Today, we get the privilege of talking to Jessica Selfridge, a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in psychology. Jessica speaks about her experience in the world of social media marketing, the struggles and successes she’s experienced, switching her career path from pre-medical to social media marketing, and her time managing BeautyCon's social media platforms. Listen in today to learn more about social media marketing, influencer insights, and making it in the industry.
Today, we get the privilege of talking to Jessica Selfridge, a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in psychology. Jessica speaks about her experience in the world of social media marketing, the struggles and successes she’s experienced, switching her career path from pre-medical to social media marketing, and her time managing BeautyCon's social media platforms. Listen in today to learn more about social media marketing, influencer insights, and making it in the industry.
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This week's episode is brought to you by Beverly Hills Orthodontics burning smiles with the state of the art technology and Invisalign since 2008. Love yourself, Love your smile. You wouldn't find them on Instagram at Beverly Hills Orth O or online at w w dot Beverly Hills Ortho dot com. Good morning, everyone, This random Matt Lof in Los Angeles Welcome to the Stella Oak Mavens podcast, where we feature different
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mavens in different fields.
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A maven is an expert of an expert there, the go to person who you would want to ask all the questions to before making a decision. The purpose of our podcast is to help
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the consumer be more knowledgeable. On today's episode, we have Jessica Selfridge, a Social Media community manager at the social media company. The Social Floor. Jessica started off as a pre med student at U. C L. A, but ended up switching the her career pops to follow her passion for social media. Today she works with brand such as beauty cone and juicy couture. She helps manage special social media projects for them. Hey, Jessica, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm awesome. Let's get started. So tell me what made you switch your whole career path from being a premed student into following a career and social media? Well, when I got to college and I mean, everyone says this to everyone says, You know, when you get to college, things get harder and a really tests your ability, Thio pursue whatever career that it is. You go in thinking that you want. Um, So I got to college and I started taking all the classes like biology and chemistry and physics. And while I was good at it in high school, I found that I didn't enjoy it when I was starting. Taking college is becoming more in depth and a lot more difficult, and I think it really revealed to me that I might have only liked it because I was good at it, but I didn't actually enjoy it. So there was a period of time after I decided that I wanted to give up being pre med where I had no idea what I wanted to. Dio and I was really searching for something and I was searching for something. Give me driving motivation and I kind of stumbled upon this social media internship, and I thought back to when I was younger when I was in high school and I was obsessed with influencers and YouTubers and I kind of thought, Oh, hey, this might be fun and I kind of didn't even know that it could be a career. But then I discovered that it could be and it changed my whole life. Yeah, I could definitely see what you mean on that. No, what do you think is the most rewarding part of social media? What has been your favorite project, or how do you think social media is different than the traditional media outlets that most people are used to? I think that the most rewarding part of social media and kind of the way that it's different from traditional media really do go together because I think for me the most rewarding part of social media and kind of I guess what drives me to continue pursuing it is that it's really, really close to the consumer, and by that I mean, you know, it's so personal, you know, people spoke their instagram on their phones every day. When they're in waiting rooms, you know when they're in class, you know, all these kinds of places, and at multiple times during the day, people are always on their phone looking at social media. You know, people are liking and commenting on things, so it really reaches a personal part of people's lives that media like television and movies doesn't necessarily reach. And so I think that that can be really rewarding. Because if you're posting about stuff that means a lot to you or if you're posting about a message that means a lot to you, then you can post it with the knowledge that you're reaching people in a very personal place in their lives. Um, we see it in things like influencers who advocate for positive body image, right that reaches people in a place that's really, really personal. It can be the difference between somebody looking in the mirror and thinking, you know, that they don't like what they see, that they should look like other people. It could be the difference between that and people saying, You know what this person I follow on Instagram you know, they're advocating for body positivity and they're advocating for you know, the message that everyone's beautiful, So maybe I should I should adapt that into my own life. And so I think that is truly the difference between traditional media, traditional media, like television and movies. That's something you know. People only watch during certain times of the day. It kind of involves a lot more. It is very systematic, I guess, where social media is really unregulated. So I think that that's really unique and special. A SZ faras My favorite project goes in general. In my job, I do a lot of different things. I do some more administrative work where I, you know, work with spreadsheets and what not. I do community management, obviously, for accounts where I kind of reach out to people thio drawn audience. But I think my favorite