When a company or organization mobilizes through online platforms, it is important to do so through the use of Social Media operatives. They are an important component to the marketing strategy, organization, and help to make the operation visible to as many demographics as possible. The online marketing sphere focuses largely on engagement with both its patrons, customers and clients in order to build lasting relationships that create a steady flow of income and visibility to the community at large. The people who operate these functions are central to the fabric of successful online business.

Natalie Block is a 25-year-old property manager in Vancouver, BC. She works part time as a property manager and social media specialist at Locate Vancouver, a Rental and Relocations company who focus on placement and property for newcomers to the city. Natalie Manages the Locate Instagram (@locatevancouver), which serves as both a professional and scenic Instagram of both the city and the Vancouver housing market. They also post new listings of homes and fun events taking place around the city. This organization mobilizes on Instagram and Facebook, where Natalie posts scheduled posts and promotions. However, due to the fast-changing nature of the rental market, these posts are tentative and do not follow a fixed structure always. The software that helps Natalie stay organized with these postings is called ActiveCampaign, which helps her to draft and send out her weekly/ daily emails to customers and clients. These mass emails help to keep the company relevant amongst renters, as they are often housed impermanently, and will likely need this service again at some point in time.

Natalie is kept busy tending to the needs of her property management and works on social media promotion as a part time job. She checks in regularly with the owners and works at an as-needed basis. This company is family run which allows for greater flexibility in both hours and needs. On average, Natalie spends approximately 4 hours in total running socials for Locate. Due to the small scale of the business, there is minimal promotion that needs curating. At the beginning of the week, she meets with the owners to discuss recent listings and which should be posted throughout the week. This meeting lasts around 30 minutes each Monday morning. After this, Natalie creates an aesthetically pleasing post, utilizing filters and captions for visual appeal. This can sometimes take up to an hour to do. She then will curate emails and spend the rest of her time engaging with inquirers and customers. The amount of actual content produced on a weekly basis varies, but typically, there will be two mass emails, and three Instagram and Facebook posts posted every other day. Natale is compensated for her work $170 bi-weekly.

On the days that Natalie posts, they are typically scheduled for the morning or early afternoon, as the algorithm shows that this is the best time for engagement of her target market. This time slot can range from 9am-2pm. She posts stories on Instagram the same evening to alert those who may have missed her initial posting. She may also post stories of scenic and lighthearted content. The same applies for Facebook, however, there is slightly higher engagement due to the ‘marketplace’ feature that facilitates the buying and selling of goods and services more effectively and efficiently than Instagram.

Upon looking at her insights on social media for the company pages, her activity has created exponential growth on her page in both following and engagement. The Instagram page now has almost 600 followers which is an increase of about 60% within the last month. Facebook has also seen a positive jump with %15 increased engagement in the last 30 days. Natalie Bock has been an essential role and service to the owners and operators of Locate Vancouver. She has been influential in their business success and customer engagement via online platforms. She has created a consistent influx of visibility and esteem through her engagement, thoughtful posting, and consistency. Social media operatives are extremely useful and influential in to online companies growth and marketing strategy when mobilizing online.  

Influencer marketing on Social Media is a huge proponent to the overall success and dissemination of a brands mission, products and core values. Influencers have developed into an independent marketing entity that essentially controls the social media market trends. They can be characterized as people with high engagement with their followers, who are considered to be experts in their categories. Their recommendations and reviews are highly regarded by their followers. Influencers have also been said to increase revenue for brands by almost 650% int his new age model. This type of marketing involves collaboration with brands and influencers who promote the products either sent to them for free, or at a set promotional price. In my opinion, influencers are hugely responsible for the success of social media platforms as being lucrative business models because they keep trends moving and are constantly reinventing themselves and the platform. It is in both the influencer and business’s interest to keep up with trends as well as set those trends for their followers, almost as a form of entertainment. The influencer niche is particularly interesting because it sells the idea of approachability, of likeness, and allows people to believe that these businesspeople are just like you and me. As an influencer, there are no official credentials required, other than being beautiful, glamorous and having followers who are interested in your life. There is no set model, which allows for the trends and niches to always be variant.  Because the market has now become so saturated, influencers have had to create innovative ways to stay relevant and maintain their large followings. This can become problematic because although their brands are made to seem effortless and authentic, influencers often fall prey to unrealistic standards of beauty, fame and public scrutiny. Some are not equipped to handle the opinions of the internet. However, overall, I believe that influencers have essentially created and maintained social media as a relatively inexpensive platform to advertise on, with a plethora of marketing opportunities for every single product, value, objective and niche, without requiring extensive business insight or technical abilities in the marketing world.

In the age of online connection, having a digital footprint almost qualifies as an extension of one’s identity. It helps others to locate one’s position, one’s values, one’s goals and accomplishments. Although fragmentation occurs when deciphering between life online and the real world, it has become almost imperative that organizations have social media platforms to secure their positions in the global online arena. I believe that because the modern consumer has become increasingly aware and involved with social justice issues, providing a platform where one can easily access the values of an organization is crucial, people value transparency when investing their energy into an organization. Connected users now have the time and resources to participate in, and research before aligning themselves with any particular organization.

             According to Social Marketer, Michael Brenner, the objective of social media marketing in business is more than expansion. It incorporates factors like asserting authority, creating authentic narratives, public engagement, support and affordability. This is especially important for small companies with limited consumer reach and shows a particular effort and care that consumers and investors may be looking for when aligning themselves with organizations.

            Although I do believe organizations need a social media presence, this is not a one size fits all model. Each organization has a unique niche, target audience and objective. There are also many different social media to mobilize within.  There are platforms for social networking, which focus on growth and conversation starting and sharing. Examples of this platform include Facebook, Instagram and twitter. There are creative outlets like Tumblr, and Pinterest, and various blogging sites that are great for writers and artists, with otherwise limited scope. Similarly, in the age of rapid dissemination of information, it is important for brands to acquire verified accounts for their own safety, as the threat of misinformation is ever present. Journalistic integrity has become threatened in the age of internet accessibility, as everyone and anyone can mimic the roles of media specialists like journalists and falsely review, comment and scrutinize organizations, without any verification of authenticity.

            Social media has become essential and normalized for organizations because it can be utilized for low cost advertising. One can chose to have their posts ‘boosted’ with payments, but this is not a requirement, which then allows small businesses to save capital when there are limited funds. Organizations like Kylie Cosmetics rose to a company worth of over one Billion dollars, without paying for a single minute of adverting space (considering the reach that Kylie had to begin with). Social media affords organizations the opportunity to be autonomous, dynamic with little to no financial burden, all while increasing exposure to an unprecedented audience.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.