What are the Job opportunities in Social Media Management

In India, with the availability and accessibility of internet connections, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of people using social media in recent years. Internet penetration is continuously increasing with over 658 million Indians using the , making India the second largest market globally in this sector after China.

For common people, social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp and Snapchat are tools for fun, but for others, social media is a serious business. For brands, having a social media presence is no longer optional; it has become vital for survival. So it is not surprising that this phenomenon has given rise to the genesis of an entirely new career domain i.e. Social Media Marketing. Although e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media management (SMM) is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers.

Businesses , governments , nonprofits , celebrities , all need talented , insightful , educated people as social media managers — and they pay well to attract and retain them. In addition to social media managers, there are many in-demand job profiles in the field of social media marketing that will expand over the next few years; they include analysts, content creators, influencers, community managers, etc.

Social media management goals

• Increase brand awareness
• Traffic flow to your website
• Generating New Leads
• Increase brand engagement
• Build a community around your business
• Providing Social Customer Service
• Expanding presence in the press
• Hear discussions (feedback) about your brand
• Increase revenue (by increasing signups or sales)

Benefits of pursuing a social media career

Variety of options: As a social media professional , you can choose to be a        marketer , a strategist , a copywriter , a designer , an analyst , an influencer , a customer service representative, and sometimes all of these marketers.

Never stop learning: One of the most challenging but rewarding aspects about working in social media is that you have to constantly hone and develop your skills to advance in your career. An effective social media professional brings both hard skills and soft skills to the table. Hard skills like data analysis and copywriting can be more easily studied and taught, while soft skills like being organized and making connections can be more difficult to learn, although just as important. The more you focus on developing these skills, the more you will be able to deliver results, realize real business impact and level up your own capabilities.

There is no question of monotony: Social media platforms are dynamic, so marketing and management strategies must change along with them. This can make for a very exciting career, as you are always learning new things and taking on new challenges. You will definitely never get bored!

Become an irreplaceable asset: Uniqueness sells in a highly competitive market. Brands need to continuously engage with their audience with interesting and unique content and such content should be in line with the brand image. This means that if you are skilled enough to bring out the exact needs of the brand, you will be an irreplaceable asset to any marketing team.

Creativity remains at the forefront: The opportunity to be creative at work is a huge asset for many young people. Social media combines many different aspects, such as photography/videography, storytelling, writing, acting, music, visual communication, verbal communication, innovation, showcasing technology, etc. Therefore, there will be a lot of strategies, technologies and skill sets that you may need to demonstrate.

Most Popular Social Media Platforms for Marketing

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Printerrest
• LinkedIn
• Snapchat
• Youtube
• Quora
• WhatsApp
• Tumblr
• Quezon
• Line
• Wire

Categories of Jobs in Social Media Management i.e. Categories of Jobs in Social Media Management

Social media management can be divided into three major areas: strategy, content, and community management. Typically, a task within social media employment will fall into one of these three categories.

1. Content: Content is leading because it is the thread that connects the audience to the brand. When done right, content can help businesses and organizations build a strong online presence, reach the right audience and ensure engagement (likes, shares, re-tweets, etc.). This is the aspect of social media management that involves the creation and sharing of content that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services. The most common types of social media management content include user-generated content (images, videos, text, stories) are included. They can be in the form of product reviews, caption contests and fun challenges, etc. Other forms include videos, livestreams, infographics, and educational/instructional content. In any format, the content must resonate well with the target audience.

2. Influencers: Influencer marketing is a buzzword in the marketing world and is no longer limited to a few businesses or agencies. As a result, the number of influencers has increased in almost every important industry and brands are using them more than ever. Therefore, it has now become common to see social media users who have given up careers in various domains and have chosen to dedicate their time exclusively to social media influencing. If we have managed to accept the fact that social media influencer is a real job; Let us discuss in a little detail why exactly this is a job that needs to be handled with a lot of responsibility. Social media influencers have the power to change attitudes and mindsets – which they can change for the better, and even for the worse. To become an influencer, you need to have a good knowledge about what you claim to be above all else and use that knowledge to get people to believe and subscribe to your expression or same set of ideas on social media. Work to influence.
   

