SOCIAL MEDIA WORK

I'd never once thought of working in social media—ever. 

At one point I had actually told a boss, "I'll write anything for you...unless you want social media captions. You'll have to find someone else." It seemed like the antithesis of being a writer. It's not uncommon for me to find myself writing and re-writing a piece for days on end. 

But in social media...

After a few short-term ghostwriting and social media strategy projects with Amenable clients, I'd loosened up to the idea. I suddenly found myself in a full-time position as a social media specialist. The craziest part? It was fun. 

At Striking Brands, a holding company for 9Round Kickboxing Fitness and I Love Kickboxing, my responsibilities were centered around creating platform-specific content calendar templates for hundreds of 9Round & ILKB franchisees around the world. On the side, I also got to experiment with 9Round's corporate accounts and a local studio's instagram page, both of which you can find below. 

SOCIAL MEDIA WORK IN THE WILD

OFFICIAL PAGE (@9roundofficial on Instagram): 

Before my work for 9Round, the content for their corporate page was scattered and focused on promotion, mostly due to limited bandwidth of those running the page. Creating my role at the company allowed me to develop a content strategy focused on:

• Incorporating more types of content into an already existing promotional strategy

• Implicitly sharing and embodying brand values through motivational videos 

• Eliminating holiday and observance posts that didn't add value (ex: branded graphics with "Happy ___")

• "Showing" rather than "telling" about the workout and its effectiveness through interesting promotional posts that people wanted to watch

• Celebrating the 9Round community at large through user-generated content posts

Creating a robust content strategy boosted engagement by 74% (adjusted for giveaway posts), increasing reach to non-followers. The account gained hundreds of new followers & increased prospect inquiries. 

LOCAL STUDIO PAGE (@9round_greenville_butlerrd on Instagram): 

I'd made thousands of content templates for franchisees, but knew it would be even more valuable to 9Round owners if they could see a real-life example of a local studio with engaging content. My goals for this page were: 

• To shift away from promotional content for prospects and toward value-add content for members

• To create community through "people-first" content that celebrates trainers (trainer tips, studio announcements, relatable content) and members (spotlights, member milestones, Q&A videos)

• To give extra value to members through technique/tips, motivation, and workout challenges

Moving from promotional to value-added content ended up increasing engagement by over 350% (compared to the average of the month prior), exponentially boosting reach to non-followers as well.