Natacha Karkour: Senior Social Media Manager, Netizency

With a background in film, Natacha quickly realized how much of the visual content she was consuming was digital, and made a transition to digital and social media advertising early in her career. 

Since then, Natacha has been a rapidly rising talent in the industry, and has emerged as an expert in social media content, strategy, and the latest trends in the ever-shifting digital landscape.

Thoughts on the industry

In my short but eventful career in social media so far, I’ve already witnessed multiple supposed paradigm shifts in the industry. From the impact of TikTok to the saturation of Facebook, and from AI creating content at scale to the passing flop (so far) of the metaverse, and more.

At times, it seems like trying to keep up is a futile endeavor, not to mention predicting upcoming trends and changes. For instance, at this very moment, somewhere out there, a Social Media Manager is pushing hard to get their client on the “authentic content” train popularized by TikTok and meme culture (my personal favorite type of content). “Less frequent, less polished, more relatable content, authentically communicating as your brand persona is what’s working”, they might be saying. And they’d be right. But at the same time, also at this very moment, another Social Media Manager somewhere out there is hard at work to master their AI-prompt game; “using new technologies to develop fast and frequent content at scale positions us as an industry leader and early adopter”, they might be saying to their client. And guess what? They’d also be right. So how can two opposing ideas be equally correct? The answer, in short, is that there is no set-in-stone “right way”. The important thing, though, is to stay relevant. And the key to that – in any creative industry – is to try new things, to experiment, and to push boundaries (especially your own). 

Refreshingly, we’ve seen more and more brands adopt this thinking (shoutout to all the hardworking Social Media Managers grinding to make that happen). Other brands, however, are often too timid for significant change. Even more challenging, however, are those who are keen on new things but are stuck in old ways; the “we need our logo in the first 5-seconds of every TikTok”, or the “can’t we use AI to shoot this video for free?” brands. Thankfully, the industry is overcoming these challenges, though, with more social media-savvy and diverse professionals filling key roles at these companies, and with more access to content and information than ever before. 

My advice to women – and everyone – in the industry, is don’t be afraid to try new things. Try some of them, try them all, or try none, whatever works for you – but don’t be afraid. And more importantly, if you’re going to try, accept, and embrace, the potential for failure. It’s the only way you’ll reap the benefits – and that applies to both your brand and your career.