How To Start Your Career in Social Media Marketing

In the shaky economy of today with unemployment numbers rapidly increasing, starting a career in social media marketing can be a great move with lots of possibilities for a bright future. Traditional companies are laying off people because they can’t manage to pay their monthly wages. According to essaywriterfree, newly graduating students will find it difficult to get a good job – or any job for that matter. At the same time, social media is slowly becoming a giant force to be reckoned with, one which we shouldn’t simply ignore.

Businesses have started using social networking platforms as part of their regular marketing campaigns and while established companies can afford to train their employees in the ways of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, smaller start-up companies are now opening a new set of jobs for people who have deep knowledge in this very aspect of online marketing to help their business.

This is a great opportunity for many unemployed people, along with those who want to do a meaningful career change, one that allows them to do something creative, interesting and fun, while also getting generously paid for it as well.

Social media marketing is big. It is so big that more people know about how to at least briefly navigate social networking platforms than ever before. I know of an elderly couple who are barely familiar with the very basics of browsing the internet mainly through checking their emails, but they both have a Facebook account to keep in touch with their family scattered all over the world. They know to post to their timeline, upload family photos and add friends.

For many people hanging out at various social networking sites is a hobby. They have most of their friends on Facebook and Twitter. For them, it is simply a dream come to a true situation when they can get a job that allows them to do the very same thing that they enjoy doing so much already – and get paid for it too!

Prominent bloggers have created some really strong networks on various social media platforms, and businesses are actively seeking them because they know that these networks can help them in their regular marketing and promotion, not to mention the fact that these bloggers often need no additional training in their new role at the organization.

While several experts offer social media marketing training as part of their curriculum since they recognize that there is currently a shortcoming with regards to relevant skills in the workforce, the proper training is quite costly and it takes time as well.

So if you know your way around platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, are familiar with the current IM chatting software, such as Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, and Google Chat and you have done an online webinar or two, you might be just the perfect candidate for a company who is searching for people with extensive knowledge in this area and have built a following in these online networking circles.

If you think that you might have what it takes to enter the social media job market arena, the next step is to be aware of what all is available and how to navigate the maze that is the collection of social media job titles that are available right now.

When you’re checking various job boards related to social media, you’ll soon notice that many job titles are extremely similar to each other and it seems that there are endless job titles out there today without any streamlined criteria. While everyone knows pretty much what a plumber does, or a banker for the matter, there seem to be few guidelines in what the various job titles for social media marketing positions mean.

So here are briefly a few explanations of what various job titles mean. While we can’t possibly go into every title added by every company at their whim, the ones listed here are pretty much standard everywhere.

Online Blogger

online blogger is usually responsible for adding and maintaining content online evolving around the company and promoting it through their blogs and the various social media outlets. The blogger will be familiar with most blogging platforms and will have an engaging style that catches the attention of visitors.

Community Manager

A community manager is usually a person who has knowledge and experience in the various social media channels, knows to interact with the customers of the company, and is active on online social platforms, including online forums. He or she will have as part of their job description to defend the company brand from slander when necessary and be the eyes and ears of the organization.

In 2021, social media is all about engaging your fans and followers. Areas like commenting on posts, showing appreciation, collaborating with brands and influencers are all part of social media community management. In fact, this is a social media marketing best practice that brands cannot seem to get enough off. The role of a community manager is diverse, complex and important.

A social media analyst will generally have the job of tracking and analyzing the social campaign data and track their success. He or she will have insights and offer proposals to the organization managers based on their analysis of where the company stands with its social presence.

SEO/SEM Specialist

This is a person responsible for search engine optimization and marketing using keywords and meta tags that are competitive online. They will help the brand gaining a strong organic search presence in the main search engines including Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Will have a good working knowledge of Adwords and PPC, along with Google Analytics for measuring and tracking the progress. Usually, this person will have a strong presence in the social media community and the various online SEO forums.