part of my job is going to the events s so we have a lot of clients that hold events and that do really cool things around L. A and as their social media managers were responsible for taking content of those things. So if somebody is having an event, well, we should have someone there on site taking instagram stories so we can have them share it with their followers, so I am largely responsible for doing that. I'm always super down to goto events, and my favorite event that I've been thio was, um, opening, hosted by one of our clients on her name of Shawnee Garden. She's a celebrity of petition so that skin care facials she does like shame. Mitchell skin like Jessica Alba. And so she had an opening for her new studio in Beverly Hills on her first studio, her first official studio, after doing facials from home. So she had it all catered. There was an open bar. We got to walk around the studio and see the different rooms and kind of, you know, see the different equipment. She had her whole skin care line on display, and the guest list was just to die for. I mean, it was one of the first events I'd ever gone Thio, and it was like Jessica Alba was there. Liam Shells there. Um, you know, Amy Adams was there, like there were just so many cool people that I grew up, you know, seeing on TV and seeing all over Instagram. And so it was kind of like, really my fee first introduction into the close community that is Los Angeles media and from then on, a just fallen in love with it. So I'd say That's definitely my favorite project. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. It definitely seems like social media is very glamorous, and there's a lot of plus sides like going to events. But on another know, what do you think is the most difficult part of social media? I would say that there's probably multiple answers, this question for me, at least in my job. And I think the hardest part of my job and people who kind of work in a similar part of the industry that I do, which is kind of management of social media accounts. The hardest part is really the fact that social media is so unregulated. So there's really no system in place for you know what jobs there are or the formula is for getting big on social media or, you know, the way things should be run. It's such a new industry, so you know, like in TV, you know what the jobs are right? There's, you know, the camera crew, the producer, the director, the receptionist at the front desk that, you know there's there's these kind of really rigid descriptions of, like who does what and in what way it's done. But Social media so new, So there hasn't really been enough time to kind of establish that foundation in that structure. So what that amounts to basically is me and the people I work with and my boss, the woman who runs the company. We're all just kind of improvising in terms of organisation. So it's like the reason I do so many unique jobs and the reason I have such a wide breadth of stuff that I do is because, um, we're just kind of working as we go, and I'm sure that that will change over time, as it always does. But I'd say that's a really challenging part right now is kind of just establishing the organization where there is none yet. I would say on the influencer side, on on the side of the people who have social media accounts, you know, if people have questions of, you know, how do I do social media like, how do I become an influencer? I would say there's a couple of hard things about that, first of which is just gaining followers. You know, it is a new industry, but it's not new enough right now for it to be easy to get big. There's a lot of competition right now. As soon as people realize that posting videos on YouTube and posting pictures on Instagram was a way for them, Thio not only get famous but to make money. People jumped on it really, really quickly, So the market right now is so, so full. So I mean, while that can be discouraging to some, um, to some, you know, they should be encouraged by the fact that now it's really based on who you are and how unique you can be and what you have to offer less so about who gets there first on Dhe. Then. As for people who have established a following people who have a couple 1000 to a couple 1,000,000 followers, the biggest challenge, I would say, is, um, first of all, keeping up with the job because it's a busy job. You always have to be attending meetings, answer e mails, you know, paying attention or what's popular, what's trendy, but also since you are so close to your followers, it could be a challenge because it's easy to make mistakes. You can post on Instagram story one day. You know, it's so easy to record a 12th video and hit upload, and then you realize 20 minutes later that you've said something that you regret saying maybe you're in a mood. Or maybe you're feuding with somebody and you say something that you regret. It's hard to come back from that, and because it's so unregulated, it is easy to do that. So I would say people just kind of need to look out for that. And I would say the biggest challenge is kind of all in all come from how new and how unregulated the industry is as faras positives and negatives go, Um, I think that this is super valid question, because to the outside perspective, it kind of seems like influencers have it all. I mean, you heard me. They're paid up to, like, $30,000 to just post a picture on the Internet. I mean, it doesn't seem super hard. Um, you know, and we'll get into that, but I think a big positive is that these people ultimately get to make their own schedule, and I think that's a huge advantage. And huge appeal of this job is that they get to make their own hours. They don't have to work 9 to 5. Yes, there is some schedule constraints when you have to go do photo shoots and you have to have meetings and all that kind of stuff. But for the most part, outside of those kind of isolated events, I get to wake up whenever you want. You get to go wherever you want, as long as you're creating content that is appealing. Um, you know, along with that, another huge positive is as I mentioned the money, the money is so good for what they're doing, and and so that's a huge thing to, um, you know, these people are making