How I Became - a Social Media Manager.
How I Became - a Social Media Manager w/ Ellen Mackenzie.
Welcome to the ‘How I Became’ series where Billie talks to girls across New Zealand who are killing it in their chosen career and see how they got there!
Trying to decide what you ‘want to be when you grow up’ is hard enough as it is and your careers counsellor probably won’t have all the answers you need.
HIB aims to give you a bit of insight into different career paths and what it takes to get there.
Name: Ellen Mackenzie
Age: 26
Job title: Social Media Strategist and Coach
Company: Dishing Up Digital
Firstly, what drew you to Social Media Management?
I started a blog when I was just 14 and have always been fascinated by the online world. Growing up, my dad was a software engineer and my mum was an art teacher so I always like to say I was born to find a career that combined computers with creativity
When I started my job as a journalist, I just didn’t feel the same level of passion as I did about blogging and Youtube so I went looking for how I could make those my job.
I didn’t want to become an influencer as I didn’t want to have monetise all my content but being a social media manager was something that I thought could work.
I loved the idea of working from anywhere in the world and the freedom I could have.
What subjects did you take in high school that you think helped?
I knew in high school I wanted to study communications at AUT so I made sure I did subjects that would get me into that degree! It’s important to start thinking about from year 11, even though it’s so hard to know what you want to do at that stage. I ended up doing english, history, photography and maths (mum would never let me drop that one!). In my final year I dropped biology and added in classics, which I hated but I knew I could write my way through it and managed to get straight excellences haha!
What did your pathway towards starting your career look like?
I studied at AUT for three years while also running my a blog and Youtube channel with my older sister. This helped me practice my writing and learn about online marketing. In my mid semester break of my final year of uni, I interned at Woman’s Day magazine and after one month, I was lucky enough to be offered a full time job there once I finished uni. I started writing their television pages and eventually grew to writing bigger stories and even travel pieces and celeb cover stories. I got so much incredible experience in those 3 years but knew I was meant for something else. In 2019 I left Woman’s Day to start my own social media agency. From there I’ve grown my online brand and branched out into several other businesses including online courses and coaching.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The creativity and variety! Working in an agency structure means I’ve worked with dozens of different clients all with different businesses. This means I never get bored because there’s always new exciting projects to work on and no week ever looks the same.
What’s the hardest part?
Being your own boss is no easy task. As much as I love what I do, it can be all consuming. Ironically, I’m writing this on a Saturday afternoon haha! I often have to work weekends, but when you love your job this isn’t the end of the world. It can be hard to maintain a work life balance and also keep boundaries with your clients. Some people I’ve worked with have expected me to reply to emails and come running to do whatever they want at a drop of a hat - even if it’s 8am on a Sunday. As my business has grown, I’ve worked harder to give myself more time off and have stronger boundaries with my clients.
What surprised you most about your job once you started working?
Honestly the first thing that pops into my head is the scalability and the money! Online entrepreneurship is amazing because it’s opened up so many doors for young women to start wildly profitable businesses from the comfort of their home. I follow so many inspiring girls on Instagram making six-figures or seven-figures and this never would have been possible 10 or 20 years ago. Social media management is just the beginning, you can use this as a platform to launch so many other businesses and create so many revenue streams. Coming from the magazine world as a “junior” writer who wasn’t making much, this blew my mind.
What does an average day look like for you?
Every day is different and I love that! Some days I’m shooting product photos, other days I’m writing captions or designing graphics for Instagram. At the moment I’m preparing to open enrolment for my online course the Dishing up Digital School. So this means my days have been all about content creation, planning webinars and making sales funnels to get as many sign ups as possible. I have 3 contractors working for my business now so I’m also always checking in with them daily and outsourcing client tasks to them. I typically work 5 hours a day max, but often work weekends too so it ads up to be a pretty standard 40 hour week.
What advice would you give to those looking to follow a similar career path?
Your mindset is so important, work on your self confidence and self belief. When the going gets tough, this will be your biggest asset. I always say to my students that success comes down to 10% skill and 90% mindset!
What are the biggest challenges in your opinion to getting into Social Media Management?
Unlike a lot of careers or industries, you don’t need a huge amount of experience. There’s the opportunity to start small and learn as you go. You don’t need to go to university for eight years to become a social media manager, in fact I’ve had students come through my trainings who haven’t even been to university. But the hardest part is getting those first few clients across the line. Sometimes it can take sending 200 emails to get that first signed and paying client. A lot of people get put off by this hard work and think it’s not possible. But if you preserve it can happen.
What kind of skills does your job require?
Creativity, design, copywriting, understanding sales, photography/videography, editing.
What part of your job gives you the most satisfaction?
Transforming a lacklustre brand into something new and epic. AND then seeing epic results in terms of engagement and follower growth. I love seeing the before and after of my clients. I also love teaching and find running my courses and coaching programs incredibly rewarding.
What has been an absolute highlight of your career?
Being interviewed for Vanessa Lau’s podcast and having her share my story with her 200k+ audience.
Travelling and running my business while travelling through South Africa for 6 weeks last year.
Speaking at a Future Females online conference.
Self-publishing my book B.I.T.C.H Power!
What’s an unexpected element to your job that people don’t realise you have to do?
Client relations is tough. Managing emails, requests and keeping them happy is something I think a lot of people underestimate. I would say I spend 20-30% of my week on this and sometimes these kind of meetings, emails etc you’re not directly being paid for. It’s one thing I can’t/won’t outsource to other team members and can be very stressful.
Describe your job in three words
Joy, creativity and freedom
Ellen has just published her own book, B.I.T.C.H Power: A woman’s guide to shattering glass ceilings, building empires, making money and changing the world. 