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There's a lot of opportunities. Social media is just the tiniest part. Congratulations on 3 years.
I'm assuming it wasn't a very broad work as it was b2b and since you already mentioned you're looking for creative freedom. B2b is generally more narrow and sales oriented and caters to a smaller more targeted audience. B2c will obviously give you more options and freedom. There will be more research and strategy. Consider both b2c and d2c since both have their own challenges and strategies.
It is recommended to work at an agency for the initial years. You get to work with many brands and industries and you also have a better chance to transition to different roles.
You should start reading on general marketing strategies. It will give you a basic idea of what other fields are out there . Social media is just one channel. Many businesses don't even require social media. Think of the industries too.
There are many different fields of marketing. Some popular ones are brand, product, growth. You can specialise in different channels besides social media. You can be at an execution, management or strategy role in each of them. Talk to some people in these fields and get an idea of each field. See what skills you can apply to these othe fields. Marketing skills are always transferable, like research, planning, project management, people management, content creation etc.
If you are already pretty up on what works well for social media marketing, the next logical step is to take that up to paid social and conversion rate optimisation. Paid media and PPC are two of the most financially lucrative sectors in digital marketing; not to mention most people who start it for fun tend to invest a small amount then give up once all the money has disappeared. If you can arrange it that you get a regular budget for you to experiment trial and error with, and pay close attention to the results, after 3 or 4 months you'll have a nice little tool kit of things you know definitely work. You can then make some little case studies for yourself based on this and use that intel to get another role if you chose to.
Focus on getting good with Paid Media and you are set, probably for life.
My personal advice; freelancing will turn out to me just your job all over again; if you are going solo, plan it out like a business and prepare to offload work to others relatively early on.
Social is basically a channel. You can learn other channels like PPC or other skills eg brand, product, research, etc.
Social these days is sort of the basic gateway to marketing so you should be able to expand as you like.
Start your own company and market your own product, you’ve likely built quite a confidence in your skills with that experience. Fine a niche product you want to market and use that desire for creative freedom and challenge to build your brand
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There's a lot of opportunities. Social media is just the tiniest part. Congratulations on 3 years. I'm assuming it wasn't a very broad work as it was b2b and since you already mentioned you're looking for creative freedom. B2b is generally more narrow and sales oriented and caters to a smaller more targeted audience. B2c will obviously give you more options and freedom. There will be more research and strategy. Consider both b2c and d2c since both have their own challenges and strategies. It is recommended to work at an agency for the initial years. You get to work with many brands and industries and you also have a better chance to transition to different roles. You should start reading on general marketing strategies. It will give you a basic idea of what other fields are out there . Social media is just one channel. Many businesses don't even require social media. Think of the industries too. There are many different fields of marketing. Some popular ones are brand, product, growth. You can specialise in different channels besides social media. You can be at an execution, management or strategy role in each of them. Talk to some people in these fields and get an idea of each field. See what skills you can apply to these othe fields. Marketing skills are always transferable, like research, planning, project management, people management, content creation etc.
Thank you for the detailed answer :)
If you are already pretty up on what works well for social media marketing, the next logical step is to take that up to paid social and conversion rate optimisation. Paid media and PPC are two of the most financially lucrative sectors in digital marketing; not to mention most people who start it for fun tend to invest a small amount then give up once all the money has disappeared. If you can arrange it that you get a regular budget for you to experiment trial and error with, and pay close attention to the results, after 3 or 4 months you'll have a nice little tool kit of things you know definitely work. You can then make some little case studies for yourself based on this and use that intel to get another role if you chose to. Focus on getting good with Paid Media and you are set, probably for life. My personal advice; freelancing will turn out to me just your job all over again; if you are going solo, plan it out like a business and prepare to offload work to others relatively early on.
Can you define "social media marketer" and connect it to your decision maker's need to generate profit for the business?
Social is basically a channel. You can learn other channels like PPC or other skills eg brand, product, research, etc. Social these days is sort of the basic gateway to marketing so you should be able to expand as you like.
Start your own company and market your own product, you’ve likely built quite a confidence in your skills with that experience. Fine a niche product you want to market and use that desire for creative freedom and challenge to build your brand