I joined Twitter in March 2009 and only have 338 followers. I hopped on the Facebook train back in 2007 and up to now made “friends” with 1,535 people. After keeping my Instagram account locked for much of the time, I allowed people to bypass my permission and follow me at will when I made the account public. Still, I only have 1,375 followers. And getting 50 likes on a photo is my version of “putting up numbers” LOL! Bleh. Poor statistics compared to the other social media pros who’ve amassed championship figures on their profiles. While I never cared and do believe that these numbers really mean little in the grand scheme of life, over the past few weeks this proved to be even more true. I realized that it’s not the quantity of your followers, but the quality of your followers that matters.

Sure, at the core of it social media is entertainment, a tool used to connect with friends and family and almost instantly share portions of their lives. But now these platforms are used as money making machines, tools by which you can align yourself with people who can help make major moves in your lives and careers. Major companies have chiseled out social media departments within their organizations to keep their fingers on the pulse and find out what existing and potential clients want. There are people who can hire you, recommend you and literally put you on. While having more than 100 likes on your latest photo is cool in some ways, you can actually make it more beneficial. What sense does it make to have thousands of people literally in the palm of your hands but none of them can really help your brand.

I quietly sit on social media posting pics here and there but I must say, if you were to scroll through any of the followers or friends lists on my profiles it’ll probably read like a long list of randoms. But a closer look and you’d see some heavy hitters. As a freelance journalist it’s crucial to my survival that I make connections that matter, network with people who share similar interests and make myself known to companies who could give me international exposure. I took five easy steps to make my existence known! Putting the following steps to use, I was able to land gigs as a contributing writer for the travel site Hardly Home and very recently, the women’s online publication Ms. Vixen Magazine. I’m now in talks with two other magazine publications and one regional news broadcast for partnerships! I don’t want to jinx them so I’ll announce as they come to life! Here’s how I did it!

1. Search and follow – With the help and push of my boyfriend I went on a social media hunt, looking for the pages, profiles and accounts of magazines, websites and blogs that peeked my interests. I love writing about entertainment, beauty, fashion, relationships and life so I committed days and weeks to searching for these accounts. “Caribbean magazine, magazines, lifestyle blogs, beauty blogs,” are just some of the hashtags and things I put in my search engines. Amazingly long lists of suggestions popped up. So I then committed to weeding through the thousands of magazines and blogs that popped up to find the ones that best suited my writing style. I followed them and added them to the arsenal. Many of them have followed me back and that’s made communications much easier. I also randomly followed bloggers, writers and journalists and got active by liking, sharing and posting and tweeting their stuff. That way I became a part of a community of people who support my articles as well.
2. Get the contacts and do the research – Anyone serious about their business has their website address on the page so I found it quite easy to get an email contact for the company I was eyeing. Before hitting send on an uninformed email, I went to the site read a few articles to feel out the style, read the “about us” page and got a real feel of what the company is all about. I also googled the magazine or site to find out what other people were saying about it and of course checked to see how active they were on social media.
3. Make the pitch – Here’s where I grew balls! Armed with a long list of emails, I crafted a well worded message introducing myself and my work, complete with links to my website, articles, videos and any piece of work I was proud of and wanted them to see. For me, this was like sending the, “Do you like me,” question to the cute boy in class and you weren’t so sure he’d respond. And some of them didn’t respond…BUT SOME DID! This was all the motivation I needed to keep going.
4. Yes, you can stalk the page – Now that I had made these contacts I took it back to the roots and made it my job to scroll through these social media pages to look for announcements, calls and searches. Social media is like the new newspaper where job advertisements are constantly posted and I must say it’s super effective. Many of the companies I’ve joined or are in talks with sent out a call looking for writers and contributors for their publications, so I answered the call!
5. Keep the convo going – You can’t drop the ball and let the convo die…even if it seems  one sided and like you’re doing all the talking. Because a few emails may have gone unanswered, doesn’t mean I stopped trying…being annoying might just pay off! I constantly go back to those unanswered emails and hit forward until they see me! And I know they may never see me or never care to reply, but that’s ok!

So the next time you get in a funk because your latest selfie only got 12 likes, take it from a girl who pulls in the same numbers LOL! But this is the same girl who is more concerned about building my resume and brand than piling up likes and follows just for show! BTW, my social media handles are all @iamianthia!

As a freelance journalist it’s crucial to my survival that I make connections that matter, network with people who share similar interests and make myself known to companies who could give me international exposure.