An interview with Karina Scott, Founder of Girl About Social

Being online couldn’t be any more important since the pandemic started. Offline was affected around the globe, online stores were created, businesses got louder and some paused all together - the competition was on and the online audience grew. 

The need for social media/IT experts arose and we think now is the perfect time to speak to a Milton Keynes local Social Media Expert, Karina Scott - Founder of Girl About Social for advice on how to show up online.

Tell us, what’s the story behind Girl About Social?

The name Girl About Social was born on a long train journey home from London (and a few gins).

The name was an extension of me - a bubbly, extroverted “Girl About Town” who lives to paint the town red, connect with others, and is obsessed with all things social media.

Although I had the name, I had a lot of fear and doubt holding me back to actually go solo. It wasn’t until the beginning of the global pandemic that I got the confidence to make it happen. Marketing and social media jobs were scarce in March - July 2020 so I decided if you can't beat them - join them - and took the leap of faith to create my own boutique agency.

And from there it has been a fabulous journey, I’ve loved every minute 

What is your favourite part of your business?

I love that I have the opportunity to work on different projects within different industries. I could spend a Monday morning scheduling content for a retail brand and then the afternoon helping to plan a food waste campaign for a local council. I am interested in so many different topics and Girl About Social allows me to work with clients within all of them instead of having to just pick one.

You founded Girl About Social whilst job hunting. Do you have any advice for those looking to get into a social media position with no experience?

Create a LinkedIn profile, take some time to create a powerful profile. Recruiters spend a lot of time on sourcing for jobs via LinkedIn so you want to ensure your profile is seen. Connect with people within the industry on LinkedIn and engage with them.

 Join networking groups and communities that specialise in social media and marketing. Girls In Marketing, Pretty Little Marketer and Content Marketing Association are three of my faves. 

What are 5 things businesses should consider before investing in their social media?

There are 5 key elements which provide clarity to your audience and convince them to engage with you. I have captured these in the SASSY secret, which will help you optimise your social strategy. 

1. Social media profiles - Ensure that your social media profiles are optimised effectively. This includes using a high quality profile photo image and adding your URL and company description to the bio section. 

2. Audit - Review and reflect what works within your current social media strategy. This will help to launch the next step.

3. Strategy - Understand your audience. Often brands try the “spray and pray” tactic, they just create content and hope their audience will engage with it… It just doesn’t work. Brands need to create a community and engage with their audience.

4. Schedule - It’s important to commit to a posting schedule. Plan the posts out in advance. For a business to grow online they need to maintain consistency and continue to drive traffic to their website.  

5. You –  For your business to grow, your audience needs to be engaged with you. You must invest in your social media strategy to achieve your results.

Your business has skyrocketed since launching. Do you have any advice to entrepreneurs starting up on how to juggle workload? 

• Hire an accountant: trying to do your own accounts and paperwork is a huge pain so having a professional help you out takes all of the stress away

• LinkedIn is your best friend: invest the time in creating a great profile description, request testimonials from past clients, connect and engage as much as possible with recruiters. This is the first place that they post their open vacancies so it’s wise to keep checking their profiles throughout the week. 

• Find your niche: it’s so easy to become a YES person when a job is available. In the marketing and creative industry, clients often ask if I can shoot content, graphic design, edit video and schedule their posts. It’s taken me a while to feel confident enough to say NO. I know my strengths and weaknesses and I’m happy focusing on marketing and social media and leaving the videography and design to the professionals. It’s better to become a jack of ONE trade instead of a master of them all.

• Try to take a break: with freelancing it can become really easy to always just take on more and more work which means working evenings and weekends and the guilt kicks in if you say no to a contract but resting is just as important as working.

• Know your worth: don’t undersell yourself; research into how much you should be charging per hour or per day and stick to that price. Major Players have a fantastic salary guide that helps guide how much you can charge for your area for those in the creative industry.

• Invest in your terms and conditions: it can be pricey up front but having solid terms and conditions that your clients agree to prior to a job can save you in the long run.

• Set expectations upfront to your clients: be extremely clear in writing exactly what you are delivering. If this changes throughout the project, update it in writing each time - especially if the client asks for more work, it gives you an opportunity to ask for more money to deliver more. This also saves a client “turning” and saying that you haven’t delivered on something when it comes to payment. 

• Network, network, network: I can’t stress this enough. Join local business groups, Facebook groups and engage on social media. Expand your network, as they say it’s never what you know but who you know. 

• Trust your gut: if a job doesn’t feel “right” then don’t take it. Say no. I’ve learnt over the last year to just say no to roles that didn’t fully sit right with me. Another role will be just around the corner. 

• Build a website and keep your case studies up to date - This is the first place where a recruiter or client will go to check out your work so keep your portfolio up to date. I work with a copywriter and we update my case studies every 6 months to ensure they stay fresh. 

• Invest in your social media and marketing: try and post at least twice a week on LinkedIn. Keep your content eye-catching and speak to your audience. Offer them content that makes them want to contact you and ask for support.

Written by Karina Scott and Charlotte Moyle

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