If you spend a lot of time in social media venues like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, or writing your blog, you may want to see if you can convert your hobby/interest into paid employment.
These jobs range in salary from $30,000/year to well over $100,000, depending on the level and the employer.
BEFORE YOU APPLY for any of these jobs, read the requirements!
If you don’t meet at least 80% of a job’s requirements, don’t waste your time applying. Find another posting that’s a better fit. Or, if there isn’t one that fits you, use the job descriptions to see where you might need to acquire skills and experience to fill any gaps – then launch your own self-improvement and education program.
Indeed!
A quick search through giant job aggregator Indeed.com shows some very interesting things happening. Type “social media” as your search term, and Indeed finds over 27,000 jobs in the USA.
Sample employers:
Employers included in these results range from the tip-top of the current Fortune 500 (Walmart) to “lesser” employers like NBC Universal; Associated Bank and CitiGroup; Time Warner and USA Today; Symantec, EMC, and Intel; Boston Scientific; Saks and Sears; Mashable; Aetna and Experian; recruiters and job boards of all sizes and locations, and more.
| Sponsor: | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Employers are jumping onto this bandwagon. They need people with these skills. Do you have the skills? Can you get them if you don’t have them? Is this field/industry appropriate for you?
If you don’t meet the requirements, don’t give up! Learn:experiment, read, take classes. Blog. Tweet. Manage a LinkedIn Group. Gain experience so you can make that move in the future.
Sample job titles + excerpts from much longer job descriptions:
Social Media Director – 2,500+ job postings found
An excerpt from an ADP job posting:
The Social Media Director is responsible for developing, building, and implementing a comprehensive social media strategy for ADP employer services. You will monitor, analyze and regularly engage in social media with respect to corporate issues and initiatives. This role coordinates with the internal PR, Editorial, Marketing, Legal and Product Management team to support the Company’s business objectives.
Social Media Manager – ~2,000 job postings found
This is an excerpt from a Blue Shield of California posting:
Responsible for building and optimizing social media strategies, day-to-day management of all social media platforms, and monitoring and tracking effectiveness of social media. This position will play an instrumental role creating a long-term strategy and action plans for multiple lines of business to meet internal and external strategic initiatives.
Social Media Marketing Manager - over 7,000 job postings found
This is an excerpt from an NBC Universal posting:
Oversee the development and execution of social media marketing efforts for E! including the formation of short & long-term strategies/tactics to elevate the brand and further connect with consumers in this emerging and ever-changing landscape.
Social Media Strategist – over 600 job postings found
This is an excerpt from an Intel posting:
This person will be responsible for creating global strategies on social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) that include analysis, strategic definition, recommendation, and implementation. They will need to have a deep level of understanding of the platform features / road maps, industry best practices, tools for execution, measurements and analytics. They will develop and manage a direct relationship with these social networking sites for opportunities to integrate more holistically in Intel’s plans as well as partnerships.
Social Media Coordinator – over 2,000 job postings found
This is an excerpt from a Four Seasons Hotel in LA
Maintain awareness of Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles & Culina, Modern Italian’s Internet presence as well as manage the related communication. Assist in developing initiatives, copy, press releases and other sales & marketing efforts. Work closely with the sales & marketing team to provide support as needed.
Different Jobs in Reality
Each excerpt above is specific to the employer named and may be the first time anyone has filled the role – so the job might change after someone does it for a while.
Jobs with the same job title can be quite different for a variety of employers. So, take the excerpts with the proverbial grain of salt, as an example of what the responsibilities might be for a specific job. And, as usual, be cautious believing what the salary survey sites tell you an employer will – or should – pay for a given job.
Bottom Line
If I were considering a career change , I would certainly be looking at social media. Like the web 10 or 15 years ago, this is going to get bigger and be in greater demand in the future. This is only the beginning…
© Copyright, 2011, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.
———————————————
About the author…
Online job search expert Susan P. Joycehas been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.
Email This Post
Loading ...