The Evolving Role of SOCIAL MEDIA
(née Field, 2004)
Alex shares her journey to founding her own digital marketing agency, Social Climber. She explains the importance of social media for businesses and individuals, and how working in the industry enables a flexible lifestyle for professionals. As new technologies like AI are introduced, she predicts how they will shape the future of social media and her business.
(née Field, 2004)
Alex shares her journey to founding her own digital marketing agency, Social Climber. She explains the importance of social media for businesses and individuals, and how working in the industry enables a flexible lifestyle for professionals. As new technologies like AI are introduced, she predicts how they will shape the future of social media and her business.
Since leaving Headington in 2004, what was the path that led to where you are now?
After Headington, and inspired by Dr Morrish, I studied Art History at the University of St Andrews. When I failed to marry Prince William - which everyone assumed was the reason I went there in the first place! - I graduated and moved back to Buckinghamshire. I fell into advertising after I got a temp job at an ad agency in London and was offered a permanent role. I absolutely loved working with creative people and being part of bringing creative projects to life, and I worked with some amazing clients like The Savoy hotel, Diageo and the British Council. I never in a million years pictured going freelance but when I had my daughter I realised that agency life was incompatible with the way I wanted my family life to be. After my son was born, it was time for a change. I wanted to keep using my marketing skill-set so I retrained in paid Facebook and Instagram advertising and launched my own business in 2019.
Since leaving Headington in 2004, what was the path that led to where you are now?
After Headington, and inspired by Dr Morrish, I studied Art History at the University of St Andrews. When I failed to marry Prince William - which everyone assumed was the reason I went there in the first place! - I graduated and moved back to Buckinghamshire. I fell into advertising after I got a temp job at an ad agency in London and was offered a permanent role. I absolutely loved working with creative people and being part of bringing creative projects to life, and I worked with some amazing clients like The Savoy hotel, Diageo and the British Council. I never in a million years pictured going freelance but when I had my daughter I realised that agency life was incompatible with the way I wanted my family life to be. After my son was born, it was time for a change. I wanted to keep using my marketing skill-set so I retrained in paid Facebook and Instagram advertising and launched my own business in 2019.
Tell us about Social Climber
Social Climber is a digital marketing agency specialising in strategic organic and paid social media. We work mainly with non-profits to help them increase awareness around their cause and to increase the support they receive from the public, whether that’s financial or otherwise. Day to day, that means a mix of consultancy work, mainly strategy projects and delivering training, and building and managing ad campaigns. One of the brilliant things about retraining was that I became part of an amazing network of talented digital marketers with all sorts of specialisms, so I can partner with the best people to support my clients.
Tell us about Social Climber
Social Climber is a digital marketing agency specialising in strategic organic and paid social media. We work mainly with non-profits to help them increase awareness around their cause and to increase the support they receive from the public, whether that’s financial or otherwise. Day to day, that means a mix of consultancy work, mainly strategy projects and delivering training, and building and managing ad campaigns. One of the brilliant things about retraining was that I became part of an amazing network of talented digital marketers with all sorts of specialisms, so I can partner with the best people to support my clients.
Why is it important for individuals and businesses to be engaged in social media?
The pandemic changed the face of marketing - you could get away with more traditional approaches before, but now businesses have to be visible online if they want to thrive. Think about how much time the average person spends on social channels looking at branded content, versus how much they spend wandering around physical shops and you can see how crucial it is for businesses. Social media has become your shop-front and the benefit is that it allows you to reach audiences you would never be able to otherwise, and start to build relationships with them. For individuals, it’s a choice to be on social media and it has to be approached in a healthy way, but for businesses it’s become a requirement - although of course there are ways to ensure that time on social as a business is efficient and strategic, and doesn’t eat up your day.
Why is it important for individuals and businesses to be engaged in social media?
The pandemic changed the face of marketing - you could get away with more traditional approaches before, but now businesses have to be visible online if they want to thrive. Think about how much time the average person spends on social channels looking at branded content, versus how much they spend wandering around physical shops and you can see how crucial it is for businesses. Social media has become your shop-front and the benefit is that it allows you to reach audiences you would never be able to otherwise, and start to build relationships with them. For individuals, it’s a choice to be on social media and it has to be approached in a healthy way, but for businesses it’s become a requirement - although of course there are ways to ensure that time on social as a business is efficient and strategic, and doesn’t eat up your day.
