December 2, 2022
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For most, social media is a form of escapism. For Owen Maers who joined Pace Six Four in 2023, it’s a platform which can unite fragmented audiences into one community.
Working in social media requires an eye for a story, a feeling for engagement, and the ability to balance adopting a strategic mindset with the flexibility to act on raw instinct.
As a Social Media Manager, Owen must navigate constantly evolving trends, algorithms and platform updates to engage global audiences on a daily basis.
Ask Owen about his job, and he’ll tell you that he enjoys its diverse nature. He loves learning new skills to refine his craft but, ironically, working in social wasn’t always his plan.
“After I graduated, I was open to working in a lot of different areas but, at the time, ironically I said that the one area I didn’t want to work in was social media,” says Owen.
“From my experience in journalism, I loved being able to flex the muscles of storytelling in 1,000-word features, and I thought that social media would be restricting, especially with character limits.
“It wasn’t until I became a Content Editor that I considered moving into social. I found that it was much more multi-faceted than it initially appeared.
“From the outside, audiences only see the finished product. I think people often assume that social media is as simple as pressing the 'post' button, but in reality it's far more strategic and a lot of planning goes into it.
“For instance, if you look at the past four or five years, people’s attention spans have become significantly shorter.
“We’re seeing a real-world societal shift in what people want from content. Identifying and adapting to changes like this are crucial in enabling us to stay ahead of the curve.
“By reacting to evolving audience tastes, we have the power to build a dedicated online community. That’s something that I love.”
Adaptation is perhaps the key word because, for a Social Media Manager, adapting to the latest industry practices alongside new trends is critical.
Working in a creative field requires a wide variety of skills. By honing existing abilities and developing new ones, Owen believes that the quality of a Social Media Manager’s work will only grow.
“One of the reasons I love working in social so much is because no two days are ever the same and no task ever feels repetitive because you’re constantly using so many different skills,” he continues.
“As a Social Media Manager, I can’t express enough the importance of having 360-degree skills. I think the more abilities you have, the more creative you can be and the better the channels you manage will be.
“I’ve always believed that you need to have a willingness to pick new things up, so I taught myself to use the suite of Adobe Creative Cloud tools and that has stood me in good stead.
“If I need to pick up a video edit, I can do it. If I need to do some design work, I can do it. Having a versatile set of skills opens up a lot of flexibility in the creative industry.”
Even now, Owen is still learning and developing. With the hope of being able to deploy it in his professional life, he recently took up photography in his spare time to acquire another new skill.
“I’ve always had the mindset that if I don’t try new things, I’m never going to grow. So, very recently, I decided to take up photography,” he says.
“I enjoy good photos of cars, so picking up a camera was just a basis for me to try shooting some myself and enjoying that process.
“I was initially using a 12-year-old camera with a cheap lens, so it wasn’t flashy, but I’ve treated myself to an upgrade now! I enjoy the purity of capturing a still image compared to something more convoluted like creating a video.
“Part of the appeal is that I know I’m improving another skill which will help me professionally, and that having that skill will be helpful for other people in the future.”
Earlier this year, Owen was involved in one of the most hotly anticipated car launches of 2024, with Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.
“The launch of the AMR24 was probably the biggest event I’ve worked at in my career so far,” explains Owen.
“In the run-up to the event, there was a sense of nervous anticipation, just because we recognised the scale of what we were doing.
“We weren’t just launching the Formula One car, but also unveiling the Vantage sports car and Vantage GT3 which will race at the Le Mans 24 Hours later this year.
“An event of that scale requires so much planning over so many months in advance to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day, so it was a real eye opener for me.
“In real-time, you don’t always recognise the scale of what’s happening but, looking back, it’s definitely a ‘pinch me’ moment.
“Seeing fans engage positively with content is always the most important thing for me professionally as a Social Media Manager,” he adds.
“Social media is all about connection. Without the fans, there is no community, so generating meaningful interactions through my work is something that I take real pride in.”
Pace Six Four is a specialist motorsport agency that offers a full suite of commercial, marketing and communications services to clients across the industry.
