I attended Social Media Week Toronto and had the pleasure of meeting insta-famous influencer, Claudia Oshry Soffer, better known as, Girl With No Job.
I have been following her Instagram meme account for ages, and as a social media manager, I had a lot to learn from her and her commanding 2.7 million followers. At just 23-years old she seems to have an unbelievable grasp on the social sphere. Her posts have nearly made me pee my pants with laughter and our meeting wasn’t any different. Below are the takeaways from her talk.
Claudia and I at Social Media Media Week in Toronto.
On how it all began:
“I had just barely finished college and I was struggling to survive my first internship. I created a blog ‘Girl With A Job’ to say bad things about people I hated working with. It was more so for myself and luckily that didn’t go viral. I ended up getting fired from my internship and changed the name to ‘Girl With No Job’. I created an Instagram account to support the blog and things kind of took off from there.”
On what an average day looks like:
“Glam Squad is always there, hair makeup, people making me look great. Just kidding that doesn’t always happen. Most days I’m just lying in my bed watching Real Housewives and creating content from my phone. Truth is, no week is the same, some are more exciting than others.”
On getting burnt out:
“I get asked this alot and truth is, I don’t really get burnout. I have emotional breakdowns that’s for sure, but I think I was the type of person who was built to be on my phone 24/7. For some people that’s hard, but I find I always have to be online or I get anxiety.
On losing motivation:
“I find if I talk about the fact that I’m uninspired it helps to inspire me. I know that’s weird, but I will go on Instagram stories and talk about how I’m unmotivated or exhausted tired, and then I find I usually refocus.”
On haters:
“Haters are my motivators. This is my favourite question because I️ know the right answer to this. I will say that I have I’ve come a long way but I’m not where I’d like to be. I’m human and things get to me, sometimes I respond to haters but then I IMMEDIATELY regret it. I️ always try to think about the moment where I almost got arrested. Yeah, it was bad, but someone was SO mean and said the most hurtful derogatory comments which I screenshotted it and posted it on my page and tagged the girl. My followers went after this girl like a bunch of piranhas. The only problem is, I tagged the wrong girl! I felt so terrible and some poor innocent girl’s art page was blasted with hateful comments and people saying how much her art sucked. I still feel horrible to this day, fortunately she was really cool about it.”
On her strategy and which posts track well:
My strategy is 99% on the fly. Apart from some brand partnerships which have specific timing, my goal is to always be first. It’s a lot of work to be in the know but that’s how I️ create content that’s time sensitive. My friends hate it but I always say, no I️ can’t go to dinner I️ have to be on my phone! In terms of what works and what doesn’t there’s no way to know what performs well and what doesn’t. Sometimes I think a post is great and it doesn’t track well, it’s impossible to know for sure with Instagram’s new algorithm.
On her growth strategy:
“I want to create a community based on humour. I want you to be like, I have to send this post to my friend or I have to send this to my sister. That’s great for community building for me. That’s how I grow, if anytime I post a picture Sally tags Amanda who might not follow me, then she is introduced to me”.
Advice on finding the right brand collaboration:
“You have to be smart about which brands you align with. I wouldn’t align myself with Nike or Lululemon because people would laugh at me. I don’t even own any running shoes! Now if a Netflix, Pizza Hut or Burger King came my way, that’s something that makes sense. Influencer Marketing is very much like advertising, and the goal is to make it look like its not an ad, but part of my everyday life. One of my most successful posts was with Casper air mattresses, which can double as a pool float. I was happy, the brand was happy and it was a successful campaign.”
One of her favourite collaborations with Casper Mattress
Final Notes on being an Influencer:
“At the end of the day I find it’s energizing when people find me funny. It’s important to be true to yourself and not try to mimic others, I post things I truly find funny, but not everyone will. Also, I will say along with a large following there comes a big responsibility to use your voice for good. If you don’t you’re an asshole!”
To hear Claudia get candid about dating, celebrities, priorities and more, check out one of our Notable Awards nominee’s LexNiko’s podcast, Little Likes Podcast