Building a career in social media

Social media is fast becoming a powerful tool which is widely used to market one’s skills, business, product or service while connecting and engaging with various people via the internet.

To cut the long story short, social media can also be very useful when searching for a job as it is observed that of recent, lot of companies and organizations are throwing in available social media positions for immediate employment.

So what is social media?

Social media is a digital / computerized tool or application that allows people, group of individuals, businesses or organizations interact, communicate and exchange information via the internet. There are several social media networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc. which can be used to promote your skills or market what you have to offer to your target audience.

In order for you to build a successful career from social media you have to understand and know how to effectively use the various social media tools available today as earlier mentioned in the last paragraph. In general, you have to be passionate about interacting with people online, you have to be creative and innovative while staying informed with the latest trends and news.

So what does it mean to build a career in social media?

One great thing about building a career in social media is that there are various social media jobs available. You can be a social media analyst, social media marketer and social media manager.

Okay, let’s briefly talk about some aspect of social media.

Social Media Analyst:

Who is a social media analyst?

A social media analyst is responsible for the key execution of social media strategies. He/ she is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of social media results which is carried out daily.

So, for one to be a professional social media analyst, one needs to know the type of data to follow and understand how to track the metrics in order to get a desired result. 

A social media analyst is also required to have in-depth knowledge in communication, marketing, driving sales, strategically planning/tracking campaigns and drafting return on investment to achieve business objectives.

And since we all know that social media does not sleep, the social media analyst is required to report to the social media manager thereby giving a breakdown of campaigns carried out, status of social media accounts, statistics showing number of followers, comments and traffic, giving report of analytic trends  etc.

Social Media Marketer:

Who is a social media Marketer?

A social media marketer is one who uses available social networking sites as a marketing tool to promote an individual or organization’s products and services. Since social media is a platform that grants users with internet connection easy access, the social media marketer find it easy to carry out marketing campaigns, thereby creating brand awareness and improving customer relationship through constant interaction with customers.

A social media marketer should be able to focus on his/her target audience, their needs and how to add value to customer’s lives with the advertised product brand. A social media marketer should have a good knowledge on available social media platforms and should have a sound online marketing strategy which will aid in promoting and building the individual/ organization brand.

A major factor to be consider as a social media marketer is that you have to be available most time. You don’t just post content on social media and then go into hiding rather you have to interact and communicate with your customers and followers after you have published a content on the social media platform.

Social media Manager:

 Who is a social media Manager?

A social media manager is someone who has the mastery to grow social media presence online. A social media manager is highly passionate for connecting with current and prospective customers online. The major job role of a social media manager is to create, innovate and broadcast relevant/ original content, implement marketing campaigns while promoting content via social media advertisement. This job role is somehow similar to that of social media marketer but there are still variations between both job roles.

 A social media manager should be able to listen, communicate and engage with its customers, while creating useful content for target customers, conducting online surveys, mapping out effective marketing strategies, monitor trends on various social media platforms, creating and promoting social media campaigns.

To be effective in this role, the social media manager should have understanding of various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc. He/she should have good writing skills, a team player, must have good customer relationship and be willing to render positive customer service and should be able to set objectives and realistic goals.

Overall, many companies, organizations or businesses have realized the importance of the various aspects of social media and how social media can not only promote sales but also build a positive brand image, hence they are willing to hire and pay good cash  to savvy social media experts who are proficient in either of the aspect of social media.