We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Breanna Matthews a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Breanna, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I’ve been doing social media since middle school when I started my own YouTube channel. As the internet grew I added other platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and even Pinterest into the rotation as well. I love being creative and one of the ways I express my creativity is through the content I post on these platforms so I have always loved doing everything by myself and have never looked into hiring a team. If my content creation continues to grow I may enlist the help of an intern or part time employee but for now I love being able to do the whole process from start to finish by myself!

Breanna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started watching YouTube in middle school and randomly stumbled upon JuicyStar07’s makeup videos and was immediately obsessed. Before I made my channel, I used to do my makeup and hair and act like I was making a video to practice. Then one day I decided to make a channel and upload my first video. When I first started out, there were very distinct categories on YouTube and I fell into the “beauty guru” category. I liked doing tutorials and hauls but then I realized that I wasn’t very good at them, so I started transitioning more into the “lifestyle” category, and that’s when I started taking it more seriously. I have a more consistent schedule, I take time to edit my videos, and promote my videos, all things I never really did before.

Getting started is always the hardest part. When I started doing freelance videography and photography, I would do projects for friends and family for free to build up my portfolio. Eventually, I was getting traction on my work and started to have paid work! It takes some time and I still have a lot of growth and goals I want to hit but I’ve been slowly achieving my those and making a name for myself in the industry!

Doing YouTube, making videos, and photography was such a fun experience in college. I’ve really transformed my YouTube channel in college and started focusing on more lifestyle and vlog content and trends shifted more towards that. It’s also amazing to have all these memories of college and now post-grad. As I have grown up my audience has grown with me and my content on all platforms has evolved as trends have came and gone as well.

On the flip side, it can be overwhelming doing my 9-5 job and content creation. For me, work always comes first so a lot of times content creation is put on the back burner. I’ve learned to organize everything and try to work efficiently, but it can still be tough building a brand while working full-time.

I think my work is unique because I have a lot of experience in many different areas of the creative and marketing world. I also now work a full-time job so having multiple different views of the marketing world has given me such a unique perspective. I’ve always tried to take every opportunity and use it as a learning experience. I like to think of myself as a sponge that is always ready to soak up all the knowledge that my peers, mentors, professors co-workers, and role models give me.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Getting started is always the hardest part, especially with how saturated social media is now. There needs to be something that sets you a part from everyone else and makes you stand out. That can be the way you edit, the music you use, the content you talk about, or even just your personality. I think being yourself and letting your personality shine through is the best way to build an audience. You want to be your most genuine and authentic self and that is what is going to make the audience fall in love with you and keep coming back for more content. Consistency is key and the more content you push out the more people are able to see and interact with your platform!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One of the most important parts of any career is networking. A lot of content creation and social media is interacting with other people in the business and building relationships. When I work with a company I make sure to be professional and reliable and create content that I am proud to present to the company. Building these relationships and being someone companies can rely on when they need high quality content will take you far in this industry. I’m constantly getting referrals from previous clients and building my network just based on the quality of my past work and professionalism. On the opposite end of that, those content creators or influencers in the industry that don’t produce content, deliver content late, or delivery low-quality content are blacklisted from that company and often times those business owners will talk to others in the industry to warn them of a content creators poor professionalism which can cost them future opportunities or even their career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://breannamatthews.weebly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bre.matt/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breannamatthews/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClhqetmASpk3ihWC_H5FhBQ