Is Social Media Marketing a Good Career?

Social media marketing is a very good career, but like any job, it’s not necessarily well-suited for everybody.

If you enjoy sharing content and building and growing a community, social media is a great space. For a Social Media Manager, there are always new experiments to run, new algorithms to master, and new trends to try to incorporate into your brand’s story.

Keep in mind that social media marketing careers necessitate that you spend a huge chunk of your time on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more (ultimately, you will need to become familiar with every social media platform). For those who are naturally inclined to use social media, this is the ideal position to be in. However, it can be overwhelming to be fully immersed in the virtual world of social, and many find themselves having to monitor their screen time to ensure a healthy work-life balance.

There’s the potential for a lot of fun interactions and engagement as a Social Media Marketer. If one of your social media posts goes viral or if you grow a large enough audience to become an influencer in your industry, you have the opportunity to have an impact on a lot of people and trends. You’ll also have the opportunity to experiment with your more creative side by making images, writing copy, and looking for other ways to engage with your audience. Of course, this also comes with the pressure of impressing potentially hundreds of thousands of followers.

As a Social Media Specialist, you’ll also have a lot of room for growth within the marketing industry. The average Social Media Specialist makes $48,000 and can make as much as $66,000 (there can be a high degree of salary variance in social media jobs). Once you’ve transitioned into a more experienced managerial position or one that crosses marketing and communications, you can make between $63,000 and $97,000. There’s also data to suggest that salary steadily increases as you move up in your career.

Given how integral social media and having a strong social media presence has become to the strategy of virtually any company in any industry, a Social Media Specialist has a lot of options when it comes to selecting a career path.

Especially within a bigger company, there will be a variety of highly niche roles within a larger digital marketing or social media marketing team. A Social Media Marketing Specialist who relishes dealing with the public might explore roles that focus specifically on managing a community, or another with a flair for creative design might focus on content creation.

Given how crucial brand consciousness is to a Social Media Specialist’s job responsibility, it’s not surprising that many social media pros choose to transition into brand consultancy. Becoming a Social Media Consultant or a Social Media Marketing Manager are other common paths (which typically come with a high salary).

Others with a background in social media choose to dig deeper into data analysis or market research.

Finally, there’s always the option to become more of a digital marketing generalist and apply for jobs with titles like Digital Marketing Manager.

Demand for social media marketing is soaring across the country, as companies have understood the many benefits of using cost-effective, local internet marketing tactics on social media sites. Social media platforms such as YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook are helping companies communicate directly with their core consumer base, attract new customers, and build long-lasting relationships with their customers.

Social media professionals and company owners from a wide variety of industries are working on new strategies to incorporate social media into their daily business tasks. Bootcamps and universities are launching new educational programs around social media marketing. Graduates are being scooped up quickly; studies have shown that in recent years, social media and other digital marketing roles grew 30 percent faster than overall marketing postings.

According to McKinley, there’s high demand and low supply for skilled Social Media Marketers. Their recent report shared that over half of all marketing hires are now Digital Specialists, with content and digital advertising being the most sought-after areas of specialization. Although the skills gap in digital marketing is apparent in countries around the world, it is being felt more severely in some areas than others. According to McKinely’s report, the digital marketing skills in highest demand are:

• Content strategy
• Digital project management
• Data and analytics
• Brand marketers
• Search engine optimization
• Website design and development
• E-commerce

Social Media Managers are hardly the only marketing professionals who have social media as a key part of their job description.

Some other job roles that often include at least some degree of social media management and require some social media marketing skills include:

Of course, social media marketing is a subset of digital marketing. Depending on the size of a company or digital marketing team, digital marketers typically handle various types of online marketing as part of their job, spanning SEO, SEM, PPC, and social media. Regardless of their areas of expertise, Digital Marketing Managers create and execute marketing strategies, manage content, and leverage social media to drive traffic and sales.

SEO Specialists are experts on what makes Google tick. They know how to change the language, layout, and organization of sites so that algorithms will send them straight to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). SEO Managers help content creators craft a content strategy that will boost visibility on social media and the SERP.

SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) are commonly confused. SEM spans strategies including Pay Per Click marketing (PPC), advertising, and customer relationship management. Search Engine Marketers need to have experience with platforms like Google AdWords and Bing AdWords.

Another role within digital marketing, Email Marketing Specialists write copy and put together email flyers that they hope customers might actually open and look at. Email is considered one of the best ways to reach committed target audiences, so companies are placing increasing importance on creating compelling copy that won’t be swiped into someone’s junk folder. The messaging on emails and corporate social media accounts needs to be closely aligned, so there is often overlap and collaboration between Email Marketers and social media marketing jobs.