13 Questions and Answers About Running a Social Media Business

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to speak to 28 students enrolled in a social media strategies class at Shippensburg University.

Since this was the last class of the semester, we decided on a Q&A style format for the virtual presentation. In addition to asking questions, the students also tweeted live throughout the discussion.

I fielded many thoughtful questions from the students. I was surprised at how many individuals asked about my entrepreneurial experience! Below, I’ve highlighted some of my favorite questions and how I responded to them. I’ve also shared some of the students’ tweets.

Q1. What were some of the challenges you faced when starting your own social media firm?

The biggest challenge was overcoming my initial lack of knowledge about how to run a business. A written business plan can only take you so far. A plan is useless without real knowledge of how to start and operate a business. There are many moving parts: having a vision, establishing values, interacting with people, leveraging data, dealing with issues, fine-tuning processes, and gaining traction in the market. It can be especially difficult to figure out how much to charge clients and identify where to set boundaries for what you will and won’t do for customers.