Jobs in social media are becoming more and more common in companies both large and small. According to Simply Hired Job Trend Data (See Fig. A), the number of Social Media job posts have increased by 38% since October of 2011. An impressive growth figure considering that in that same time period unemployment in the United States was as high as it had been in nearly two decades.
Fig. A
*This embedded chart has been removed as it is out of date. Click below for the latest social media trends.
This data is important when considering whether social media is the field you may want to participate in professionally. You want to know that the future demand is high for such a role within organizations, and whether opportunities for training or consulting will be available to you as your skills grow.
On its own however, this data does not show us much in the way of total number of jobs. One might feel that this figure is high simply because the number of jobs available before 2011 were few and far between, and even a small number of new social media jobs could have a big effect on job growth data.
We decided to dive a bit more deeply to give you the real facts when it comes to the future of jobs in social media, and to also provide you with information on how to obtain them.
Total New U.S. Social Media Jobs (Dec. 2012)
2,778 Social Media-Related Jobs
For this information we turned to an obvious choice to obtain job data – job board websites. The data we use is from each of the top four (in terms of web traffic) job sites according to eBizMBA data. These are as follows:
1 | Monster.com
28,000,000 – Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors<br><br>
2 | CareerBuilder.com
26,400,000 – Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors<br><br>
3 | Indeed.com
17,000,000 – Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors<br><br>
4 | Simplyhired
9,000,000 – Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors<br><br>
Using these sites we searched the total number Job postings that include the phrase “Social Media” as the main responsibility, over the last 30 days. The total number of postings from November – December 2012 was as follows for each:
447 (Monster.com)<br><br>
5479 (CareerBuilder.com)<br><br>
1,656 (Indeed.com)<br><br>
3530 (SimplyHired.com)<br><br>
In order to be as objective as possible, we assumed that job posters would either list on multiple platforms when searching for candidates, or that job board aggregation software, like what Indeed.com employs in their listings, may list duplicate jobs on their site from other job board sites such as Monster. By assuming this, we decided that taking the average number of jobs available over these 4 sites would be a much fairer estimation of the total number of jobs that are available with social media as the main responsibility per month based on the results above.
Predicted Growth in 2013
42,924 New Social Media-Related Jobs in 2013
Once again, according to Simply Hired Job Trend Data, the number of Social Media job posts have increased by 38% since October of 2011. Should this growth continue (there is little to suggest that it will not), and by using the same averaging method above over the top job listing sites, by December of 2013 the total number of jobs with social media as the main responsibility could reach 3,834. Using backward calculation for the rest of the months of 2013, an estimated 42,924 new social media-related jobs will be available over the course of this year.
A staggering figure, especially considering that the latest estimates on global internet penetration rates for the world population only just barely exceeds 30%, and of that group the largest amount of time spent online is spent using social media networks.
This suggests that not only will the need for professionals to manage social media presence for organizations continue to grow, but it may also become a much larger aspect of an organization’s strategy for reaching new audiences.
Top 5 Most Common Job Titles
- Social Media Specialist
- Social Media Manager
- Community Manager
- Social Media Strategist
- Social Media Coordinator
All of these job titles are different, but all of them share common required responsibilities. In a national job study performed by the National Institute for Social Media in collaboration with the NISM Industry Advisory Committee in 2011, we broke each of these jobs down into their required tasks, and grouped them into common content areas. These content areas are:
- Social Media Strategic Planning
- Compliance and Governance Issues in Social Media
- Social Media Marketing
- Project and Campaign Management
- Community Management
- Research and Analytics
These areas of study are what our Social Media Strategist certification exam is based upon, and what you as a professional will need to have a well-rounded understanding of before entering a professional environment using social media. Each of these job titles may have a separate focus on one or more of these subject areas, but by having a foundational understanding of each of them, you will be more likely to find success no matter what the title of your role becomes.
To learn more about any one of these areas, or for additional tips on how to find a social media job in your area, please feel free to check out our Social Media Job Board. With the combined growth in number of jobs available and the growth in the educational opportunities and standards, the next generation of social media professionals have a bright future.
What social media job skills do you feel are most important for success?
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