This fall, we are launching a campaign surrounding the faces behind some of our favorite social media accounts around town. Why? 1) because there are a lot of great people who get 0 credit for their hard, amazing and consistent work 2) because we want to remind people that there are ACTUAL HUMANS at the other end of the line.

Social media is hard work. It’s the most economical marketing tool and probably the toughest one to figure out. There’s nuance to the creativity and a science to the execution. To do it well takes hypervigilance, extreme care, innovation, marketing savvy and critical thinking. Graphic design skills? Yep. Wit? Definitely. A stellar sense of humor? Need it. Ability to stay professional? REQUIRED.  Plus about 301 other skill sets.

These people are the voices behind the brand. They uphold and sometimes even create personas, ensure brand consistency, support customer service, and can often define and solidify brand identity. The best professionals, in my opinion, personify their brand via social media (at least, that’s what we focus on at Black Wednesday).

People follow brands that they feel they could be friends with – after all, isn’t that what social media was created to be? A place to keep in touch with your pals. Brands that fill that void for people are the ones that generate relationships, loyalty, trust and ultimately, yep… sales. Come on, it’s not all candy and rainbows – brands are on there to make money. BUT when the social media manager can balance promotion with storytelling and creative engagement, that’s where the magic happens. When a brand can touch us as human beings and also offer a product I need, I’m in. You follow me? (Yes, pun intended).

Each week (13!) of our #ItsReallyMeCLT campaign, we will reveal the face(s) behind some of the best Charlotte accounts and they’ll answer some questions about their work via our blog. In the interest of getting things started, I’ll answer some of the questions now…

Meet Corri, Owner of Black Wednesday.

Instagram Handle:

@blackwedco

Twitter Handle:

@blackwedco

Website:

blackwednesday.co

Brand:

Black Wednesday

What’s the purpose of your brand?

We offer creative marketing services including consultancy, social media, PR and design. The purpose? To help brands connect to their target audiences in authentic, genuine and cool ways.

How long have you worked with/on your current brand?

BW is 3.5 years old.

How many people are on your team?

We have 6 staffers who engage with our clients, but Evelyn and I manage the BW social.

Look at her face! (She never shows it but sometimes we can force it out of her)….

How do you adapt your account to popular/trending themes?

We mostly focus on adapting trending and popular themes that suit our clients’ social activities. On BW, we can sometimes jump in and create a story around something that’s trending, but clients ALWAYS come first. We will always work on client stuff before we work on our own. So I guess you’d say we adapt if there’s something that fits AND we happen to have time.

What do you wish people knew about your role/account/brand?

I wish people could understand how much time it takes to do social media well. Lots of times brands want to hire us and they can’t understand our rates. They know they need support with social, they know it’s their ONLY marketing channel, but they also want to pay $250/month for it. We are managing our clients’ channels 24-hours a day, we spend hours every day planning, designing and creating content. We make visits to capture live and general content. We respond to customer inquiries, bad and good reviews, we engage the community. It’s a full time job +. I wish people saw the value in the work and were also willing to see value in paying for the work.

Anything else to share?

We hope you like this series. The intention is to bring us all a little closer, to remove the screen between us, and to inspire even stronger relationships with the brands you already love.