3. Strategy: The key component to be involved in social media management is a strategy. Without a strategy, a business can post on social media platforms without understanding what the company’s goals are, who the target audience is and what they want. Without a strategy it will be difficult to get results on social media. Another interesting point about strategy is that different social media channels may require different strategies depending on the product or idea being promoted.
   

4. Community Management: Community management is about building relationships, and how brands get the opportunity to interact with their community on online public platforms. Your community includes your current customers, target audience, and everyone who directly and indirectly interact with your brand online. The larger your customer base grows, the more important it becomes to manage your community. Managing customer complaints online , converting customers into loyal fans , winning over influencers and potential customers ,The role of a Community Manager is to network and partner with other brands , receive valuable feedback , follow up and manage ideas in the comment section.

General employment roles

• Social Media Marketing Manager
• Social Media Analyst
• Community Manager
• Copy Writer
• Content Manager
• Influencer
• Blogger
• Media Planner
• Public Relations Manager
• Social Media Strategist
• Social Media Consultant
• Director of Marketing and Social Media
• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Skills required for social media related jobs

• Excellent communication skills
• Copywriting
• Editing and Designing (Graphics and Videos)
• Public Speaking (on-camera with live audience)
• Customer service and community management skills
• Data analysis
• Basics of applied psychology
• Budgeting Skills
• Curiosity, adaptability and business acumen are the most sought after qualities.

Educational qualifications

Social media employment doesn’t always require a degree. However, having one can be very beneficial, especially if it is a degree in creative arts or marketing. Also, you can opt for a short term social media marketing course to gain a better understanding of the social media sector. A diploma or certificate obtained through such short term courses will put the candidate on a footing with such documents.

Social Media Marketing: Diploma, Certification, Online Courses

Before making social media your career field, it is important for you to develop a social media marketing strategy to generate brand awareness for your business; Listen to how to use social media to find out what works best for your followers; How to increase your reach on social media platforms and leverage influencers to attract new audiences; And it is important to gain an understanding of how to get the most out of your social media investments. Institutes offering courses in digital marketing incorporate all of these into specific modules designed for social media marketing.

For example, the Advanced Certification in Digital Marketing and Analytics by the Center for Continuing Education (CCE), IIT Madras, helps you master skills such as understanding the key foundation of marketing as well as organic marketing, paid marketing, Marketing Analytics and much more are designed to help you acquire essential digital marketing skills. , The program also helps you understand how data science plays an important role in marketing analytics. Such courses teach you how to identify and relate social media channels to the needs of a project. Such courses also teach the students the strategies followed in the industry with proficiency and guidance, enabling them to innovate and solve complex situations. Some courses also offer the opportunity to engage in real-time campaigns providing practical training using domain names, websites and budgets for campaigns.

For those interested in the creative aspect of social media marketing, you should choose courses that provide guidance in goal setting and success metrics and determining target audiences while providing opportunities to test and hone your creative abilities. Helps you create content that is not only entertaining but also ensures brand visibility online. For example, there is a Post Graduate Certificate Program in Crafting Creative Communication (CCC ) offered by MICA ( Mudra Institute of Communication , Ahmedabad) . This advertisement is a specialized program designed to meet the ever-evolving demands of the media and communications industry. Students are exposed to various creative mediums such as film, photography, graphic design and art to enable effective execution of their ideas and stories.

“Is creativity a natural talent or a nurtured skill?” – This question has been debated for centuries. Yet, in the context of social media content creation and marketing, the fact is that even if you are born with profound creative skills, you need to acquire the skills of marketing to achieve maximum reach and recognition. Therefore, a carefully designed course in creative communication and marketing will help in acquiring the following traits and talents:

• Idea generation techniques
• The art of effective storytelling
• Writing with audio and visual
• Drawing from life
• Ways to see
• Copywriting
• Art direction
• Creative Brief Writing
• Campaign Planning
• Semiotics
• Photography
• Film production
• Film Appreciation
• Animation and Stop Motion
• Tool Learning
• Branding
• Customer Focused Communication
• Advertisement Management
• New  media and experiential marketing

For beginners who have never been in the marketing/communications/creative industry before and want to learn a little about everything (including social media marketing), Google’s Digital Marketing Certification course is best suited. Courses include search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and web optimization. It also teaches you how to set goals for your chosen social media platform and build a sustainable long-term social media strategy.

