How to Get Hired as a Social Media Marketer
What does it take to be hired in the social media industry?
To start, “one major consideration when working in social media is to determine what companies you would want to work for (Freberg, pg. 70, 2019).” Companies and corporations have different operational structures compared to social media-specific agencies. How they use social media is also different.
When deciding where you want to work, look at what current employees are doing and have already done. An important thing to note is the work environment. You don’t want to be working in a toxic environment. Nobody does.
We’ve all heard that to be hired in nearly any industry or even at entry-level jobs, prior experience is needed. Working in social media is no different, yet social media is available to everyone to use. One way to become experienced even if you can’t find a formal job is to develop your personal brand and maybe do some freelancing.
What Employers Look For
One of the first things employers want to see is your online portfolio, which showcases your work. The golden rule of your portfolio is to “Show don’t tell (Roste, 2020).”
Some examples to include in your portfolio include blogs that you’ve created and content you made for other organizations. With their permission of course and preferably in writing. You could also analyze another brands social media and if they’re effective. An article written by Robyn Roste, How to Create a Social Media Portfolio, provides more information to help you when curating your own portfolio.
Another thing employers will look at is your own social media. Not very surprising when you want to do any social media work for a company or organization.
So far we have talked about having experience, an online portfolio, and that employers will take a look at your social media profiles. Of course that’s not all they want to know about you.
Your Social Media Skills
Another thing brands and organizations want to be sure of is that you can manage multiple channels at once. Familiarizing yourself and even getting certified in management software like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social will definitely be a plus.
They also want to look at your writing skills. An article published by Entrepreneur explains that “an awesome social media manager knows that to increase engagement and sales, it’s not just about posting a pretty image online; the manager has to be able to write copy that converts (Balkhi, 2018).”
Although these management software can provide analytics, you need to know what that data means. If what you are posting is doing well or not. How that content is affecting the company as a whole. Keep in mind what analytics are provided from the social media platform itself and third party apps may help.
Summary
If you want to work in the social media industry, you are going to need some experience and skills. It’s a great thing that social media can be easily accessed. However, it is important to know that your potential employers will search your social media. That can play a factor in if you’re hired or not. Also, if they can’t find your accounts, that can indicate you’re hiding something from them.
Make sure to research the companies you want to work for. You want to work somewhere that has a positive environment and where your knowledge and experience will be appreciated.
Sources and Additional Resources
https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/evaluating-job-candidates/how-to-hire-a-social-media-manager
Freberg, K. (2019). Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
https://robynroste.com/create-a-social-media-portfolio/
https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/what-recruiters-look-at-social-media/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/322306
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2377-social-media-hiring.html