How do you believe the industry of social media enables a flexible lifestyle for its professionals, and how have you personally leveraged this flexibility to your advantage?
I’ve found that social media offers amazing opportunities for flexible and remote working. I’ve met all kinds of people in this industry - from mums of young children to people who want to work alongside traveling the world. Being able to work anywhere from a laptop and not having to commute into an office are huge advantages, and if you’re managing social channels or running ad campaigns it doesn’t matter where you are or really what time you’re getting the bulk of your work done, as long as you deliver brilliant work and are available to clients when you need to be.
For me, I want to be able to work around my kids. They are six and four right now, and I want to be at all the events and sports days, as well as when they come home from school, and we also want to be able to travel as a family whenever we can. The traditional 9-5 job doesn’t allow for that, whereas I can set my own hours and manage my own time. For instance, next month we’ll be in New York and I’ll be taking my laptop and working in the evenings so I can enjoy family time during the day.
It’s not always easy, and there’s always an aspect of juggling, but I feel a much greater sense of freedom owning my own business than I ever did working for someone else, and that’s exactly what I need right now.
How do you believe the industry of social media enables a flexible lifestyle for its professionals, and how have you personally leveraged this flexibility to your advantage?
I’ve found that social media offers amazing opportunities for flexible and remote working. I’ve met all kinds of people in this industry - from mums of young children to people who want to work alongside traveling the world. Being able to work anywhere from a laptop and not having to commute into an office are huge advantages, and if you’re managing social channels or running ad campaigns it doesn’t matter where you are or really what time you’re getting the bulk of your work done, as long as you deliver brilliant work and are available to clients when you need to be.
For me, I want to be able to work around my kids. They are six and four right now, and I want to be at all the events and sports days, as well as when they come home from school, and we also want to be able to travel as a family whenever we can. The traditional 9-5 job doesn’t allow for that, whereas I can set my own hours and manage my own time. For instance, next month we’ll be in New York and I’ll be taking my laptop and working in the evenings so I can enjoy family time during the day.
It’s not always easy, and there’s always an aspect of juggling, but I feel a much greater sense of freedom owning my own business than I ever did working for someone else, and that’s exactly what I need right now.
How do you think social media will evolve as new technologies (eg AI) are introduced and popularised?
Social media is always changing, and I’m sure in the future it will become even more immersive. The platforms’ goal is to keep users engaged, so they will find new ways to connect us with attention-grabbing content and to monetise that attention. In terms of AI, it’s always been a big part of social media via the algorithms that decide what content we are shown when we use the platforms, but it’s now much more accessible to individuals to use for their own content creation and education, which is an exciting development.
How do you predict your business will evolve as we move forward into an AI generation?
In the short-term AI will save me time in creating content for my own business, like social media posts and blogs, although for the time being you need to take what AI creates as a structure and then add your own tone of voice and insight to avoid sounding bland. In future, if it can be trained to adopt that tone of voice and really understand specific audiences, I can see myself using it to build out the content of entire campaigns with minimal interference.
How do you think social media will evolve as new technologies (eg AI) are introduced and popularised?
Social media is always changing, and I’m sure in the future it will become even more immersive. The platforms’ goal is to keep users engaged, so they will find new ways to connect us with attention-grabbing content and to monetise that attention. In terms of AI, it’s always been a big part of social media via the algorithms that decide what content we are shown when we use the platforms, but it’s now much more accessible to individuals to use for their own content creation and education, which is an exciting development.
How do you predict your business will evolve as we move forward into an AI generation?
In the short-term AI will save me time in creating content for my own business, like social media posts and blogs, although for the time being you need to take what AI creates as a structure and then add your own tone of voice and insight to avoid sounding bland. In future, if it can be trained to adopt that tone of voice and really understand specific audiences, I can see myself using it to build out the content of entire campaigns with minimal interference.
“The pandemic changed the face of marketing - you could get away with more traditional approaches before, but now businesses have to be visible online if they want to thrive.”
“The pandemic changed the face of marketing - you could get away with more traditional approaches before, but now businesses have to be visible online if they want to thrive.”
