Social media is becoming a necessity in the marketing playbook for gathering leads and increasing top-of-mind awareness for your brand. Because many people entering the work force right now grew up using social media, they feel it would be a great career for them. While it does seem fun posting to social media all day and using analytics to grow your brand’s reach, here is my take on social media marketing as a career.
When I first began working for Computer Market Research and is sister company MioDatos, social media management was my main responsibility. I was fresh out of college and I somewhat enjoyed social media on my off time so I figured a career in social media would be a fun, exciting career that would be easy to transition into. I was responsible for creating posts, tracking analytics, bringing in leads, and engaging with prospects on social media.
I had a lot of fun with it. I liked to play around with Facebook analytics and see how my posts would reach more people from day to day. I got excited when people would like or retweet my posts and I really felt good about the job I was doing. But after a while, I realized that social media marketing was a better stepping stone than a destination. Here are 4 reasons why I think social media marketing is a great place to start in your marketing career path.
Content Creation Practice
If you have been in marketing long enough, you realize how import content creation is to a great marketing plan. Social media marketing introduces you to content creation and more importantly content curation. Content curation is the act of repurposing someone else’s content and using it to help your audience. Most of your content as a marketer is curated and social media marketing is a great way to practice curating content.
Know your Target Market
If you studied marketing at all in school, you know that with every product there is a target market. If you are just beginning in your marketing career, social media will introduce you to using your book knowledge in the real world. You can learn more about your target market through the types of content your audience engages with, then apply that next time you create or curate new content. If and when you decide to move out of a social media position and onto a role with more responsibility, you will have a great idea of your target market and what type of content they typically digest.
Market Yourself
Social media marketing is all about getting your brand out there and talked about. Fortunately, practicing your social media marketing skills for your business will also help you promote your personal brand. After some practice, you’ll understand how to grow your following on social media, establish yourself as an expert marketer in your industry, and connect with other industry experts. For example, I have used my knowledge of Twitter and content curation to grow my Twitter following from 200 to 1600 in a few short months.
Measure Progress
When you work in the marketing realm, your boss is always looking for the ROI of your efforts. While it can be tough to prove ROI in social media, the analytics most social media sites offer get you accustomed to tracking statistics and making changes from week to week. Most companies live and die by their reporting functions, and the better you can measure and adjust, the more valuable you will be to your team.
If you are passionate about marketing, then a social media position is a great stepping stone into a marketing role with more responsibility. I began working as a marketing assistant and have used the skills I learned in that position to grow into my current role as a product marketing manager. While I still manage our social media accounts, I have been awarded more responsibility and work on marketing our marketing automation platform, MioDatos, on several channels including social media, search engine advertising, and content creation. If you have any questions or comments about a social media career, leave me a comment below or find me on Twitter- @davidring9.
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