In this video, we'll tell you everything you need to know
to find, secure and excel in a social media marketing career Hi, my name is Jonathon Tanner and I'm
the CEO and Co-founder here at Social Media College Fifteen years ago, the thought that social media
would be so valuable for businesses that entire careers would revolve around community building and on-platform ad management was unthinkable.
The field is now thriving alongside the boom of social platforms, so the career
growth opportunities here are extraordinary.
Careers in social media marketing are booming
to the point where they’ve made CNN’s top 100 careers with big growth Curious what exactly this career growth
looks like and if it will be consistent enough for you to venture into it? Let's take a deeper look. How Expansive Is the Growth
of Social Media Careers? We’re not kidding when we say that social media
careers and all the potential surrounding them are booming. Businesses across all industries
need to be able to connect with their target audience and form strong communities if they
want to be able to stay in business. This is what leads them to social media
practitioners, which is a valuable form of marketing and community building all in one.
All the data out there supports this, too, showing social media marketing as a rapidly
growing career option across the globe. We’ve already mentioned that CNN Money added
social media marketing positions to their Top 100 careers with big growth, noting a 9% increase
in job growth over a 10-year period.
According to LinkedIn, there has been an unbelievably
1357% increase in social media positions listed on the platform since 2010, which shows
an even more rapid growth over the past decade.
No matter where you’re at, though, the salary is
a good one. Some reports estimate that the average entry level salary will be AU$62,000, with a range of $46k-81k
and potential performance bonuses. This is obviously a big range, and true entry-level positions at larger companies may come
with slightly smaller paychecks, but the growth potential to increase income is absolutely there.
Job titles can have similar variations. Social Media Managers, for example, have a
range in Australia of $50,000-100,000 with an average of $70,000 according
to LinkedIn and current job postings.
Social Media Strategists, on the other hand,
have an average base salary of $84,000, with a range of $50,000 to $120,000.
There may be overlapping skills, and applying for jobs with a different title
can help you see a big pay increase quickly. The 8 Most Common Social Media Jobs
If you’re hunting for jobs, typically typing the search phrase “social
media marketing” will pull up plenty of listings that are a relevant match for your
skill set.
This gives you a big advantage, and a potentially very wide pool of jobs
to apply to, which is always excellent. There are a few specific roles, however,
that you’ll see mentioned again and again. Let’s take a quick look at each one.
As we’re going through our list, however, note that a lot of these positions have an overlap; the distinctions are subtle, and brands using the terms may be looking for
similar qualities, skills, and responsibilities to doll out depending on their specific needs.
1.
Social Media Strategist Some jobs are just looking for a “social
media worker,” but if you see “social media strategist” in the description, that’s a sign that
they’re looking for someone who can help develop and execute cutting-edge strategies to liven up
or maintain their social media. Strategists may be responsible for proposing ideas like pitches
for contests or suggesting to launch a Story campaign or branded hashtag to generate awareness.
Strategists may have the head honcho in their department, though they’ll often report to someone
else for approval depending on the location.
2. Social Media Manager Social media managers are typically going
to be involved in being hands-on in social accounts doing everything from scheduling posts
to handling engagement and monitoring reports. This title is sometimes given to
a lead in an internal department, but it can also be given to someone working
for an agency where they’ll be handling plenty of client accounts.
3.
Community Manager Community managers are often held responsible
for establishing and growing a community, sometimes online and offline. A
community manager for a local gym, for example, might come up with challenges
to entice participation and social proof, and they’ll foster a Facebook group just for members
by offering up valuable training tips and health information that their audience would love. Community managers also respond to
comments on organic and paid social media posts.
In the organisation's unique voice and tone. 4. Social Media Consultant Social media consultants are typically freelancers
or employees of agencies (making it hard to find official job listings for this exact title),
and they’re most frequently going to be offering consultations around strategy. Consultants may or
may not be hired by clients on an on-going basis, and they’ll often spend a lot of time working
with clients who are either brand new (and choosing which platforms and strategies to use) or
those who are ready to scale up to the next level. 5. Brand manager Brand managers are typically
going to have responsibilities inside and outside of social media. They’ll
work with other digital marketing workers, too, to help define or refine a brand across every
touch point users may encounter the business on. This includes your website, your email campaigns,
and of course, social media. They often play a heavy hand in strategy, but the big focus is on creating
and enforcing a brand audiences will love. 6. Social Media Analyst Social media analysts (sometimes called “brand
analysts” if the job goes beyond social) are all about the data.
Typically, these jobs are
going to be focused on looking at current and past campaigns and assessing how effective
they may be. They’ll look at everything from on- and off-platform engagement to get a
feeling of what’s working and what isn’t. Analysts typically offer suggestions in addition
to just creating reports about how to improve campaigns moving forward, and they’re particularly
important once expensive PPC campaigns and a lot of ad dollars come into play.
7. Digital Marketing Specialist Digital marketing specialists can end up
wearing a lot of hats, including social media practitioner. They’ll often be responsible for
executing multiple cohesive campaigns at once, which may involve things like content marketing
campaigns, PPC campaigns, and organic social campaigns that all weave together well.
8. Chief Marketing Officer If you work hard to rise in the ranks, you can
make it up to a company’s chief marketing officer position. These positions are prestigious,
and you won’t just be overseeing social media marketing work; you’ll have to look at how all the
puzzle pieces fit together, including SEO, PPC, email marketing, content marketing, overall
web presence, and more.
Social media is an integral and central part of the job, but you’ll likely
be handing off a lot of the duties and actual social media implementation to others on the team.
The Skills You Need for a Social Media Career In order to find success in the social
media world (and, to be frank, a job), it’s not enough to have simply been a user
on social media platforms for years. You need to have the right skills to execute strategic
campaigns that will accomplish business goals that go beyond likes.
