A wine company recently advertised a job vacancy looking for someone to generate interest in their products by using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms. Some perks of the job included a hefty salary, free accommodation at the company wineries and learning the intricacies of making the perfect wine. Sounds like fun!
This is just one example of the explosion of social media.
A few years ago, no one would have thought of social media as an avenue to any type of career. But nowadays, you can update your status and tweet your way straight to the bank! Before the evolution of social media, an employee caught playing around on Facebook or watching YouTube videos would have had a lot of explaining to do...
Today however, social media is seen as the key to success in many organisations. If a company doesn’t have a Twitter profile, Facebook page or even a blog, they are missing out on a chance to market themselves to millions of potential investors and customers.
Many, if not most businesses have decided to create permanent positions devoted to social media. Others have opted to incorporate social media in the more traditional roles of marketing, research, communications and public relations.
This is precisely why having a career in social media is no longer just a pipe dream, or limited to eager trendsetters and gossip bloggers.
Here are some Social Media roles that might interest you:
The Community Manager
Every company needs to make contact with its investors and clients. The Community Manager is responsible for this interaction. They need to build client relations and continued support by ensuring the company knows exactly what is expected from them.
Social Media Designer
The designer is responsible for making sure the visual aspects of a company’s image (what visitors see on social media sites) is attractive and appealing. This helps the company establish a strong social media presence.
Social Media Strategist
This role involves a lot of market research and determining social media goals and how to achieve them. It entails developing an entire social media strategy for the organisation – establishing a target market and marketing strategies to draw in potential investors and clients.
Content Specialist
This position focuses on the content that will be sent through the social media platforms. The content specialist will look at blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages and promote the company’s content via newsletters and advertisements.
Business Analytic
This role encompasses the use of analysis to monitor the social media presence of a product or an organisation. In business analytics, an employee may use YouTube Insight, or Google Analytics to determine how much a brand or company is being spoken about online.
Surely enough this proves that social media is no longer an area of speciality merely used by the tech savvy. Instead, it has become a part of skills expectancy associated with digital media. From journalism and graphic design to psychology and organisational information, employers expect potential employees to know enough about social media to help them expand and develop their organisations.
Do you think you have what it takes?
Yvonne Nhuta is an academic officer for GetSmarter (www.GetSmarter.co.za), an online education company. The brand new University of Cape Town Social Media short course is presented online throughout South Africa. For more information contact Roxy on 021 447 7565 or roxy@getsmarter.co.za. Alternatively, visit www.GetSmarter.co.za.