a great living doing what they're doing, and they don't have set hours, so I mean, there you go. It kind of does sound like the best job ever. Um, I would say it definitely is a good job, but I think the negatives of influencer marketing is has mostly to me to do with with mental health, and I think that extends beyond just the influences themselves. I think the people who work in the industry definitely feel it, too. I would say I've been through something's related to this, but it's just mental health and self image as an influencer. Your job is to turn out content that people are gonna like. So what's your greatest fear that people aren't gonna like you anymore? Because when people don't like you anymore, your livelihood goes away, your money goes away. So you know that could be really dangerous for the mental health. You know, it's like it's constantly Oh, you know, Does my makeup look good today? Does my hair look at today's my outfit? You know, Instagram a ble like, you know, did I gain weight? You know all this stuff and and I think that it's a big danger. The Mount. It kind of goes through people's heads at all times of the day because it is their whole life. It's their job. It's their personal life. It's everything. And then as far as people in the community goes, you know this. It's contagious. This kind of obsession with how you look to other people can be contagious, and it makes people think, you know well, you know, this person's rich and beautiful and they focus a lot on their appearance, so maybe I should do the same thing, Um, and so I think that that's honestly the biggest downside to this whole industry. Um, I'm not saying it's a bad industry because of it, but I think that if anyone's looking to become an influencer or work in the social media space, you know, um, you should be aware of this and definitely take measures in your daily life to combat this, you know, telling yourself that you are beautiful and important. No matter what you look like telling yourself, You know, couple likes doesn't matter. It's not worth all this stress. So what advice would you give to someone who's looking to start a career and social media who is looking for a starting point? What would you suggest that they do? I would say if someone's looking to get into the industry on the non influencer side. Specifically, there are several ways of doing so. I can say for me personally, I kind of touched on this the tiny but before, But I basically found an internship at the social media agency I currently work at. And eventually I was promoted from an intern to a an actual, um you know, manager for the company. So the way I found it was basically I went thio with this website. Um, you know, we'll shout out in turn queen dot com. They came and spoke at my sorority about the website, and so I you know, I was newly unpremeditated, and I kind of, you know, needed some direction. So I was a girl. You know, I'm just gonna browse and see what there is, um, and and it kind of showed up, and it kind of caught my eye. So? So that is one way you can always look for an internship or an apprenticeship or some kind of work learn situation where you can kind of learn the tricks of the trade and then kind of build your resume to eventually apply for a position in the community. A good way to find jobs and internships within social media is a website called I Love creatives dot com. Um, there's a great website and so so so many creatives use it to find jobs. There are job postings and internship postings for graphic designers, for social media, managers for artists, for everyone and their tons and tons of social media internships and jobs on that website. So I would say that is definitely a fantastic starting point. If you're feeling a little bit more like you want to kind of work more in the influence or side of things, as opposed to managing company's Instagram, I'd say another way you can do it is just by cold email. Ah, lot of influencers have their business e mails in their instagram bios, or there's like a button where you can just click email and you can shoot them. An email just state that you're interested in any kind of open social media positions they may have on their team, and you can just send over your resume and a quick cover letter, and that could be a great way to kind of get your name out there. It doesn't always work, I would say. You get responded to about 5% of the e mails you send that way. I'm depending on how many followers they have, but it really is worth a shot I have so many friends in the community that got their start in social media by doing that, s o you know, you really have nothing to lose. So that's away. You want to get in and you kind of wanna, you know, maybe be an assistant or be an intern for an influencer like that is such a good way to do it. And they always appreciate the initiative if they see your email, So I'd say those were the main ways. So you mentioned that companies are looking for social media managers. So what does it look like toe work for a company? And what's the difference between working for a company and for a person such as an influencer? This is a great question, and this is something that I haven't really touched on yet. But there is a big distinction between the two, and it really depends on what kind of person you are. Um, in making a decision like, Oh, do I want to work for a person or do I want to work for a company? Um, and it's true. Companies are looking for social media managers, and that is all across the board Every company now is hopping on the social media trends. So my dad actually works for Red Digital Cinema, which makes movie cameras like the cameras that, you know, shot. You know, Marvel movie is, you know, like Lord of the Rings, like we're talking like high level movie cameras. They just hired a social media manager. So yeah, cos from all industries are really hopping on the social media train. So that is, is causing a lot of jobs to open up. So many jobs, air opening up in the social media world for social media managers and marketers and social media teams that companies are hiring in house Thio run their their social media platforms and kind of what that looks like is it's very systematic, I would say. I