Digital marketing can be a bit of a gray area for those who are unfamiliar with the job. Whenever I explain my job title to other business professionals, I tend to get a lot of quizzical or down right confused looks from them. I will be asked some genuinely thoughtful questions, and then there are some questions or comments that are cringe-worthy. In case you’re meeting with a digital marketing/social media specialist in the next few days, here are some things you’d be better off not saying to them.

1. “Wait, so you get paid to play around on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest all day? That’s a job?“ Yeah social media specialists are on social media as part of the job, but that’s only a small part of the job. We have to understand the mechanics of the sites work and how to optimize visibility on all networks.

2. “I have a Facebook account so I can do your job, right?“ I love this question the most. Did you know Facebook recently changed its algorithm? Do you understand how to read and decipher your analytics? Do you know the difference between a Facebook page and a Facebook profile? No? Then no, you most likely cannot do my job. So much more goes into understanding social media than knowing how to post photos of your kids.

3. “I don’t know why I have to pay someone to do that. Can’t my intern do it for free?“ Sure you can, but since they work for your company, anything they post on social media can be linked back to your company. If you want to take the risk of one tweet potentially ruining your entire reputation, I wish you the best of luck.

4. “So you’re just a blogger for hire. What else do you do?“ Gee, thanks a heap for stomping all over my job that I take a lot of pride in. Social media specialists create content for several businesses because the owners don’t have the time to do it themselves. We respond to comments, concerns and keep the business’s reputation in check. Plus, we are creating Facebook/Pinterest contests, all while writing engaging tweets in 140 characters or less.

5. “Can’t you just teach me how to do all of that? Oh, but then you might not have a job.“ Let’s make one thing very clear, just because you learn how to compose a tweet or pin something on Pinterest doesn’t mean you no longer need the help of a social media or digital marketing specialist. We strive to get our clients involved in the process so they are aware of the basics of social media, but most of the time they have bigger fish to fry and aren’t concerned about the importance of hashtags. Clients understand that we are the best at what we do because it’s our specialty.

I hope I cleared up a few misconceptions you might have about digital marketing/social media specialists, but I’m sure you’re still thinking, “That’s so cute, but when are you going to get a real job?” My parents are still asking me that once a week.