Even though January 1 has come and gone, that doesn’t mean it’s too late to set goals for 2022. Now that the pressure of New Year’s resolutions is behind us, we can take a deep breath and realistically think about what we want to achieve this year – especially in terms of our career.
While we all have our own benchmarks to achieve that next big step, the following goals are meant to challenge you. It’s also beneficial to have an outside perspective so you know what “next steps” are even possible. It’s time to take advantage of the community we’re in as women in influencer marketing.
In order to help these goals stick, I’ve shared a list for you in familiar terms. Let’s practice what we preach and carve out our own influence within the industry through networking.
Grow Your Audience: The past three years have somehow managed to bring us closer than ever while still being worlds apart. Through the rise of social audio and virtual events, it’s been easier to connect with more people than ever before. However, even though the interaction may feel more personal than simply DMing or emailing, a lot of these virtual solutions come up short in establishing real connections beyond a social follow. While the world is still far from normal, as more events begin to tiptoe back to in-person, it’ll be more important than ever to practice true human interaction once again.
Increase Engagement Rate: Now, as important as it is to “grow your audience” through networking, it’s equally important to increase your “engagement rate”. It’s easy to get caught up in networking with new people that you may forget to, then, keep in touch. It’s important to reach out occasionally and see how they’re doing, if they’ve noticed any exciting trends, their thoughts on the latest social platform update – really anything. If you feel comfortable doing so, it can be worth going back to the “good ol’ days” of happy hours, coffee chats, or any in-person meeting. Check their comfort level of course but this “nostalgia” can go a very long way.
Be Authentic: It’s inevitable that you have your “work-self” and your “outside-of-work-self”, but at the end of the day, we’re all humans who are (most likely) suffering from some degree of professional burnout and just want to speak to other humans who can relate. It will always be important to mind your p’s and q’s, but it’s also important to remember that the person you’re hoping to network with isn’t a robot, and the deepest, longest lasting connections come from just being yourself (as corny as it may sound).
At the end of the day, influencer marketing and the creator economy are rapidly evolving industries and the best resources we have are each other. As we head into the new year, I challenge you to think of networking as less of a “chore” and more of an exciting opportunity to grow.
MEGHAN MORASAN
Public Relations Specialist at Captiv8
A public relations professional who has found her home in the influencer marketing industry
Previous experience includes working with a vast portfolio of B2B and B2C clients, from major telecom, digital signage, marketing research, packaging and printing companies – to weighted blankets, coffee, air purifiers, and cheese brands.
I’ve also produced a solo podcast simply as a fun passion project! You can check it out here.
