How To Get Into Social Media Marketing: Tips and Tricks | Brafton

Social media marketing is like the pearly gates of a world where you get paid to be creative, share ideas and make people laugh (or cry, depending on the strategy). But unlike winning your way into Willy Wonka’s factory, this golden ticket isn’t handed to you in a candy bar; you’ll find it wrapped up in your creativity.

Whether you own a business, work in marketing or are eyeing up a new side hustle, social media marketing opens new realms of opportunities to build creativity skills and convert them into high-ROI results. 

So buckle up. This is your step-by-step guide to strengthening creative muscle, putting your work out into the world and scaling potential with social media marketing. 

6 Steps to Becoming a Social Media Marketer

Being a social media marketer isn’t astrophysics, but it does require more than posting pretty pictures. It’s about marketing strategy, adaptability and a touch of shameless confidence. 

With some of the world’s finest social media marketers at our fingertips, we’ve brought real-world tips and advice from the Brafton pros to help you build your social media marketing prowess from the ground up. Here’s how it works:

1. Research Like It’s Your Side Hustle

Before you dive headfirst into hashtags and analytics, do your homework. Learn the ins and outs of the industry. What platforms and pages are thriving, and why? What’s the latest algorithm drama? (Get comfy with this now: There’s always algorithm drama.)

Grab a social media marketing guide, flick through YouTube channels and line up courses that break down social media strategies. The more learning and insights you expose yourself to, the more solid your foundation for success will be when it comes time to kick off.

2. Build Your Basic Skills

“You need to be good at a lot to be great at this job — creative, strategic, adaptable and organized,” recommends Courtney Karpiej, Associate Director, Social Media at Brafton. “Oh, and you’ve got to truly understand marketing.”

So, while you don’t need to be Monet or Shakespeare, you do need some basic capabilities up your sleeve. Here are a few invaluable skills to start practicing in your day-to-day.

• Teamwork: The likeliness you’ll need to collaborate with designers, writers, strategists, clients or influencers, sooner or later, is astronomically high. 

➡️Action: Practice skills like delegation, active listening, leadership and influence.

• Attention to detail: Spelling errors in a caption or hashtag can derail you credibility. *Your. Oops.

➡️Action: Proofread texts, emails and any other written work you do daily. Alternatively, lean into editing tools like Grammarly. 

• Communication: Explaining why images or trends fit a brand’s vibe is equally as important as creating them.

➡️Action: Aim to be clear and concise, polish your questions, listen actively and pay attention to non-verbal communication. 

• Time management: You’ll juggle posting schedules, campaign deadlines and last-minute requests — probably more than you think. 

➡️Action: Create calendars and to-do lists now to support time accountability. 

• Creativity: The internet is flooded with social media content — your job is to make yours stand out and leave people wanting more. 

➡️Action: Nurture creativity by exposing yourself to new environments, activities and media, and creating space through resting, daydreaming and meditation.  

• Marketing: You don’t necessarily need a degree to get into social media marketing, but it’s a good idea to lay out the basics. 

➡️Action: Jump into a course or check out online resources to better understand essential marketing principles.

3. Take Classes 

We no longer need to physically attend school to learn. Sites like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning are packed with courses on social media marketing, analytics and ad strategies.

Some online classes won’t offer the same clout as an Ivy League qualification or scores of proven campaigns, but they will give you the basics to take your first steps toward epic campaigns.

4. Practice Your Heart Out

Before taking your skills to the marketplace, get as much practice as possible. Sam Dame, VP of Social Media at Brafton, started her journey with a personal social strategy and a blog. Too busy to undertake an internship, she created her own experience instead.

Build your portfolio by testing strategies on your personal account. Diversify your spread with engaging content that’s outside your comfort zone — whether that’s short-form videos, carousel posts or even memes.

5. Create a Strong Portfolio 

A solid portfolio shows you know your way around Instagram grids, TikTok trends and LinkedIn posts.

Make sure your portfolio showcases a mix of not only content types, but social media platform strategies and, most importantly, results. Employers and clients love to see numbers like engagement rates and growth stats, so tune into marketing analytics and find data that shows you know what you’re doing.

6. Study the Greats

Ever watched a brand’s campaign and thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Good news: You can. Study the brands with an established social media presence. If you’re not following any, look for big names. You can learn a lot from Nike, Starbucks or Zara’s social media marketing strategy.

Spotify Wrapped is a great example because the campaign feels personal but scales globally. Wendy’s Twitter is proof that brand voice sells — even when it’s sassy. Ask yourself, why did it work? And then, steal like an artist (ethically, of course).

Ryan Pecinka, Senior Lead, Social Media at Brafton, recommends, “Watch brands, see what they do well and ask yourself why it resonated with you.”

