If you are feeling lost with your social media marketing and don’t know where to begin? Then this interview with Alisha Kumar an expert marketer and social media manager, is for you! Alisha is the founder of The Social Project and is known for working with some incredible brands such as Bumble, Peloton and Saje on their innovative marketing campaigns.! 

With over 13 years in the marketing industry, Alisha has experience working with some of the world’s most innovative and forward thinking brands, developing out of the box and momentous marketing campaigns that never fail to make a statement. She is passionate about helping businesses take advantage of the latest and greatest digital marketing trends to create a unique footprint with their marketing and has a knack of thinking big picture, while getting down to every detail needed.

An Interview With Social Media Manager

1. What is the best advice that someone has given to you in your business? 

Take risks, it’s the name of the game when it comes to entrepreneurship. You either learn or you win.

2. What has been the best investment for your business? 

The best investment I’ve made is a graphic designer. Yeah, Canva is great, but I knew I wanted something different for my business and my clients. I didn’t want their brand to get lost in the cookie cutter of graphics and so working with a graphic designer has been great! Graphics aren’t my forté, so handing that off has saved me a ton of time to focus on what I love doing.

3. What suggestions do you have for someone short on time and does not have the means to outsource? 

Focus one one platform at a time and schedule your content out. Mix it up between reels, carousels, and static photos. Using a scheduler won’t hurt your content, let’s get that myth out of the way. So schedule things out, we use Later.com and it has a ton of tools like showing you when your audience is online, along with many other helpful analytics.

4. Can you explain the importance of engaging with your audience on social media? 

Engagement works differently now than it did before. I know you hear it time and time again, but stop copying and pasting a script into people’s dm’s. I don’t hit delete quicker than when I see something like that. Build relationships. Actual ones. It’ll take you further in not only your marketing, but your business altogether.

5. What do you suggest for businesses when they are short on professional photos/ content to use? 

Use your phone. Everyone and anyone creates content on their phone. There are so many settings now, apps, etc to help you create videos for social media or portfolio. Use what you have.

6. How do you forecast for marketing trends and how do you recommend hoping on them in the early stages? 

I read up on trends almost daily. The one thing that is constant in marketing is change. So, in order to stay up to date or be able to shift efforts, you have to read up on what is happening currently or what is to come. A few resources I look at are Social Media Today and Ad Week.

7. What do you predict to be essential for a good social media strategy in 2024? 

Grid aesthetics are out the door, video content and more video content, along with collaborating with businesses on IG lives, posts, collections, etc. Tap into each others audiences and get innovative. Memes are also out. Remember, you are creating content for your audience, not for yourself. Storytelling is key when it comes to marketing on any platform. 

8. What is one easy thing a business can do every day to help increase their presence on social media? 

Post and test. You have to post first in order to see what is working and what isn’t. It’ll help make social media easier for you when you see results, however, that only happens when you commit to it.

9. Do you have any recommendations for how a business decides its ROI/ goals for social media marketing?  

This looks different for every business and what they’re focused on. If your content is focused on brand awareness, you’ll be looking at different goals than if your content is focused on sales. Track analytics at all costs. I do this weekly for clients to see what’s working and what isn’t.

10. What is one piece of advice you would give to a wedding vendor who is managing their own social media marketing? 

Your content isn’t for you, it’s for your audience/community. You should be storytelling your client’s perfect day and how working with you made it a fairytale, took stress off their plates, and made it memorable so they could focus on their friends and family and each other as opposed to making sure things were being done, that’s the wedding vendor’s job. Showcase that through photo, video, and testimonials.

From unique video content creation to paid ads Alisha is your gal for everything social media! As a social media manager she loves to help grow lifestyle brands by telling their story in unforgettable ways. Learn more about Alisha and her social media services here!