In this episode we talk about how to use social media as a designer. Social media can be powerful for landing new clients, building your brand, and making career-defining connections. It doesn’t need to be daunting, as we break down some of the best ways to get started, and get traction on your social platforms.

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Meet Your Hosts

The Honest Designers Show started when our founder Tom found he was regularly chatting and sharing tips with top designers; Ian Barnard, Lisa Glanz and Dustin Lee. We soon organised a weekly call where we would help each other with areas we were struggling with and try to give each other actionable feedback. Soon we realised that the collective experience of the group was proving so valuable for each of us, that we thought ‘why not share these conversations with the world?’.

And so, The Honest Designers Show was born! This podcast is an insight into how to succeed in the creative industry, as well as giving you a totally transparent, under the hood look at some of the tougher, less glamorous hurdles to overcome! We also tend to get a little goofy along the way, so this is a chance to get to know each of us a little better :). We’ve loved recording this show for you, and we hope that you find value and enjoyment in listening to it.

SHOW NOTES

Please find full show notes for this episode below:

[1.00] The possibilities using social media as a designer are endless
[2.15] A look at Ian’s prolific following on Instagram
[3.50] The importance of understanding how your audience will vary on different platforms
[6.00] Do the returns of social media justify the time?
[8.00] We all have different backgrounds in social
[10.00] How Ian lands big projects via Instagram
[12.00] Portfolio websites aren’t as important as they used to be, now social media exists
[13.00] Appearing natively where people’s attention is
[14.00] Posting natively on your Facebook feed vs linking out somewhere else
[16.15] Understand a platform’s users, and use this to dictate which platforms you use for your business
[17.40] Should you put only your best work out there?
[18.15] Put out the kind of work you want to be hired for
[18.40] The importance of showing your process shots on social
[19.45] If you have multiple things happening in your life (which we all do) do you share all of these on social?
[20.45] The importance of humanising yourself
[22.35] People hire people they trust
[23.40] How to share your personality more on social
[24.55] How Tom pretty much defined Ian’s social career :P (humble brag!)
[26.00] How we all start off awkward when putting ourselves out there
[27.20] You naturally become more comfortable by simply doing it!
[28.45] Ian is starting to see benefits from starting on new platforms (even though it starts slowly!)
[29.15] It’s all about if the RIGHT person sees your content on social
[31.15] The power of influencer marketing
[33.00] Imagine all of your social profiles going away
[35.00] Why should you allocate your time to social? (what are the key benefits?)
[37.00] The importance of speed and patience
[39.00] The importance of documenting what you’re doing, rather than aspiring to be perfect
[40.00] Don’t be afraid to be rough in your work, people love following the process
[41.00] Putting out content becomes addictive
[42.30] The struggling of knowing what to post on various platforms, and how to juggle it all
[44.00] Don’t worry about perfect content strategy on all platforms, just get started
[45.00] Start establishing a body of work online
[47.00] Start looking for reoccurring themes in your audience’s comments
[48.15] Everything really comes down to just starting
[49.00] Quick fire tips for improving your social content as a designer
[56.00] Don’t give up, you need to play the long game with your social strategy
[56.50] You can’t shortcut social media
[59.00] Some closing thoughts about social

The Honest Designers Show Podcast

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Let Us Know What You Think

We would absolutely love to know how you enjoyed this episode. We’ll be releasing a new episode each Wednesday, and look forward to hopefully answering many of your questions on the show.