hard and assessed things more as a fan than as a critic. Because I decided to quit and do something else, that negates all the work I did back then. I know, of course, that most of this is untrue and I have faith that my former editors wouldn’t have employed me if I couldn’t string a decent sentence together. I wouldn’t be doing the creative work I do now if I didn’t have that foundation. But I’m not going to pull my old clippings book out of the attic anytime soon.
Whenever I feel like this, I find myself missing working in an office. When I was at a big London agency, there would always be someone nearby who could give me a hug, some advice or just accompany me on a walk around the block to get a coffee. There was camaraderie there that kept me going when I had a really bad day (and towards the end, there were many bad days). We all supported each other when the client requests became too demanding, or we pulled a report and the numbers weren’t right, or there was just too much work to do in too little time. I currently have a number of clients on my books who I’ve never met face-to-face and only ever speak to via Microsoft Teams. Is it any wonder I can’t pick up on their social cues?
I know I’m good at my job. If you’re having a professional crisis of confidence at the moment, allow me to tell you that you’re good at your job too. If you screw up today, so what? Nobody died. It’s just all words on a screen.
JOBS BOARD
Contract: Sauce Recruitment have a role on their books for a Social Media Executive at CNBC
Freelance: ALHAUS is virtual editorial agency looking for a Social Content Editor
Freelance: Forward Slash are recruiting a Senior Social Media Producer
Freelance: Sumo London are searching for an Influencer/Social Media Manager to work on a well-known Food & Drink brand
Full Time: If you fancy moving to Austria for what is - let's face it - a pretty sweet looking job, Red Bull are recruiting a Social Media Manager with expertise in Gaming
INTERESTING THING OF THE WEEK: SOCIAL BLADE
If you've ever worked as an influencer outreach manager, you will know (and love) Social Blade. For the rest of us, it's a very useful tool to see just how influential those influencers we love - and love to hate - are.
It's free to use and covers all of the major social media channels. Plus, you can see just how many followers an influencer/brand/random person who has suddenly become massively popular on social has gained (or lost) over a twelve month period. It's also a very useful way of figuring out who has bought followers. BTW, we people who work in social can always tell.
IN THE NEWS
Blue, Blue, Electric Blue, that's the colour of Twitter's new subscription service which has just been launched in Australia and Canada (Twitter)
Instagram to remove algorithm bias towards original Story content (BBC News)
In other Instagram news, they're rolling out a new option to hide Like counts on posts. Interestingly, they'll also be bringing this to Facebook (Social Media Today)
Facebook have said that they will be ending special treatment for politicians after Trump ban (The Verge)
THINGS I LIKE
What a generation took away from the case of the Paris Hilton sex tape (Vox)
I loved this piece on one of my face podcasts, 'Who Weekly,' and what it tells us about the shifting nature of fame (The New Yorker)
The internet told them to dump their partners. So they did (Refinery29)
No matter how much we try to delete them, our digital pasts are never far from the present (The New York Times)
I made these Thai Roast Chicken Thighs with Coconut Rice last week and HIGHLY recommend that you do the same (Bon Appetit)
I love Maintenance Phase so much and this episode on an absolutely wild sounding diet book from the 1970s made me both laugh *and* cry (Apple Podcasts)
THE VOID BOYS UPDATE
The Boys are currently loving life, the sunshine, belly rubs (many MANY belly rubs), jumping out of my office window at midnight to cause chaos in the alleyway behind my house and - as you can see here - boxes.
SEND ME YOUR CATS! If you'd like your kitty to be featured in the best (and only) newsletter to feature social media news and cats, email me!
Thanks for reading Social Lives! If you've found this useful and want to say something nice, reply to this newsletter, send me an email or forward this on to your friends so that they can subscribe.
You can also follow me on Twitter at @ChristinaMcMc
See you next week!