Social Media Marketing Tools You Need To Know

Now you’ve got the basic skills down — and a pathway to move forward — let’s talk scale. Social media, at an individual level, can be run by an individual. However, when it comes to hitting your campaigns out of the park, there are a ton of tools to help with organization, creativity and analytics. 

The Platforms

First, know your playgrounds. Today, you’ve got a ton of platforms to experiment with, each with its own audiences, vibe and content algorithm. Some of the more popular ones include: 

• Instagram: Perfect for visual storytelling and connecting with millennial and Gen Z audiences through reels, carousels and aesthetic photos.
• Facebook: Great if you want to reach an older audience with community groups, long-form posts and event promotions.
• TikTok: Many Gen Zers and millennials basically live here, consuming short, viral videos that thrive on trends and creativity.
• LinkedIn: Use this for professional networking, B2B content and thought leadership in articles and posts.
• Pinterest: This is a hub for visual inspiration-seekers. You’ll find plenty of how-tos, visual guides and lifestyle content.
• X (formerly Twitter): Best for real-time updates, witty one-liners and engaging in popular conversations.
• YouTube: King of long-form video content for tutorials, vlogs and entertainment aimed at all age groups.

Don’t get too comfortable, though; the social media landscape is always changing. Sam recommends always keeping an open mind.

“New platforms will be coming,” she explains. “You will be working on platforms that don’t exist today. You’ll be working with features of platforms that don’t exist today.”

Platform-Specific Features

Each social media channel has its own set of tools and analytics features to help you craft a winning strategy. For instance, Instagram Insights can show you what content is working, what’s not and who’s following your stories. X’s Promotion Mode can project your tweets to a wider audience, and Facebook’s Audience Insights can help you better target your audience.

Research your preferred platform’s tools to optimize your campaigns and get those shiny growth numbers employers (and clients) are looking for. 

Creative Tools

The best way to scale your creative output is to hone the tools designed to help you get there. This list is only a taste of what’s out there, and it’ll give you a good idea how to find the right support for your strategy:

For Ideation and Copy

AI tools like ChatGPT help you generate ideas, organize your content into a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, assess gaps and get to the fun stuff. Whether you need assistance planning and scripting reels, writing tweets or scheduling for the upcoming month, you can’t look past generative AI.

For Videos and Graphics

Canva is one of the most well-known sidekicks for graphics and video editing. It’s a “freemium” product, meaning you can create with the free version or pay for additional features. It’s not the only one of its kind — Adobe’s Firefly and Premier Pro also do the trick. Either way, these tools shave down budgets and timelines, allowing you to create magical, original content at scale.

For Proofing

For the sake of credibility and professionalism, free copy editing tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway App help keep your marketing communications polished and posting-ready. 

Tools To Support Commercial Success (and Sanity)

Of course, content creation is the fun part. But there’s a whole strategy running behind the scenes to keep a regular posting schedule and measure a social media campaign’s performance. Sprout Social is a gem because it allows you to manage everything in one place. And by “everything,” I’m talking: 

• Scheduling: Organize your social calendar across multiple channels, upload content and schedule it for automatic posting. 
• Analytics: Compare content engagement, social listening sentiment and reactions to specific content across platforms over time. 
• Reporting: Get all the insights you need to analyze social media trends, see how your campaigns performed and learn how to adapt future campaigns for greater success.

Sprout Social is comprehensive, and simpler platforms can achieve similar results. These tools help make a laborious numbers game more straightforward and actionable — plus, they’ll give you (and others) direct insight into how you’re doing — which is what counts most in marketing. 

Why Social Media Marketing Matters

Social media marketing can open doors to a career change, fuel business growth or even become your next creative side hustle. One thing’s for sure: it’s all about making an impact. Here’s where those ripples can lead:

• Reaching your audience: Social media platforms are where people spend their time, making them essential for connecting with your target audience.
• Building attention: Short-form content like TikToks, Reels and catchy captions build brand awareness and keep audiences engaged.
• Driving traffic: Posts can direct your social networks to blogs, products and landing pages, driving meaningful engagement and sales.
• Understanding your audience: Social media analytics provide valuable insights into audience preferences and behaviors, helping refine your strategy.
• Optimizing for growth: Social media allows you to continually adjust and improve your marketing strategies for better results.

Become The Marketer You Were Meant To Be

A social media marketing career can be rewarding and highly creative, and today it’s more accessible than ever. Remember, it starts with you. It’s all about your creativity, originality and willingness to evolve.

As parting advice, Ryan highlights the importance of experimentation: “Don’t be afraid to throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks. Every post isn’t going to go viral — and that’s OK. Use those moments to grow and level up.”

“And ask for help when you need it,” reinforces Courtney. “Social media can be tricky, and nobody expects you to know everything. Learn, adapt and trust your instincts.”

Your golden ticket doesn’t rely on anything outside of you. So, own your creativity, drive and unique perspective, and start experimenting. The internet’s ready for your take.