We recently connected with Brianna Rojao and have shared our conversation below.

Brianna, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Taking risks is something I normally stray away from as a type a (a is definitely for anxiety). I was working at a salon as a sophomore in college and I felt like there was something better for me. I have always been a creative since high school, I would make school events into a video documentary, always offer to make flyers for my mom and loved creating as a whole. So while working at the salon they had asked me to take on the social media, and despite me having *no* clue what to do I dove in. I ended up liking it so much that I switched my teaching degree to a marketing degree. After a while I realized that people actually did social media as a job and I really wanted to try. Going back to the “I take no risks” I decided to become a *bit* of a rebel and quit my job to pursue social media management. It was extremely hard in the beginning but I knew if I stuck with it that I would see the hard work pay off and I feel so immensely grateful that I took the jump.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Im Bri, well actually Brianna but everyone knows me as *Bri.* I started running a small salon’s social media while working there and quickly fell in love with the creative side of social media and marketing. I was a teaching major at the time and despite all the credits I acquired, switched to a Marketing degree. Now you’re probably thinking, “risk taker,” but that’s not normally me. I can’t really explain it but something told me just try it, if it doesn’t work out you always have college to fall back on. After interning with 2 amazing marketing agencies, learning from other’s in the space and general marketing knowledge from school I started seeing really great results with my own business. But nothing stuck until I started to share my personality and storytelling copywriting. One thing about me? Writing proper is not my forte. But, I took my knowledge from college english (at least the teaching credits paid off) and applied it to my copy and let go of “perfection,” it doesn’t exist.

For my clients I focus on telling their story through not only strong messaging but visuals as well. I think the number one thing that brands forget is their personality. I make it a point to infuse that within their marketing. And for those who work with me 1:1 I focus on bringing their personality out and working strategically to make their online community crave their offer.

I am extremely proud of where I am but genuinely wouldn’t be here without the help of my friends and family who cheered me on along the way, interns and social media coordinator Amya who helps take the workload off and the community at Socially bri for always putting a smile on my face. I am extremely proud of the village I have.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I began building my audience on social media I found that tips and tricks don’t get you very far. There is so much information people can Google now and we don’t want to provide generic information. What worked for me mainly was changing my messaging to how I actually talk. I am not proper, I use the wrong punctuation, I can barely spell correctly and I am chronically Gen Z. So I leaned into it.

I stopped worrying about what everyone else was doing and started to do what I wanted to do. So I went against what many people were doing in my industry, selling a “dream.” I became an account that people felt comfortable on, not one that made people feel like their goal was unattainable.

My best advice to grow on social media would be to stray away from the industry norm, share what excites you, what is special to you and know that if your goal is conversions, don’t focus so much on the follow and like #. Conversations and connections matter WAY more than vanity metrics. My second best advice? Engage with your followers, respond to comments always, perform outbound engagement to reach new audiences and focus on community building.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When working from home it’s easy to take the morning off and work mid-day and night. I got burnt out REALLY quick. A lot of people in the online space promote working from anywhere on your own schedule but personally I believe a structured routine is ideal. I try to time block main work in the morning, get a walk or workout in at lunch to come back refreshed and finish until 5pm. I think having these routines help with creativity while working!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sociallyybri/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/logosxbri
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-rojao-aa9345233?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app