Let’s take a quick look at the skills you’ll need. Knowledge of the Platforms Themselves
Each social media platform is different, with its own unique set of best
practices, rules, and mistakes to avoid. Here are a few examples of what you need
to know before you should start seeking a social media marketing career:
How each platform’s algorithm prioritizes content
What’s happening with organic reach on each platform
Which platforms are best for your client’s business based on performance,
audience, and type of content posted How inbound and outbound links
are treated on the platform
Extra features (like Facebook Groups and
LinkedIn Pages) that should be used
and how to access and analyse data to
assist the performance of your marketing campaigns The only way to get this knowledge is through
hands-on work or an extensive social media education.
Strategic Skills & Experience Do you know how to look at a client’s
current performance, their audience, and their goals and then determine
how to get where they want to go? This is an essential skill to have
because higher-level social media marketing positions require more than
just posting daily for the sake of it.
You should be able to create a diverse
content calendar that’s optimized for each platform. You’ll also want to know about
strategies like setting up branded contests, when to use influencer marketing, going
live to nurture relationships, and more. Familiarity with Native &
Third-Party Business Tools Do you know how to navigate Facebook’s
analytics, or how to schedule posts for Instagram ahead of time?
Do you know the steps involved to set up an Instagram shop, or how
to establish Rich Pins on Pinterest? Will you be able to adapt to third-party
tools like Agorapulse or Hootsuite, or contest software like ShortStack? You want to know how to use each social media
platform to the fullest, both with native and third-party tools.
Social Copywriting Skills Think fast: How many characters do you have in
a Facebook post before it’s cut off on mobile? Do know when you should use
hashtags and when not to? Copywriting is an important skill for social
media marketers, and you need to know how to write social copy in particular that’s short,
accounts for platform character restrictions, and abides by best practices to maximize
reach and engagement simultaneously. Practice writing copy that feels natural, is
non-repetitive, and doesn’t focus on cheesy, “salesy” language like “It’s
Your Last Chance to Buy Now!” Graphic Design Skills
Not all social media marketers need to have design skills, but if you can use drag-and-drop
design software, you’re at an advantage.
Some businesses will want original graphics
and images creation, even if it’s simply quoted on backgrounds or a basic infographic.
While this skill isn’t needed for all positions, it is a plus to have, especially if you’re working
on your own either as a freelancer or an employee instead of part of a large team.
Basic Copyright Knowledge This may seem minor, and it’s a small
part of your job, but it does matter. Did you know that you can’t just
share images you found online to your social media? You also need to
careful about which songs and video clips you use in video content on
all platforms, including YouTube. Copyright is something to
consider, and all original content published online is protected by copyright.
It’s important to understand before
you get started or you could land your employer (and yourself) in hot water.
How to Get Social Media Marketing Experience Have we made social media marketing sound
appealing yet? It's growing quickly, making it an enticing career
and sometimes resulting in a little bit of competition to get the best jobs out there.
In order to break into the field, we recommend doing the three following things…
Get the Education Get the education and certifications
in social media marketing. Not only will having this help you
stand out from your competition, making you more appealing to potential employers, but you’ll also
have a lot more strategic, technical knowledge than most of the people you’re up against.
Get Strategic Too many self-proclaimed social media
marketers are happy to just slap together random posts because they sound nice and upload
them to the platform. This isn’t enough, however, to drive actual results with social marketing.
Prove that you have the knowledge to do something different and engage and nurture leads on
different platforms. During an interview, offer examples demonstrating your strategic knowledge,
like explaining how you could use in-feed organic posts to send traffic to Stories campaigns that
willl have links to send users to your site. Small examples of strategic
knowledge can help you get new work, whether you’re applying to a full-time position
or are trying to win a freelance contract. And this brings us to step number three..
Get Some Samples It’s hard to start when you don’t have a
lot of work experience, but do what you can to build a portfolio so that you can show
potential employers samples of what you can do, both in terms of posts you’ve created
but also campaigns that you’ve run.
Though many might not be paid or may not pay well
for first-time workers, you can typically find fast and easy freelance gigs that will give
you some room to build a portfolio early on. You could also start your own social media
channels so that you have full control, and an instant link to send clients or employers
to if they ask to see samples of your work. Look for Small Businesses
Who Need Help On a Budget While all labor deserves to be paid for fairly,
the reality is that sometimes it’s difficult to break into a career with limited experience. Ask around, and let friends and family
know that you’re looking for social media work. There are plenty of small businesses who
have a few hundred dollars a month who need help with their social media management.
If you are in the financial position to do so and are struggling to get a full-time job, taking
on lower-paying opportunities as long as you can get a testimonial or share the samples can pay
off, but make sure that you aren’t signing any contracts that forbids you from doing so.
In addition to small businesses, you may also have luck offering pro-bono services to local
nonprofits. This is a great way to give back while honing your skills, and plenty
of employers love to see this.
Conclusion Social media marketing careers have grown
unbelievably fast in the past decade, keeping up with the rapidly growing platforms
and their rapidly evolving audience members, too. With brands increasingly realizing
that they can’t hire a 16-year old intern to tweet into a void in order to get results
on social, more are turning to both in-house and external social team members to help them
connect with their customers in meaningful ways. This is a field that’s growing quickly,
but if you’re adaptable and agile, there’s so much room to grow within it.
Being
quick on your feet, having a basic understanding on human psychology, and having a passion for
staying up to date with the latest and greatest in marketing trends and technology could make
you an outstanding fit for these jobs. All you have to do is start with the right education. Please like this video if you found it useful and tell us in the comments if you're currently
working in a social media marketing role and what you love about it.