5 reasons people don’t think social media is a real job

The irony is everybody thinks it would be a cool job to have, but they look at you with the skepticism of someone evaluating a waiter who says he’s an actor.

Here are five reasons why this happens:

1. Your job is something most people do for fun.

Most people’s experience with social media is tweeting about their dinner, posting selfies and creeping on their friends. They can’t imagine you could have a job that allows you to do that all day. “It must be like working at an ice cream place,” they say, “or a bar that never closes.”

2. Your job is hard to explain without sounding like a boring wizard.

The truth is social media management isn’t as glamorous as it seems. People may ask you about it, but by the time you get through the list of all the things you really do, they’ve lost interest and are tapping through their iPhones.

The flip side is their expectation that you can perform amazing feats of wizardry and get instant likes, followers and views with a wave of your magical social media wand. They’re often disappointed when they find out you’re going to need more time, money or at least a bribe for such last-minute miracles.

3. People confuse social networking and social media.