Is a Career in Social Media Marketing Right For You?

What is social media marketing? (SMM)

Strong

Future Growth

Employment Size

63,600

Diploma in Social Media Marketing
or higher

5 Important Skills for a Social Media Marketer

• Copywriting

  Copywriting is the written content and promotional materials for the purpose of marketing. For example, the text that you see accompanying an Instagram post, or the online articles that you find on your favourite fashion website, are all some form of copy. Copywriting comes in different forms – you can be a creative copywriter, a digital copywriter or even an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) copywriter – the possibilities are vast when looking at the scope of marketing content.

• Creativity

  When you are a social media marketer, it is imperative that you capture the attention and interest of your audience, otherwise you will fall behind your competitors. Thinking of inventive methods to engage your social community, whilst still keeping it relevant to your business, is a tricky thing to do. Creative visual content is a central element of SMM.

• Analytics

  Content is only one part of the job – your ability to effectively track information is crucial to measure the success of your efforts. How will you know if your content is really resonating with your audience otherwise? There are plenty of social media networking tools that are designed to track information and deliver data and results.

• SEO Knowledge

  SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the practice of employing different techniques to increase the online visibility of your website in a search engine’s unpaid results. This is relevant to social as Google considers your social platforms when deciding where to rank you on its results page – the more reputable and genuine your website and social media platforms are, the higher up your website will appear in a search.

• Organisational Skills

  In this industry, organisation is a fundamental skill that all successful social media marketers possess. Managing content and coordinating it depending on several factors such as its type, goal, audience and platform, is all part and parcel of the role. The way you communicate to your audience and measure your interactions is assisted by timely organisational skills – it will definitely make your job a lot easier!

Working with business owners to find out what their ‘secret sauce’ is has been a job and a delight. We have so many unique people who have gifts that I help to share more effectively with the world, and more importantly, with their ideal clients.

– Emma Sidney, Digital Strategist at Digital Copywriting

Top 5 Knowledge Areas in Marketing

English Language

Communications and Media

Administration and Management

Sales and Marketing

Customer and Personal Service

Top 5 Skills in
Marketing

Active Listening

Social Perceptiveness

Speaking

Time Management

Critical Thinking

Jobs in Social Media Marketing

• Social Media Manager

  The Socal Media Manager puts a social strategy in place depending on organisational goals, whilst also supervising any action from other team members to put these goals into action. They also have final say in which social platforms are best suited to the businesses industry and what kind of content and copy you will make.

• Content Creator

  A fundamental factor of SMM, the content creator is responsible for just that: content. The content made for social channels can range from blog posts, images, video content and much more. As this is an ever-growing field, the Content Creator must always be on the ball when it comes to social trends and successful content.

• Community Manager

  This role is accountable for building and managing relationships within your social communities. Audience engagement is not defined by pushing out content and hoping for the best. It is listening to your audience, answering their questions and providing customer service, then utilising this information to make changes to the dynamic of the business when necessary.

• Social Media Monitor

  This role is another aspect of customer service, more so the management of negative feedback and disgruntled customers. Social media monitors respond to customer complaints that are received on social media, as well as upkeeping brand image and generally monitoring social platforms.

Average Pay for Different Social Media Positions

Social Media Marketing Coordinator Salary

Social Media Manager
Salary

Social Media Strategist
Salary

I have been in social media marketing for about 6 years and what becomes very obvious very quickly, is that the industry is basically a game – you’ve got to play otherwise you’ll instantly fall behind. You need to know the platforms back to front and how to use the algorithms to your advantage.

– Bronte Cresswell, Director at She the Social

Qualifications of a social media marketing professional

What are the 4 P’s of Social Marketing?

• Product

  ‘Product’ is not just limited to tangible items, but can also be a service offered or even intangible ideas.

• Price

  ‘Price’ refers to what the targeted audience might do to gain the product. Price is not limited to money, but can also be time and effort.

• Place

  The ‘Place’ is the way in which the product will be distributed to the customer. For social marketing, the so called ‘Place’ is generally confined to social media channels.

• Promotion

  And finally, ‘Promotion’ is the combined employment of elements like advertising, PR, promotional materials and various others.

Gender Employment Share
Marketing

Full-Time Worker Share
Marketing