How I got my start in Social Media

We all started somewhere, and my story is a pretty funny one, actually.

It was 2010. The national economy was a disaster, and the unemployment rate was at whopping 9.6%. I was working a dead-end part time job, but luckily my wife was employed as a nurse, so our family was able to survive while scraping by most every day.

I was hitting Facebook hard, looking for meaningful work when I cam across a local Facebook page simply named, “Beaufort, SC.” Desperate for work, I posted onto the page several times. I said, “Hey, if anyone is hiring customer service, marketing, or sales, please let me know. I have a background in all, and I am desperately looking for employment in the Beaufort area.”

Well, I got nothing. Tumbleweeds were rolling across my posts. Not one single thing.

Then, the administrator of the page sent me a message, and I though I found some light at the end of the tunnel.

The administrator, Ian Leslie, was working for the local Beaufort Economic Alliance, and had started the page to promote the Beaufort area. It was the only community oriented page on Facebook at that time, and may have had around 700 fans at this point.

Ian’s message was a Godsend. “I work with a guy who has a local website named The Digitel Beaufort, and we would like to write an article about you and publish it,” he said. “You are in marketing just like we are, and we would like to spotlight you as an example of how difficult it is to find work here in the area with the current down-economy,” he said.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought this would be a great thing. They would publish an article highlighting my story, and then, maybe, someone would see it and offer me a job.

I agreed, and Ian asked me several questions about my background, and then requested that I send him my resume. I was happy to answer and to supply what he needed.

After a week or so, no article was published.

I waited. And, waited.

Nothing.

I messaged him back to ask about it, but I was ignored.

I was pissed.

After a few more weeks went by, an idea popped into my head. ‘Maybe I should just do what this guy is doing?’ Why not? I had time on my hands. I talked with my wife about it and she agreed and told me to go for it.

I was tinkering around with a name for the page, and she came up with it, seemingly without even thinking.

Call it “Eat Sleep Play Beaufort,” she said.

I asked her why that name, and she told me that the movie Eat Pray Love was a very popular movie at the moment. OK, I get that. So I thought about it, and I felt that Eat-Sleep-Play pretty much encompasses everything you can do in a town that is driven by tourism.

In addition, having been offered help by Ian and then ignored, I said to myself, “in doing this, if anyone ever needs any help of any kind, I will be sure to be there for them.”

I also decided that my goal was to be bigger than what he was doing, and also much better at it.

It worked.

I let the brand lead the way, and I made sure that Gene Brancho remained behind the scenes to the general public.

So, that’s how it got it’s name, and that’s how I got started. I got my start 15 years ago because someone screwed me over when I needed help the most.