Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Griffith.
Hi Taylor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Taylor Griffith and I have a social media management and content creation business called Growing with Griffith. I started out helping out a real estate agent in my local area with her social media on the side when I was teaching 3rd grade. I was feeling burnt out from teaching after only 4 years, and my passion for social media work was growing but I didn’t know if it was something I could turn into a successful career. I loved what young influencers were doing online (this was right when Instagram Reels came out) and I dreamt of one day being able to make money sharing my life in a meaningful way online- while also helping others with their social media accounts. I started sharing my life as a new military spouse on Instagram- the very real moments, the ups and the downs. My goal was to be an authentic source of what it looks like to be in my shoes and hope that others would relate and then feel less alone.
After about 6 months of posting content, it was seen by a real estate team owner who wanted to hire me full time, salaried, to take over her social media. I was floored. She had major connections in the military community and was ready to put my name out there. I worked for her full time until I had my first baby and then branched off to take on my own clients and really grow my management business- all while moving around the country as a military spouse and new mom, going through a deployment for 9 months, and having brands believe in me to share their products on my personal Instagram accounts.
I just kept doing what I felt my purpose was- sharing my raw experiences of being a new military spouse and all kinds of different aspects of my life. I now feel like I have a true COMMUNITY built on social media; I get messages ALL the time from spouses telling me that something I posted made them feel seen, that a reel about going through deployment and having postpartum depression made them feel less alone and seek out therapy, the list of affirmations like this alone have made it worth it. I have been extremely blessed to have worked with brands to share fun lifestyle things like Buick, Hatch, and Hello Fresh, along with brands that directly support the military community like Instant Teams, Upwards, and National University. I have grown my management business to 10 clients and have hired assistants under me to carry out the workload.
From aspiring to be a content creator who wanted to genuinely share her life and potentially work with brands to make an income from it and someone who wanted to have her own business helping manage other brands social media accounts but only had one client- to where I am now, I am so proud of the accomplishments I have made.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Social media is a long game, that is what I always say. You have to be very consistent and show up online as your authentic self. It has taken me YEARS to grow my Instagram account from 1,000 followers to almost 10,000. Follower count is just a small portion of what success can look like online, but it goes to show that it takes time.
As far as my management business; I have learned SO much about what it takes to successfully onboard a new client, delegate tasks, grow a brand, etc. I am still learning as social media changes all the time on how to help my clients grow! It is a constant learning curve.
Ofcourse we know social media is mostly just a highlight reel- but when you make it a point to also share some of the not so pretty things you go through, this takes a heavy dose of vulnerability. And nearly everytime something goes “viral”, there are a lot of haters flooding the comments with nonsense. At first that really got to me, and I didn’t think I was cut out to post my life online. Words do hurt. I have since learned that from the people who are encouraged and inspired by the things I post, this is what actually matters and fuels me to keep posting and being myself. I know where my true worth comes from, and it surely isn’t what strangers on the internet say about me or my life from a 10 second reel while they are hiding behind a fake account…oop!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a nano-influencer and social media manager with my own business. I specialize in military spouse and motherhood content online and I’d like to say I am known for being authentic and encouraging online. I share the hard moments of my life in order to help others feel less alone, and I share the funny things about military life to find community! My management business specializes in ANYONE who wants to hand over the social media reins to an expert instead of handling it themselves. Social media can be a full time gig- it’s time to hire someone else to take care of that while you focus on your business! I help people share their story and their business with the world online!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I have learned along the way as an influencer is to remember your worth and your why; don’t get caught up in follower counts, how many views or comments you got, and remember where your true worth comes from. Remember why you started and let it fuel you to keep going.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.growingwithgriffith.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorleighgriffith/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@growingwithgriffith/shorts
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tayleighgriffith
