We were lucky to catch up with Julie Zats recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Julie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?
Most people think that content creation isn’t a real job and believe that creators should not be compensated large sums of money for their hard work. In reality, content creation is no different than acting, filming, directing, producing, and/or even pursuing theater. In order for a creator to make a successful video, they must first storyboard the video. From there, the creator has to film the content. This requires knowledge of film, lighting, and storytelling. After that, the creator must edit the video (another skill that must be learned), publish the video to their social channels, as well as promote the video so that their followers and new users see it. Content creation is really several different jobs in one and it’s not as simple as clicking record and posting. It’s art direction, acting, filming, producing, and marketing all entwined into one job.
Julie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Julie Zats and I am a creator turned influencer marketing manager and digital strategist. I’m passionate about scaling brands and creators. I’ve been on all sides of the industry: the creator, the agent, as well as the brand. Now I help other creators monetize their social channels through paid social campaigns. I also help grow brands through digital and social media marketing. I’m truly passionate about what I do and hope to inspire others through all my endeavors.
Something that sets me apart from others is the fact that I started out as a creator myself. I’ve had to learn how to spearhead social media and digital marketing campaigns all on my own through first-hand experience. I also do not have a college degree!
After I had success monetizing my own social channels, I opened my first e-commerce store which taught me a lot about the retail industry and the importance of branding. After having success with my e-commerce store, I decided to open my first agency, Sparkle Social Co., so that I could help scale other brands and creators. This is where I’m at now and I love what I do! I work with an amazing network of creators and brands and it’s an incredibly fulfilling job.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my social media audience by narrowing down my content and joining a niche community. The community I decided to join was the hula hoop/flow arts/circus arts community, and I posted videos of myself hula hooping exclusively on Instagram, daily, for about 8 years. I documented my entire journey from when I first picked up a hula hoop and progressing through the years of learning new techniques and tricks.
I would use relevant hashtags such as #hulahoopersofinstagram and #hulahooper to find other hooping users on different social media platforms. I would also tag locations on my posts in and around Chicago, IL where I lived to build a local audience. This led to my videos being found by other hoopers, flow artists, and local users. Because I posted consistently every day, my audience grew rather quickly, and I was even recognized in person a few times by local followers.
When you post on a consistent schedule, your followers will know when to expect a new post and they will show up for it. That being said, I believe that consistency is key. I believe that anyone can grow a large following by posting any kind of content online as long as they post on a consistent schedule for their audience to follow. One must be self-disciplined to be consistent and this is where a lot of aspiring creators fall short when trying to pursue creating full time. Something else that’s important to consider when trying to grow an audience is offering value. If you offer value to your audience, it’s more likely that your posts will be saved and shared around with other users. When you offer value, users want to follow you to stick around to see more of your content.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
My side hustle absolutely turned into my full-time career! As mentioned earlier, I started out as a creator myself by posting hula hoop videos online. This quickly led to me being booked for music and product placements by record labels and brands.
A key milestone for me was getting booked to film a music video and have an article spread written about me by Cosmopolitan Magazine. They flew me out from Chicago, IL to their HQ in New York City for 24 hours for the experience and it was a blast. This event really catapulted me into pursuing content creation and creator management full-time since the collaboration was successful and I had organized the entire campaign on my own — so I knew I was capable of doing this kind of thing for others!
While growing my own audience, I inevitably befriended a ton of other creators. I decided to help these creators secure brand promotions and sponsorships so that they could support themselves as I had, and ultimately I ended up running with that.
Since that experience with Cosmo, I have successfully worked with over 100 different brands and creators in different verticals. I love the versatility of my job and all the clients I work with!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sparklesocial.co
- Instagram: instagram.com/juliezats
- Facebook: facebook.com/fruityjubes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zats-3b6a68224/
- Youtube: youtube.com/juliezats