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Laura Warren

Graphic Designer/Visual Communications degree.

12/11/20 at 5:55PM UTC

Career

feeling uneasy

My boss is not so good at communicating. He hired me because of my graphic design skills figuring I could learn the Social media needs. I am always asking him for content for his social media sites, with little success of getting anything. He is the face of the company and I am not a realtor, so I am not qualified to share real estate content (or even know where to get the content). How do I proceed with him on this. I am looking to learn more about social media posting for business, but the communication thing is getting crazy. I ask him when he will be in the office so I can meet with him, and I get no answers. Instead he deflects and gives me tasks that are Graphic Design related.

14 Comments

Kelli

1.3k

I help you go from STUCK TO FULFILLED

12/11/20 at 7:50PM UTC

Hi Laura - this is frustrating. Can you create a social media calendar with categories for post topics for each day? Then he can easily fill in a few bullet points for each category. Ask to have it back on Wednesday for the next week so you have time to create and schedule posts. Putting a process in place will make things easier on him and hopefully he will give you what you need.

N T

129

I'm here to help

12/11/20 at 8:02PM UTC

Hi Laura I agree with Kelli. As for the challenge of finding qualified content to share on social media. Would you and your boss be able to sit down and pick top sites your boss reads on the latest real estate topics the industry is paying attention to? Maybe then you two can work out a schedule to promote articles from there. Another approach is trying to pinpoint in your company if there are any other SMEs (subject matter experts) who can write a blog or provide topics for blogs and then google if those topics have already been written about by seasoned vets that you can share. Definitely if you can figure out social media influencers in the real estate I would follow them so you can repost and promote them as well. All the best of luck to you!

User edited comment on 12/15/20 at 10:39PM UTC

Madeline Schwarz

Communication + Career Coach for Introverts

12/15/20 at 6:02PM UTC

I love the ideas suggested so far and would add that doing your own research into what competitors are doing for social media might help you come up with topic ideas you can put forward. Then you only need his approval and edits to create a calendar instead of relying on him sitting down to do it from scratch. I would also use open ended questions and ask your boss directly how you can make his job easier?

Katie Malone

1.16k

Social Media Manager + Mother to two daughter

12/15/20 at 7:45PM UTC

Hi! Social media manager here... All of the above suggestions are perfect. If you want to learn more about social media marketing, I would recommend a few sites, too. https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ https://www.jennstrends.com/ https://blog.hootsuite.com/ I think that both research of how other realtors are using social media will serve you best right now. And then create a plan for say a week... You can present that to your boss in one meeting and see what he thinks and go from there.

Jennifer Smith

Career Coach & Consultant

12/15/20 at 8:35PM UTC

Hi Laura! One more thought in terms of the lack of communication — can you set up a recurring check-in meeting with him? Maybe bi-weekly? This helps with a couple things: ability to plan your schedule and his schedule around the dedicated time and knowing that you have dedicated time to get all your questions answered allows for higher productivity. This approach has always helped me when I had tricky managers. I hope it helps...

Alyson Garrido, Career Coach

405

Job Search and Career Advancement

12/15/20 at 8:51PM UTC

Great question, Laura. I think this is something so many of us experience. Could you let him know the impact of his lack of communication? Perhaps he doesn't know that it's impacting your ability to get things done. I wonder if a direct conversation about your goals and how you could add value could be helpful. Wishing you all the best.

Krista Coutts

309

Marketing Professional, Cross-Functional Leader

12/15/20 at 10:17PM UTC

This is a challenge...especially when we are WFH! Can you schedule time with him to review the expectations of your position and how he will help make both of you successful? He might not be social media "savvy" and needs some coaching? Good luck!

Anonymous

12/15/20 at 11:11PM UTC

Are you able to catch him your internal messaging tool (such as skype, MS teams etc.) and while you send your IM ask if you just call him instead. I agree with other set up a weekly or bi-weekly touchpoints this gives you an opportunity to chat with him on regular basis and ask questions about things you may have.

Laura Warren

Graphic Designer/Visual Communications degree.

12/15/20 at 11:31PM UTC

Thanks everyone. My boss emails me, texts and calls me. I talked with him last week and he told me he just needs me for the "personal" posts on his social media. We talked about ideas and what he wants. He also told me that the last two weeks of the month will be really slow. Like almost no work. The posts I have created and scheduled to be posted on peak days have only taken me 2 hours. (I've charged for google research) To make matters more challenging is that my boss has been feeling sick and went to get tested for Covid today. He has been out of the office for a full week and plans on being out for a couple more, just to be safe. He has also been sleeping a lot due to not feeling well, and does not respond for several hours (if not the next day) to messages. Which puts a pause on my work.

1 Reply

Dawn Reed

Equipping people for success

12/22/20 at 2:38PM UTC

Glad that you were able to get some information. I would take the slow time to develop a plan on what could be done to improve the social media presence. A phrase we use in my company is "run it like you own it". What would you do if it was your company? Develop this plan and present it to your boss. This would show initiative and potentially take pressure off him too.

Amy Bucciferro

Consulting is my profession, equality my passion

12/16/20 at 1:29PM UTC

Was the expectation set that this would be a full time role or a minimum number of hours per week? Sounds like you are billing hourly, so I would revisit what the commitment was to you when you were hired and potentially negotiate to change your pay structure and/or commitment to this role. It may work out better for you to settle on a part-time availability expectation and look for another part-time contract to supplement.

1 Reply

Laura Warren

Graphic Designer/Visual Communications degree.

12/30/20 at 4:24PM UTC

In a few years full-time with a team that would have various specialized tasks. (video productions, social media posting and graphic design) Right now I am not to go over 30 hours. (which hasn't been an issue at all)

1 Reply

Amy Bucciferro

Consulting is my profession, equality my passion

12/30/20 at 4:45PM UTC

Since you are not committed to this tile full time yet, you may want to explore other part time opportunities, focusing on ones where you can develop the skills you are most interested in focusing on. Thus will also build your portfolio and network for the future. Consider that this current job may not pan out as expected for any number of reasons that may have nothing to do with you. You owe them only what you are currently committed to and nothing more.

Miranda Wilcox

162

Helping women thrive at work and in life

12/17/20 at 11:27AM UTC

While it sounds like the latest news isn't what you wanted, you have more information, which is a good thing. What I'm inferring from your initial post is that your expectations and your boss' expectations may not be aligned. When the time is right you may want to have a conversation in which you ask him to clearly state what he expects in your role. As a starting point, you can share your understanding based on past communication and ask him to clarify. Try to approach this from a curious position where you ask questions so you can truly understand what he wants, without putting him on the defensive.