What do they do all day? Beekman Social’s Jerrica Nunley on role of a social strategist
As we continue our series demystifying the industry’s myriad roles, Jerrica Nunley, social strategist and project manager at New York indie agency Beekman Social, explains her work.
Beekman Social's Jerrica Nunley explains what a social strategist adds to an agency team / Beekman Social
I’m the data girl around here.
As a strategist, one of my main things is data.
Before we even talk about final products, our first step with a brand is getting the right data and analyzing it to create concepts and strategies that will help our clients to thrive.
That’s kind of where I fit in. I’m one of the people who gather and analyze that data, I bring it back to the group and tell the story of what the data is telling us. Then, together, we all brainstorm on how we can create a strategy. We work together to produce a product that we then present to a client.
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I’ve been at Beekman since December. I spend about 25% of my week on project management and 75% on social strategy. It’s a little hectic, but I love it.
Most people in my position come from the social realm or some sort of content role. When I started, social media was so very new that there wasn’t such a thing as a degree or certificate in social. My degree is actually in broadcast journalism.
My day starts like most: checking emails, checking Slack and making sure all our projects are moving smoothly. I’ll check in with team members to see how they’re coming along on projects, especially if a deadline is coming up.
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Right now I have an interesting roster. For example, I have a meat client – a ranch that produces beef. It’s DTC, it can send you a huge variety pack of meat. It’s my first time in the food and beverage space; previously I’ve only worked in media, weddings and nonprofits. It’s been an interesting learning curve, but a good one because we have a supportive team – we’re all learning together.
The social strategy side differs depending on the day; some weeks we’re concepting out the next few months, checking with our graphics team to make sure our social calendars are up to date or it could just be community management – checking content, checking on our channels, checking on accounts.
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For the most part, we all work alongside each other at Beekman. My boss, Madison, is the social strategy director – I think this is the first time I’ve had someone directly above me who I can actively learn from.
Eventually, I’d love to do what Madison does as a social strategy director. That’s what I’m working towards. I’ve learned a lot from Madison already, though I feel like I personally still have a lot to learn.
As told to Sam Bradley.