Austin Chu

Make sure that the negative comments are not the ones receiving the most attention! For every negative comment, there are at least five other positive comments by loyal fans, followers, and important community members. Make sure you are acknowledging and affirming followers who are using their platform and voices for good.

Having worked for different companies and brands who have very different tones, the type of responses we would give varied. Sometimes we would be given direction to ignore and delete, respond with a standard, "reach out to our customer support team with complaints and comments" or other times the direction was to respond with our brand's voice. Which do you think was the most fun?

Become a mentor yourself...while also being a mentee. This was the first year that I joined an official mentor/mentee program where I was the mentor. I think taking this role of 'mentor' has helped me become a better mentee. How? It has helped me become a much more reflective individual plus it has shown me what type of expectations my mentor has of me. Mentorship especially in the world of social media should be a conversation of anecdotes and questions. What's working for you? Have you heard of this? What is this brand doing that's setting them apart? Where did you fail this week? Mentorship is a two way street. Are you pouring into your mentor? Are you pouring into your mentee? If not, get on it!

No matter how many years of experience, I have, I think having a mindset of a student is key in order not to plateau. In my own work, I always create a team with professionals who have different skillsets than me and are an expert in that area. In the same way, having a mentor allows you to gain their advice, and learn from. They too are a member of your team and their job is to help you grow in your social skills. Having a mentor does not mean that you are not an expert in the field of social media. It means that you are not finished learning.

Mentorship can look different from person to person as well as the type of mentors you will have. Some might be lifelong mentors; others might be for a season. It is important to have both! Plus having different mentors in your journey reminds of where you were in a certain aspect of your career/life. In my experience, going into a mentorship with a willingness to learn is key as well as reciprocating by always expressing your gratitude especially by sharing how you have taken your mentor's advice and how it has affected your career, area of growth, etc.

Another underutilized way to research your market is to ask them! Ask different demographics for feedback, opinion and questions you would ask yourself. Your target audience might also change over time so it never hurts to ask different focus groups how they feel about your service, product, etc.