Community Manager @ Viral Nation with Tionna Salmon

In her year one, Tionna’s worked as a Community Manager at two different social media marketing agencies, Pinch Social and Viral Nation where she is currently doing her thing. Some of the things that Tionna and Blair discuss include a day in the life of a community manager; what makes LinkedIn a favourite social network of ours; and, why feeling uncomfortable in your job can be great for your development.

About Tionna Salmon

Tionna is a Community Manager at Viral Nation, a social media marketing agency. Her interest in social media marketing stemmed from an internship at local news station during her undergraduate degree studying Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University. From there she took it a step forward, continuing her studies at George Brown College in their Digital Media Marketing postgraduate program which led her to her first position in marketing.  

Through an internship, Tionna started her career as a community manager at Pinch Social a small social media agency where she was later hired full time. With the intention of professional development in her first year, Tionna took her talents to Viral Nation, a larger agency, where she currently works as a community manager One thing she’s learned through all of this is the importance of being uncomfortable, because it’s enabled her to grow tremendously in her role as a community manager. 

The Highlights and Hottest Takes 🔥

How Tionna Got the Job

After a few months in her first community management role at Pinch Social, Tionna wanted to “grow a bit more” and started looking for a new opportunity. She saw a Community Manager job posting for Viral Nation on LinkedIn and applied to it. She went through multiple interviews over a month and eventually got the job.

“I didn’t expect the interview process to take so long. The hiring timeline didn’t align with my personal impatience.”

Mistake Made

Accidentally deleting comments on social networks. But her boss told her it was no big deal. “You don’t need to freak out if you delete a comment by accident.”

Lesson Learned

Remember it’s just social media. At the beginning Tionna took a lot of things to heart and stressed out about it. I didn’t want to mess up. At the end of the day it’s not medicine or law.

Pro Tip

Feeling uncomfortable is OK. Every time she felt uncomfortable, she ended up learning something new about the job or about herself…and grew a little bit.

Segments

Tionna's Year 1ne @ Viral Nation | 0:44-13:12

Viral Nation is a social media marketing agency that does content and creative, paid social and influencer marketing work for its clients. Tionna is community manager for two clients–one B2B (business-to-business) and one B2C (business-to-consumer).

A typical day involves: using Sprout Social for social media management, collecting data from posts to analyze, create the content calendar for the upcoming month(s), ideate content and give direction to the copywriter and graphic designer, check-in on client social networks for "reactive engagement" and go onto other platforms to see if there's opportunity for "proactive engagement" with the community.

LinkedIn is Tionna's favourite social network for a couple of reasons:

1. One of her clients is B2B business so she's "on there a lot" as part of the job to help discover content for them and engage in this community
2. Helps her personally to network and search for jobs

"I find LinkedIn to be more authentic–it's experience-driven content creators. It helps me look at myself and for to apply their advice/stories to my career."

Getting to Day 1ne: The Job Search | 13:13-30:14

First job was an internship at Pinch Social as social media coordinator, but quickly evolved to community manager where TIonna was given the opportunity to manage a few brands. It was interesting challenge to manage different brands with different brand voice. She made sure to plan herself to focus on one brand at a time to ensure in the right voice.

After a few months, Tionna wanted to grow a bit more as a community manager, she saw a job description for Viral Nation on LinkedIn through a connection of hers. Tionna applied online, went through multiple interviews over one month, and eventually got the job.

She didn’t expect the interview process to take “so long”. It involved meeting with different people in the organization to understand possible fit with different brands. At the same time, Tionna was interviewing with another organization. She let them both know there might be another offer pending with each other.

"It's best to be honest with people about the situation. At the same time I was hoping to line up the perfect offer at the perfect time.”

Things I've Learned in Year 1ne | 48:13-53:29

Feeling uncomfortable is OK. Community Manager role at Viral Nation was different than at Pinch Social. Every time Tionna felt uncomfortable, she ended up learning something new about the job or about herself…and grew a little bit.

“How come I don’t know this–I’m an idiot! I need to remind myself I am learning. Be kind to myself.”

Re(Sources)

• Connect with Tionna Salmon: LinkedIn
• Brands/organizations: Toronto Metropolitan University | George Brown College | Pinch Social | Viral Nation
• Marketing and media tools: Meltwater | Sprout Social | LinkedIn
• Connect with The Year 1ne’s host Blair Smith: LinkedIn | Website

Credits

• Created and Produced by Blair Smith
• Hosted by Blair Smith
• Mixed and Mastered by Ray Harripaul

Sponsor(s)

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