Careers in social media have only grown since the popularity of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram and they’re not looking at slowing down any time soon. Now there are all sorts of roles where you can tweet for a living, if that’s your thing.
Roles include titles like social media manager, content creator (image, text, or video), account manager, and other specific positions that focus on updating a single platform or collaborating with social media influencers. You can pursue jobs where you work in-house for a company, promoting its own products or services on social media, or for a social media agency like ours, where you’ll represent a variety of clients.
The decision is yours, and you don’t need to make it immediately. Many social media managers begin their careers at agencies and later choose to work in-house to focus on a specific range of products. Similarly, some in-house marketers move to an agency because they enjoy the variety it provides. There’s no right or wrong choice, and a career in social media is available for everyone!
There’s never been a more exciting time to land a role in social media and it can equip someone with a range of skills that are extremely desirable, for this jobs market and the future. Think a career in social media would be your absolute dream?! Here’s how to find one:
Our first tip? Use social media
It might seem like an obvious piece of advice, but there’s actually more to it than you think. If you want to come across like someone who is enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable about social media, use it yourself! Cultivate your social media profiles, share your views and build yourself an online profile. We recommend you avoid picking sides on a political spectrum or sharing ideas that could be deemed offensive or controversial. Instead, share snapshots into your life and work as an aspiring social media professional. That could include your latest learnings or your comments on how brands you follow use social media.
While creativity is highly praised, desired and welcome, make sure you think twice before every post you plan to add to your profile. Once it’s there it’s there forever!
Use LinkedIn to your advantage
You probably know that Linkedin is an online haven for successful and thriving professionals. If you don’t have your own profile, you should check it out and create your resume. Give yourself a professional headline, profile picture, and summary and collect recommendations from colleagues, friends and even teachers. Here is no place to be shy – clearly state your knowledge and accomplishments so that potential employers want to speak to you!
In addition, Linkedin can work as a job search tool. You can also follow agencies and companies where you would like to find a job and be updated with their vacancies. Normally, the job application process is pretty straightforward on Linkedin – you can just add your CV and cover letter when you click on the job ad and the company will instantly receive your application. Follow up separately via email to make sure you’re at the top of the list.
Research social media agencies and get their attention
As well as utilizing the power of Linkedin, search for social media agencies in your area and check their websites for job ads or other job-related updates. If you don’t have much experience, you can also search for an internship or apprenticeship. We have a whole careers page that describes exactly what we’re looking for in a social media manager.
We have hired some wonderful people when we haven’t even been looking for hire. They caught our attention and we created roles for them! That could be you. One account manager sent us a series of daily tweets to explain why she would be perfect for our team, someone else baked us a social media-themed cake! For the right person, the right company will create the role and it could be yours!
Social media roles, in-house, and agency-based thrive when the individual involved is excited and passionate about the work. Showing your interest in a company in a proactive way will ensure you stand out from others in securing that role.
Check out recruitment sites
Making use of existing recruitment sites is probably the easiest way to find a job in social media. There are many recruitment sites out there – Indeed, Glassdoor, BlueTown and Monster, to name but a few. Your main task is to create your CV, type in the keywords for roles you want and browse the job section. The algorithm will show you the role it thinks you will like and usually all you have to do is attach your CV and covering letter and wait until the agencies reach out. Pro tip: personalize your covering letter for each role and make sure it’s relevant!
Brush up on your knowledge
Do you know the intricacies of Facebook’s ads manager, Instagram’s algorithm, Twitter’s analytics dashboard, and LinkedIn’s home feed?! Are you familiar with where Facebook wants to be in 5 years? What about the latest updates to each one, as well as the new social platforms that are emerging?
To work in social media, you’ll need to be the expert. Get hungry for all of the information you can find and use it to talk confidently about how you’d apply it to your clients. It’s competitive out there. If you asked ten social media experts for their opinion on a social media post, you’d likely hear ten different opinions. Make yours be the one that people listen to by having the theory nailed, as well as how to implement it.
Do your research, keep up to date with changes within the industry and demonstrate you can put it into practice by using your own social media platforms regularly.