Why One Social Media Guru Doesn’t Believe in Luck

Tiffany Zamora rules the social media world.

A thoughtful strategist in work and in life, Tiffany helps brands create native, optimized content for each of their social channels.

Tiffany’s inspiration? The people she surrounds herself with. Tiffany believes in creating a network of supportive family and friends who challenge you to be the best version of yourself. Tiffany walks us through a day in her life, an unexpected lesson she’s learned and why she’s a huge fan of about.me.

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Tell us about yourself.

I don’t believe anyone gets through life because of luck. I believe in the power of a smile, positive energy, and an open mind. Four years ago when I decided that my long-standing dream career was a fashion designer was not for me, I went back to school and did a 180 degree career change. Seven internships and a business marketing degree later, I am exactly where I envisioned myself to be according to my 5 year plan. I’m fully immersed in the chaotic but exciting world of advertising, as a social media analyst and I have my smile, positive energy, and open mind to thank for that.

What does a day in your life look like?

A typical day for me includes a fairly long commute to work, which can be one of my favorite parts of the day because it allows me to sing at the top of my lungs or listen to my podcasts. Once I get to work, I always start off with my espresso and a email/calendar check. The beauty of my job is that there is a lot of variation in my schedule. While I do have my usual weekly and monthly reporting, the information on the reports varies depending on the social media strategy and outcome. Meetings, reporting, social listening, ad hoc requests, and the usual 3:00pm snack break to mentally regroup, make up my workdays.

After work, I head to the gym, dinner with friends, or head home to cook (I like to experiment with dishes) and finish off by working on my forthcoming podcast (release date TBD!) or catching up on work emails.

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What’s an unexpected lesson you’ve learned as a social media analyst?

When analyzing the data for our channels and our competitors, you quickly gain an understanding on what content is working and what is not. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to create, edit, and publish content. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that each social media channel is not a one-size-fits-all network. I see a lot of companies repeatedly making the same blunder and publishing content that does not leverage the channels’ core competency.

Advice I would offer to companies and employees unfamiliar with social media is to take advantage of and focus on strong visuals when posting on Instagram; keep LinkedIn content professional; and use Twitter’s 140 character limit wisely and stay informative. Make the most of social media by appropriately aligning the content to its rightful home (the channel). Keep in mind your company’s goals and objectives, and make sure these are clear when posting content. Is your strategy to bring brand awareness, drive traffic to your site, or increase customer loyalty? Whatever your strategy is, keep that in mind when creating the content for each post (static images, videos, and copy) to represent your brand.

How do you keep track of your accomplishments?

Previously, I always had an excel sheet with my short term and long-term goals, projects, and assignments. As soon as I finished something, I would just check it off and if it was something of relevance, I would write a brief blurb with lessons learned and recommendations so I could reference as needed. However, a few months back a friend of mine introduced me to Passionplanner.com, which essentially does all that. It’s amazing and I highly recommend it for all who are interested in personal development and want to keep their information organized.

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Who inspires you?

Jim Rohn, a motivation speaker, once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” I’m a strong proponent of this statement and believe that the people around us matter. I have a great group of friends, family, mentors and co-workers, who serve as my support system and who challenge and inspire me to make me better overall individual.

Why do you use about.me? What are your favorite features?

I started using about.me about 2 years ago for a class project and found it as a great medium to curate all my social media. I especially love the simplicity and visual element of the site. I’m a big fan of charts, graphics, and data, and I love the site captures all my stats.

Ever since the about.me Intro app was introduced, I have been using it religiously and absolutely love it. Since joining about.me, the response and engagement rate has been fantastic. In a world where our social media footprint has become a fundamental aspect of our lives, professionally and personally, about.me is a great way to have everything in one place.

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Anna Lizaur is a Marketing Manager with about.me. She graduated from the University of Virginia. Anna is fluent in Spanish and can count to 100 in Chinese.