Q&A with Creative Little Soul’s Marketing Assistant & Copywriter
Creative Little Soul (CLS) is an award-winning digital and creative marketing agency. We provide business support and creative services such as content creation, digital marketing strategies and design for our clients in the hospitality industry.
From humble beginnings, Chrissy Symeonakis established Creative Little Soul in 2013. Seven years on and we are now a team of ten creatives who each bring a wealth of talent to CLS. You’ve met a few of the other staff, now we speak to Claire Poulton creator of words and lover of wine…
Hi Claire! Tell us about your career journey in social media marketing?
Well I have 3 degrees or 2 and ¾ to be more precise and none of them have much to do with social media marketing if I’m honest. I did a double degree in communication and media with a major in journalism and professional writing as well as a degree in international studies with a major in peace and security studies. I’m also currently completing my master’s in international relations with a specialization in social research.
My professional background is predominantly in digital publishing and copy-writing. I did a bunch of internships at different communication agencies and NGO’s where I first cut my teeth in social media marketing. My first ‘real’ job aka a job where I actually used my degrees was for a travel company where I wrote and designed luxury custom travel itineraries for Chinese clients heading to Europe. It was actually a lot of fun to write about far of distant places and fantasize about where I would love to go myself one day as well as pass along some wisdom I had learned from my own travels.
I’ve also written for and contributed to a range of digital publications on topics ranging from environmentalism, politics and pop culture.
How and when start working at Creative Little Soul?
I’m approaching my 12-month anniversary with CLS I joined the team in March of 2019.
What does your average working day look like?
I’m normally roused in the morning by a fury animal or two and then once I’m sufficiently caffeinated, I sit down at my desk and go through my emails to see if there is anything urgent that needs attending to. Then I make my way through the list of clients we have, grabbing content from the drobox or looking for new gems on Instagram and drafting posts on Facebook. Around mid-afternoon I turn to Instagram again working my way methodically through the list of clients scheduling and posting necessary content to each account.
What do you love about social media and what do you not love about it?
I love that it enables me to stay in touch with old friends. I also like the ease and accessibility of social media and the way it allows me to stay up to date with the news and what’s happening in the world as well as keep me appraised of fun events around town that I might be interested in.
Social media can of course also be an exceedingly useful tool for businesses as it allows them to reach a broad and diverse audience, they may not have had access to had traditional print media been their only source of material.
I know It probably seems the height of irony to admit this but what I don’t love about social media is a far longer list. Dare I say certain people of a certain generation often scorn social media as the monster that led to the creation of a self-indulgent, vacuous, narcissistic generation who have lost the ability to engage in meaningful interpersonal relationships and whilst those criticisms certainly have merit, I consider social media’s effect of democracy and politics far more concerning.
Social media platforms are not held to the same editorial standards as news organisations even though most people get their news from social media. Consequently, social media enables for the proliferation and dissemination of unchecked, unvented often damaging information, fake news if you will. The proliferation of fake news has enormous and extremely detrimental effects on democracy and the political process. In 2016 Russia was able to identify and target individuals in certain swing states in the US and bombard them with fake news stories about Hilary Clinton. Subsequent research has revealed that the publication of unverified stories from dubious sources was one of the main reasons behind the election of Donald Trump and Brexit.
On the flip side I would argue social media has made some people lazy, the rise of clicktivism as a surrogate for actual activism concerns me. Signing an online petition is easy but it’s also easy to ignore when it’s not working in tandem with a real-world campaign.
Of course, social media also presents enormous privacy implications and concerns over the commodification of individual data. Not to mention it presents serious implications regarding the mental health of young people in particular. The presumption of anonymity allows certain individuals to hurl abuse and one another and engage in cyber bulling. And the accessibility and omnipresent nature of social media means that form of harassment can be exceedingly difficult to escape or ignore. Furthermore, more than ever before social media presents the opportunity to compare and disappear. We’re nearly constantly bombarded with images of beautiful people with more money than us, having babies, going on holidays or just generally looking like they’re having more fun than we are. Of course, this like most forms of advertising is largely an illusion, an artifice we choose to present to the world but even so it’s certainly not surprising that concerns over youth mental health are on the rise.
Social media is constantly evolving, so how do you keep up to speed with all these rapid changes and updates we’re seeing?
I find Facebook groups are a real wealth of knowledge and have proven really helpful. I’m part of a few groups both public and private for copywriters, digital marketers and freelancers and I’ve found them all immeasurably useful. They also of course come with the added advantage of being able to ask a question anytime and have a group of experts or rally to your side to help.
What is your preferred social media platform and why?
I probably use Facebook the most, just for the engagement factor and news value and the groups which I’ve already mentioned.
Tell us about your passions. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
I love a good book and a nice fat glass of wine. Going to the beach, chilling with my two dogs and hanging with my friends as well as fantasizing about my next European holidays are what I generally enjoy doing in my spare time.
Do you have any side hustles on the go?
At the moment I’m working on my masters thesis so that keeps my pretty busy.
If you live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I’d love to live in the Greek island of Corfu. I have such fond memories of my time there when I was traveling through Europe.
Any advice you might give to others who might be considering a career in social media marketing?
Having a large following yourself does not a social media manager make. Personal use and business are two separate ball games. Having great writing and analytical skills are essential so too is a sense of creativity, innovation and high degree of emotional intelligence. You need to understand who your ideal audience is and write and produce content that appeals to that demographic, there’s no one size fits all.