These are just some of the most popular job titles offered on the social media job marketing boards, however, you will see many more that overlap somewhat in their description and required qualifications. Some examples of such jobs include the titles: social media expert, social media manager, digital product manager, social media strategist, social media specialist – you get the idea.

The most important thing to remember is that right now regardless of the many types of job names listed, there are only so many things that a social media position will require – and most will revolve around the need to bring the company’s brand online recognition and market the brand through the various social media channels using the tools readily available online.

As I mentioned above, there are hundreds of different job titles in the field of social media, however overall there are not that many job responsibilities usually associated with positions in this area, and many are overlapping quite nicely. You can turn this to your advantage if you know what kind of responsibilities are required. Here are some of them listed below.

Develop relevant social media strategies that push the company and brand forward
Establish social media profiles for the organization and make it the brand well known online
Create and/or manage a positive online reputation for the brand
Create and promote daily content like blog posts, articles, tweets to the various online platforms and social networking sites
Be the point of contact for the various interactive online platforms
Give proposals to managers on going forward with increasing brand awareness online to add to the existing customer base

Some Basic Tips On Getting A Job In The Social Media Arena

When all is said and done, how you do go about finding a job in social media and getting a highly rewarding position?

Here are a few tips that should help. No article can give you as much information as an entire book devoted to the topic, but these pointers should get you started in the right direction.

First, make sure that social media marketing is the field that you are interested in. It might be fun to hang out on Facebook and tweet your heart out every day to friends, but can you imagine doing this at a 9-5 job every day?
If the answer to the previous question is a resounding YES, then you need to start your research. There are tons of companies actively searching for qualified personnel, so how do you go about finding the right one for you? One of the best ways to go about it is to search the various online job boards for positions in your area. One of the most popular job search boards is Indeed.com. There are tons of jobs offered daily and navigating through the site is easy. Besides, you can check your local newspaper for job positions offered. And let’s not forget the various social media platforms that have jobs offered, including at some of the popular employment LinkedIn groups. To start your career signing up a LinkedIn account is a must for everyone. To buy LinkedIn connections also a common practice among users.
Once you found a handful of companies that you would like to work at, start making your research about them. Check their websites and read every page (trust me, this will come up at your job interview anyway, so better get familiar with the organization right from the start). Search on the web for these companies by putting their name in the search engine and see what hits you get. Check the various social media platforms for any news or rumors about the organizations. Eliminate the ones that don’t meet your criteria.
Do more in-depth research by reading relevant online magazines, publications, and journals related to the business. Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune magazines are great places to start. Are your favorite companies listed anywhere or talked about in these journals?
Use social media itself to your advantage. Many of these companies will have a Facebook page already created, so start following them. Do they have a Twitter or LinkedIn presence? See what they tweet and post and how regularly. You might even find yourself an entry point during the interview in case the company lacks a strong social media presence by proposing to help with and this and this (all learned through your careful research from before).
Contact some of these companies and send your resume (or CV) through the email that is listed on the Jobs (or About us) page on their website. Make sure you write a careful and proper cover letter explaining why you think you are best for the position you are applying for.
A job interview is a book in itself on how to be your best – and be better than your competitors going after the same job. The very first book I mentioned above (Social Media Jobs Guide) has an entire section dealing with how to conduct a proper job interview and ensuring that you get the job over others.

Even if you decide that social media as a job is not for you, having a working knowledge of the various social network platforms can greatly help you land any job anywhere. You can use social media for self-marketing and for researching other types of jobs.

Just knowing how to research the proper company, how to find the few gems among the ones that are not worth bothering with, how to prepare for a great job interview, and how to use the social media sites to your advantage can mean the difference between being unemployed/having a boring job that simply pays the bills, and having a fulfilling position that you enjoy, one that you found simply because you searched were not many others did and knew more than other candidates applying for the very same position.

Don’t forget: knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you have, the better your chances at finding the dream job that not only pays well but is also fulfilling in itself.

Learn more from Marketing and read more about Five Business Skills Companies Demand From Students in Job Opportunities.