Advanced courses in social media management typically cover the following topics.

• What is social media and why is it popular
• Major social media apps and what makes them popular
• Rules and regulations related to social media
• Measurement of performance in social media
• Algorithms of various social media platforms
• Difference between organic and paid social media marketing
• Introduction to Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , Pinterest , LinkedIn and Snapchat
• Introduction to Facebook Ads and Instagram Marketing
• Build a quality customer base online from scratch
• Audience targeting options – demographics , interests and behavior
• Facebook and Instagram ad placement and budget options
• Different types of ad formats on Facebook and Instagram
• Importance of landing pages and remarketing
• Setting up ads on Twitter and LinkedIn

Courses, Institute & Certification

There are many institutes for social media marketing courses. But first, you need to decide which course is best for you. Which institute will give you the best learning experience? The best courses are those that focus on the fundamentals and practices on specific platforms and explain how social media can be used to meet and strengthen overall marketing and business goals; Enables students to create engaging content, develop social media budgets, manage a thriving social media community, and measure and optimize for overall better performance. A candidate can take these social media marketing courses in class 10th, 12^th or after graduation which varies according to the course format.

Some of the institutes/online platforms providing such holistic courses (long term and short term) are:

1. Indian Institute of Management (IIM ) , Calcutta
2. Indian Institute of Management (IIM) , Bangalore
3. Doon Business School , Dehradun
4. Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA ) , Ahmedabad)
5. Indian Institute of Digital Education (IIDE) , Mumbai
6. Madras Christian College , Chennai
7. DY Patil Vidyapeeth , Pune
8. G D Goenka University , Gurugram
9. Digital Marketing Guru (DM Guru ) , Gurugram
10. Narsi Manjhi Institute of Management Studies , Mumbai
11. National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT)
12. Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC)
13. Virtual Platform: Coursera, edX , Alison , LinkedIn Learning , FutureLearn , UpGrad , Digital Vidya , Shoah Academy , Udemy etc.

If you do not have a degree/diploma in creative arts, communication or marketing but have all the required skills to perform a job role in a social media marketing team, you can validate your competencies by undergoing various online certification programs. Personal certification works as a certifier providing training material to individuals and conducting online exams based on the material. Over the years, certification has become a minimum or expected requirement for entry-level marketing roles for agencies and corporations.

By earning a certification, it will be easier for hiring agents/managers to recognize your ability to identify the core components of social media marketing, optimization skills, and choose the right campaign for your marketing objectives. You can show your current and potential employers that you are a certified online advertising professional with a personalized certificate that you can print. Some of the most common certification programs for digital marketing are as follows:

• Shopping Ads Certification
• Google Display Ads Certification
• Google AdWords Certification
• HubSpot Certification
• Google Analytics Certification
• Search Ads Certification
• Video Ads Certification
• Bings Ads Certification
• SEMrush Certification

Building an Effective Portfolio

A job in social media requires an applicant to have a carefully curated portfolio. A hiring manager will be looking for someone with experience in campaign planning and execution, creative talent, and community management skills, depending on the organization’s need. So, before building a portfolio, do an in-depth analysis of your personal strengths – what do you enjoy the most? Creating content, Scouring social media to identify the best platforms to promote your brand or making funny comments, using the right emoji for each situation, looking for the best way to provoke debate/competition in the comments section and entertain your audience? Take advantage of your best skills and make them the focus of your portfolio so that hiring agents can clearly see you in a role that will easily become an integral part of the social media marketing team.

A digital portfolio is best suited for any job role in social media marketing. Having a visualized form of data presented descriptively helps the hiring manager easily grasp a lot of information in a short amount of time, while also giving them a glimpse into your creative acumen and persuasive skills.

Source: https://employmentnews.gov.in/