A Day in the Life of a Fortune 50 Senior Social Media Strategist

“So… what exactly do you do?” is a common question from friends and new coworkers.

For those of you who are interested in a social media career, or (think you) are jealous of your connections who work in social media, here is a fairly standard day.

I lead the social media strategy at a multinational bank for

• Corporate & Investment Banking
• Commercial Banking (standard B2B lines of business)
• Brand & Diverse Segments (students, veterans, Black/African American, etc.)
• U.S. & Global Employer Brand

The below is by no means comprehensive, but you nor I have an hour for a complete play-by-play.

730A. Wake up, grab water, and immediately scroll social media and texts for ~45 minutes, scanning emails and notifications before skimming various newsletters and feeds. Shower and throw on leggings and a sweater, as there are no Zoom calls most days to preserve bandwidth. Check the weather in Charlotte and England —both gray and rainy. Avoid correlating the forecast to what the day might bring. (Looking to move abroad, my Spanish and French skills necessitate landing in an English-speaking country — which I’m more than happy to do.)

830A. Check emails. 298: not bad, need to get it back under 200. Skim headlines of industry emails and move interesting titles to a folder for later reading — delete the rest. Handle any emails that came in from partners overseas first due to the time difference, as we have a few initiatives in various stages. Skim industry emails and send condensed notes if applicable to relevant partners to encourage fresh thinking and awareness of recent newsworthy events or interesting brand campaigns. “Test and learn” is used a lot, but is difficult to actually execute at a large company. If you’re not failing, you’re not being adventurous enough — but nobody wants to defend a flop they oversaw.

10A. Review additional platforms for an upcoming, new-to-us (I’m so excited!) content test to address an identified gap. What audience dominates the chosen platform? Which additional platforms might work? Run it by 3 other people, who all agree with the recommendation. (In a huge company, absolutely everything is a team sport, which has perks and drawbacks.) Draft copy and push the ETA back due to some 3rd party delays. Update multiple documents to reflect the date change.

11A. Two 15-minute touch-base calls with people in different departments. Highlight #1 of the day! How are they holding up? (How, really?) What are their current projects or challenges? How can I help? Do any collaboration opportunities exist? I hold these periodically to maintain connections across the company and generate ideas, however feasible due to ever-fluctuating timelines and resources. Pro-tip: schedule two in one half-hour, or it’s easy to run over and get behind on other things. You can always schedule a follow-up! One is having an off day — dash off a card and pop it in the mail to encourage them while making oatmeal. Note to self: have breakfast before noon more often. Skim LinkedIn and Twitter for notifications, industry content, and to see what connections are sharing. (Don’t sleep on this, a lot of great info exists on the newsfeed.) See a fresh barrage of posts mentioning Clubhouse calls. Note to self: accept this invite later.

12–3P. Have calls of various sizes with partners in various departments — mostly marketing and PR — now that the West Coast is online, to determine action items for a wide number of upcoming paid and organic campaigns. The budget’s changed again, so email someone to re-run numbers. Remind partners of the process — not for the first time, or third — and update a growing to-do list. (Project management skills and quickly incorporating adjustments are imperative to success as a strategist.) Walk around the kitchen island, as most calls use screen-shares these days, and I only have ~500 steps. Multitask during the larger calls, answering emails and intermittent IMs while staying ready for questions. Text my mentor about any and everything, looking for opportunities to level up. She is fabulous, and prioritizing both sides of mentorship is important to me.

3P. Review the 2021 calendar for all above segments, crossing out dates we are unlikely to use (too niche, not enough resources, etc.) and cross-check across departments to mitigate effort duplication. At a large company this is somewhat inevitable, but I am type A and loathe disorganization, so work hard to ensure collaboration and communication inter- and intra-team. Send calendar to 30-something partners to ensure awareness of what others are doing and remind them of their own upcoming plans. Sign off with #HashtagsAreNotAStrategy- obligatory, half-hearted smiley. Send a few follow-up meeting invites, marveling at how many calls we all have that makes meeting with more than 2 people at once akin to the Olympic trials.

4P. Update the deck for next week’s presentation to the Global Talent Brand team, ensuring all numbers are clear and a good mix of 2020 wins and opportunities is represented. We achieved some incredible results, and taking a minute to recognize the efforts of this international team is important. This is the second highlight of my day, getting to dig into content and strategize how to elevate the next iteration. Compare the metrics to the images, the copy, the launch dates (was anything else going on that might draw attention away from our content?), the targeting criteria. Send report to partners for their POVs. Include an overview slide of 2021 plans— so much to do, so few people to manage the work — but getting the right talent into a company is paramount to long-term success, and having the opportunity to articulate EB is a blast. Handle emails throughout the hour, responding to various requests and providing guidance around cadence, branding, image direction, platform recommendations and rationale, and SLAs. Challenge myself to dip below 230 emails by EOB.

5P. Take a walk before darkness sets in, as around 6:00 these days the overhead lights go on to accompany the ever-present blue screen glow. Listen to a podcast about the future of work, a favorite jazz playlist, or catch up with a friend. Think through what’s next — what campaigns, what professional growth, what’s on tap for tomorrow.

6P. Grab some dinner and skim any emails that have come in from the West Coast, assessing what can wait. (Anything that can be handled in under 3 minutes gets answered now, a fantastic guideline I learned from someone at UGA.) Review tomorrow’s calendar and highlight priority items. Emails are down to 226. Score.

7P — on. Shut down, switching from the big screen to the little one to check personal emails and social media, laughing at TikToks a friend has sent throughout the day. The similarity of our algorithms is borderline frightening. Two emails come in, asking about younger talent for XYZ roles. One’s public, one not yet. Send to a contact I have who’s looking. Check in with a friend who’s starting a new job this week before finishing 2030 by Mauro Guillen — 20 pages to the end, with a growing list on deck. The Midnight Library is a nice break, sent by an old coworker-turned-lifelong-friend, and a borrowed copy of Dare to Lead is still waiting to be devoured; Brene’s writing is incredible. Tomorrow starts with a 5:15A personal training session, though, and that’s coming WAY too soon, so no glass of Cab tonight. Social media gets closed after 15 minutes too many, as the algorithm may not need sleep, but I do.

Now you know at high level what we do all day — and as I end all emails, “please shout with questions!” I’d love to hear your versions as well.