As a Social Media Strategist at Matter, Lindsay brings 5+ years of agency experience with B2C and B2B brands on social media. He specializes in overseeing and executing paid social media strategy on behalf of Matter clients and has expertise in platform selection, paid approach, social copywriting, and more. We recently caught up with Lindsay to hear more about his passions, the future of social media, and advice for new PR and social media professionals.

Name: Lindsay Southwick

Title: Social Media Strategist

Years at Matter: 1

What fuels your passion outside of work?

I’ve got a ton of different interests. I love to travel – best country I’ve ever visited is New Zealand, although Bermuda runs a close second. I’m big into sports – all the usual Boston rooting interests, plus I’m a huge tennis fan. I love going to shows – STS9, Galactic and Boombox were the last three, and I’m already looking forward to a couple festivals on the way. I’m also very, very interested in politics – not going to get into that here…

What is your favorite part of working in social?

Getting to learn more about the industries I work with is a big one for me. That’s one of the things that’s cool about being at an agency, because to be good at your job, you have to know your clients, and when you work with a bunch of clients, you learn a lot more about various fields. I know way, way more about travel, tourism, internet technology, lighting, banking and frozen fruit than I ever would have, to name some examples. Social media is also a very multifaceted role, which is something that I personally enjoy.

What do you think social will look like in 5 years?

There’ll be more even more opportunities on even more platforms, both in terms of content and advertising. The advertising world is getting increasingly fragmented, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. I’m not sure that most businesses will ever have one staff member per social channel, because it doesn’t make sense for many of them, but we’re gradually moving in that direction. Just the number of options alone for advertising and PR (which are becoming the same thing) is going to put a major premium on strategy and how businesses use their resources.

What is your key piece of advice for PR pros that are new to the business?

Get as broad a range of experience as you can during your first year or two. That will help you get a sense of what kind of work you do well and what kind of work you like to do. In PR and advertising, there’s project management, copywriting, creative design, paid search, community management, analytics/reporting and that’s just off the top of my head in five seconds. There are a ton of different roles/specialties, and the best way to learn what’ll work best for you is by trying them out.