mean depending on the company you're working for, but the whole company structure is very systemized and very streamlined. I mean, that's you know, if anyone's ever trained, you know, lean six sigma, you know, efficiency, the company blueprint. So the social media positions kind of fallen to that. When you're working for a brand, you can really expect for everything to be basically trickle down to a process. So, you know, just kind of clarify what that means. Like whereas maybe you working for an influencer it be like, Oh, can we schedule a shoot next week? You know, Thio, announce the launch of my new product. Ah, company would be more like, Hey, we need to schedule a shoot next month. You know, for this campaign because his campaign's launching, you know, it's a fashion brand. The campaign's launching soon. You know, it's it's planned way in advance. There is a marked out schedule. There's a person you're reporting, Thio. There are people reporting to you, and everyone is really focused on how we can make those processes more efficient. Um, and and this could be really good for people who are all about this organization. You know, Taipei people, you know, always. You know, people don't really like to do things on the fly, you know, we like it to be really planned, carefully strategized. And that's what you're gonna get with any professional company, at least, um, you know, to like when you work with a company, you have to coordinates all of your social media happenings and all the stuff you're posting about to what the company's doing, right? So if you're working for, say, the fashion brand, um and they're doing their fall launch of the fall fashion line, they're gonna be putting out billboards, commercials. They're gonna have a runway show. And you was a social media manager. You need to be in tune, and you need to be right there on the same schedule is everyone else? So, you know, a couple days before the fashion show, you're gonna post about it. You know, a couple days before the collection launches. Oh, announcing, you know, launching a collection. So it's kind of all about teamwork and really aligning everyone's goals. And that's kind of the basis for the functioning of any any good. And any company that works really well, no working for an influencer is a bit different. Um, and I would say it's not as different as you might think, but influencers YouTubers working for one person or, you know, a couple of people that is a lot more on the fly, usually at least nowadays, um, your kind of Instead of a collective team effort for company means or company operations, you're now working in the space of a collective team effort on behalf of a singular persons brand on it is a lot of the same things, you know, like maybe your influencer is attending the premiere of Frozen, too. In a few days, you know, you're gonna be responsible for posting those pictures. Um, you know, But you are at the mercy of whoever you're working for. You know, if they tell you all you know, we gotta post his picture. It's gotta be up within the next 10 minutes. You've got to be ready for that kind of stuff That happens a lot less it at companies. But I would say to you, working with influencers can sometimes be way less overwhelming for someone who's new in the industry. Because you were only focused on the one person and everything that they're doing. Where I was working with a company again, you have toe interface with a lot of other people to get stuff done. So I'd say those kind of the main differences. And, you know, I hope that this kind of provide a guideline for whoever is trying to work in the social media industry as Thio, where they should go looking for jobs and to conclude our episode. Do you have any final comments? Any extra advice you'd like to leave our listeners with? Um, yeah, I I would say, You know, it might be really cliche and corny, but just follow your heart and follow your passions. You know, social Media was, like, not a job a few years ago, and I mean, half of our parents, you know, at this age, like a college, students, like our parents would laugh at us, working quote unquote in social media, like for money. You know, like, how you gonna make a good living off of that? Well, you know, now people can, and it is a job. And, um, I would say so many students and so many people in general, no matter what area of life you're in or you're out or what stage and no matter how old you are, so many people are so misled focusing on, you know, well, I should chase a career that has jobs and high paying jobs, you know, especially students. You know, I want to be a doctor because that's where the money's at. That's not going to get you the fulfillment that following a passion is going to give you. So follow your passion because if you're passionate about something, there is likely jobs in that area. And if there isn't make the jobs, you'll be the person who creates. You know, whatever industry you want to go in, and I understand it's hard. And I understand that you know people who are older who aren't students, you know you have to pay the bills. You have to feed your kids. You have to take a job that maybe you don't like Thio get, get by and get through. But the key and that is making time for the things that you love. And if you can work a job that maybe you don't like us much, then go home, spend time with your family and then make time for a hobby of yours. That hobby could eventually grow into something that could pay your bills. And so I think that, um, no matter where you are, always follow passion. And if you don't know what your passion is, which is what a lot of people are facing, it's what I was faced with when I left premed. You know, try new things because most likely, you have more than one passion. So find one and either make a living doing it or do it as a hobby, because it will bring you joy. And it will prevent you from feeling like your life is dull and monotonous. And then that would mean that's kind of a depressing note and on. But I hope that that helps somebody. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Jessica. Hey, Thank you for having first. Thank you, everyone for listening. And we'll see you next week on the cell Oak mavens podcast.