Week 3: A Conversation with Laura Knapp by Thalia Velazquez

By UCLA X469.21 Student Thalia Velazquez

What does it take to be a social media marketing professional? What tools do I need to succeed in the field of social media marketing? Do I have what it takes?

These are just a few of the questions that our week three guest speaker, Laura Knapp, covered in our Best Practices in Social Media for the Communications Professional class. Laura is a digital marketing consultant with over 15 years of experience in the field. She has worked for large agencies, and just recently decided to start her second business venture as a consultant for brands and agencies.

Laura’s presentation covered social media platforms, tips, tricks, tools and methods for analyzing data, and resources to efficiently manage content and social media accounts.

Laura shared her go-to platforms and methods for making the most of social media efforts. When it comes to management tools, she explained that just having the tools doesn’t lead to success; the key is content. Without content, no matter how great your tools are, they will serve little to no purpose. Social media managers tend to wear many hats, and it’s essential they use tools to become more efficient. One key example is a content calendar for compiling, organizing and scheduling content. Laura also turns to management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later to help bring order.

Laura then shared the intricacies of analytics and how they play a role in social media strategy. She showed us how to export, understand and share analytic data with members of the marketing team.

What else did we learn from Laura’s presentation? A LOT, and here are just a few of the highlights and tips that you can put into practice to become more productive as a social media marketing professional.

• FLEXIBILITY IS KEY: Social media is unpredictable. Things will move around, and platforms will come and go, but your strategy for communicating with your audiences will always transcend the moment.
• STRATEGY: Without having a road map, social media marketing can be quite intimidating — whether you’re a beginner or an expert. Take the time to look at your organization’s goals before you create a social media strategy. A strategic plan will give guide all your content and tell you what your focus should be.
• CONTENT CALENDAR: You shouldn’t just post for the sake of posting. As social media expert, it is YOUR job to take the goals of your company or organization and turn them into actionable strategies and tactics. Take advantage of the many management tools, such as a content calendar, that can make your efforts easier to manage.
• TIME MANAGEMENT: Make it a routine to pull and analyze data from all your platforms every month.

So, do you have what it takes? Laura’s tips are to always think creatively, stay in a learning mindset, share your knowledge with others, and be willing to take a few informed risks by testing and learning as you go. In this field, things won’t always go your way or how you expect, so it’s essential to put testing and learning into practice.

Now that you have the tools and resources, you too can start to learn more about the in’s and out’s of social media. Who knows, maybe even become a leader in the field. The options are endless!