How to start a career in social media

19 Replies Techscott

Social media has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry and opportunities to build a career around it are becoming increasingly common.

If you’re looking to start a career in the competitive world of social media and digital marketing, setting up a blog is a great place to start.

A blog not only allows you to express your personality and offer your opinions, but also gives future employers an insight into your knowledge, skills and experience. Pick a subject that you are passionate about and blog regularly to attract readers and establish your credibility. Aim to be a unique voice in the ‘blogosphere’.

There are a variety of free online services available that can help you with the technology side of setting up a blog. Then it’s a case of attracting followers by creating interesting content, updating it regularly and promoting it through other social networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter's LogoPursuing a career in social media however is not just about knowing how to send a tweet, post a blog or set up a Facebook page. At the end of the day all businesses are looking at the impact social media has on their customer relations, business strategy, marketing and product positioning.

Demonstrate that you are serious by enrolling in a diploma in digital marketing and social media such as the one offered by the University of Middlesex. The postgraduate course combines theory and marketing practices to teach students how social media is contributing to entrepreneurship and innovation in modern businesses. Students attend guest lectures by professionals from some of the major organisations in web and social media including Google, Twitter and Groupon.

To have a competitive edge in social media, keep up to date with the latest developments. Understand the importance of monitoring, evaluation and analytics. You need to be familiar with the main social media sites but also the less popular ones as well which may have the advantage of providing a more targeted audience for the services or products you are promoting. You need to be able to spot trends and differentiate between up and coming sites and ones that won’t last the distance.

More than likely when you enter a career in social media you will be expected to be a good all-rounder and take responsibility for all areas of digital marketing. Job roles include social media officer, digital marketing manager or even director of social media. However larger organisations may allow you to specialise, so you could find yourself with a job title such as blog editor, analytics manager, designer, social media developer or content manager.

Categories: Business How To Guides Internet Social Media
Tags:

19 thoughts on “How to start a career in social media”

  2. Aaron @ Goa Holiday

    Importance of social networking has increased, since most bigger search engines now consider Social Networking sites activity while ranking sites on SERP means if you’re involved in SEO then you can’t ignore SMO or SMM as well.

    Reply
  3. DiNaRa

    To work in social media you need to be one step forward than the technology and the knowledge of all modern developments is a part of successful career in social media. Thanks for the courses as I got really interested in them.

    Reply
  4. John@Car Navigation System

    Social media or networking is indeed a big thing today. Whether it is for your business, for your career or even for your personal use, Social Media will always prove itself helpful. Also, social networking sites are of great help in finding jobs as you mentioned in your earlier post “5 tips to help you recruit the right people online”.

    Reply
  5. David@Product Engineering

    Nobody had any idea that this industry would become so important and popular. Lots of internet marketing experts have found their niche in Social media and hence, have shifted their careers in that direction. It’ll be interesting to see how this field progresses in years to come !
    Truly inspirational post…!

    Reply
    • Christopher (admin team)

      I think these days, social media is a form of SEO.

      Thanks for your comment, welcome to the blog 🙂
      Christopher – Admin Team

      Reply
      • Chadrack@SEO Tips

        You very correct about that. Infact, the recent Freshness update by Google is about using social media more in search results. And from what Google pointed out this is affecting about 35% of search results. Much higher than the 12% of panda update! This is the reason I’m focusing more on SMO in conjunction with SEO.

        Reply
  7. Neil@Small Business Websites

    Social media is huge now however it is obvious that it is going to continue to grow significantly in the future. I think a career in social media is a good bet however I agree with what you are saying that to really succeed you need to be a good all-rounder in digital media.

    Reply
    • Christopher (admin team)

      Most employers prefer ’rounded’ individuals, therefore being a good all-rounder is a very useful quality to poses!

      Reply
  9. Chadrack@SEO Tips

    Hi Techscott,

    You’re definitely right that social media is not just about blogging or setting up a twitter account. There are techniques and strategies involved. It’s really good thing that subjects like these are already getting the attention of our business schools. I think there is so much we can also learn from bloggers who are using this new marketing tool powerfully in promoting their businesses online.

    Reply
  10. Jarrod Frenzel@Carlton Woods

    Social media has changed the blogging world in great levels of magnitude. I can’t imagine a blog without using social media as part of it’s marketing platform. This has become much easier for bloggers to promote their blogs and ultimately their skills, their products, and services.

    Reply
  11. Darci@Denver Marketing Consultant marketing for lawyers

    I had no idea that you could get an advanced degree in social media. I’m trying to imagine a classroom setting that would be up-to-date and timely enough to keep up on the latest trends!

    It’s so interesting how social media has changed in just the past few years and it just continues growing. It will be equally interesting to see how it shapes our culture not to mention sales and marketing businesses.

    Thank you for the article!

    Reply
  12. Dia@Social Media Marketing

    I think people who loves to interact with people has a very good opportunity in the social media field. As you mentioned blogging is one of the finest example of social media. You started it as a part time hobby and it is turning out like your one of the great source of income. Thanks for the topic.

    Reply
    • Christopher (admin team)

      Blogging is a very good example of interaction on the web, but I am unsure that it counts as social media Dia, that might need a bit of research.
      Saying that, comments are often like social media.

      Thanks for the comment, welcome to the community 🙂
      Christopher – Admin Team

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *