How Do You Explain Your Work to Family Members

With part of my consulting business being social media management, it is tough to explain to family what it is exactly that I do because they just don’t get it.  CSI Marketing Solutions primarily does social media management, web design, affiliate program management and SEO consulting.  Having this type of job can become stressful on your family and relationships that you have, so it is important to manage them properly.

Most people, no not all of us web 2.0 junkies, but the average person doesn’t understand the usefulness of Twitter or how you can use Facebook to connect with your customers and find new clients.  To my family, Facebook is just a place to talk to people you went to high school with and in some radical instances, an online dating / cheating service.  So I ask the question, how do you explain to your family what is exactly that you do?  Here is how I describe each service to my not so internet savvy family.  I try to keep it as simple as possible, 2-3 sentences usually does the job.

Social Media Management

People go on Twitter and Facebook and make a lot of comments.  I track those comments and search specific terms and find out ways that your company can benefit from their complaints or friendly comments.  I help you build a community of people that will follow your product and become a word of mouth machine for you.

Affiliate Program Management

You have a product.  I have a website.  I put your product’s link on my website.  If somebody is on my site, and clicks on your product and purchases it, then I receive a commission.

PPC

Pay-per-click.  Sometimes you have to pay Google to show up when somebody searches something.  I make sure that your company’s ad comes up when the company specific words are searched.

Web Design

You want a website, I make it for you.

SEO

After I make your website, I make it show up when people search for something you offer on Google.

That’s it.  That’s how I explain what I do for a living.  Some people know a little bit more than others, so I will get a little into depth with them.  I like simple anyway.  All day long I am doing things that sometimes blow my mind or don’t even totally make sense to me, I just know that doing them works.  The main question that I get from them is, how do you make money off of being on Facebook.  How can you not?  Even if you are on there connecting with people from high school, they are bound to know somebody who owns a business or needs a web re-design or help selling a product.  Relationship building is the most important part of my consulting business and that is what I do all day long.

Leave comments with how you explain to your family or friends on what you do.
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