Social Media Marketers are marketing specialists that work on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Periscope, Tumblr and even sometimes, occasionally, the barren wasteland that is Google+.
All jokes aside, the landscape in which SMM’s operate is always expanding and evolving and requires a marketing professional that is able to adapt strategies as well as technology to help achieve overall marketing objectives set forth by a company or agency.
Social media is an integral part to any organization’s digital marketing efforts and covers a wide variety of business operations from customer service to branding and search marketing.
For these reasons, this profession tends to pull professionals from a wider variety of backgrounds, such as PR, branding, and customer service industries, who may not be traditionally trained marketers by profession.
In an ever-increasingly connected social world, the ability to understand data, extrapolate trends, develop strategies and execute efficiently can make the difference between businesses blowing up or failing. Social media is such an integral part of all sized businesses.
The viral-factor alone has sustained many a startup and allowed them to grow their user base with minimal initial capital investment. Social Media is equally critical for large, established corporations in terms of managing their brand image and PR.
With a shift from desktop based networks to mobile and streaming based networks, today’s SMM expert has to be as vigilant and proactive as possible to not only protect their brand but also to grow it in a consistent and ROI driven manner.
Regardless of background, the ability to translate previous experiences and skills into an impactful resume that will get the attention of both human resources managers as well as marketing department heads requires a serious bit of consideration.
Median Pay
Salaries for Marketing Managers, including Social Media, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2019 is around $129,380/year. The Bureau, however, combines managers from advertising, event promotion and general marketing together to arrive at this figure.
The Bureau’s definition of manager also usually entails managing teams of people, which while common, is not a necessary prerequisite to achieving social media manager status, as the management of clients and accounts can also denote “managerial” status.
A more accurate median pay figure can be found from salary aggregator giant Payscale, which pegs median SMM salaries at just under $65,000/year.
Even this figure can vary wildly depending on a multitude of factors such as the geographic location of the job and the employment type (self-employed, social media agency, marketing agency or PR/branding firm).
Social Media Marketer Salary Statistics 2019
| 2019 Median Pay | $129,380 per year $62.20 per hour |
| Typical Entry-Level Education | Bachelor's Degree |
| Work Experience in a Related Occupation | Desirable |
| On-the-job Training | Not required |
| Number of Jobs, 2019 | 225,200 |
| Job Outlook, 2014-2024 | +9% |
| Employment Change, 2014-2024 | +19,700 |
At the end of the day you will first have to sort out how niche focused you are in terms of your marketing responsibilities. Take into account whether you manage people and the type of organization you are applying to before looking for salary figures.
Copy My Resume highly recommends you search for potential employer’s average pay rates on sites like Glassdoor.com which disclose more granular pay levels for individual employers.
Industry Forecast
According to most recent Google Trends more people are searching for Social Media Marketers than ever before with a massive uptick in recent years.
Part of this is marketing driven, but part of it is also online-reputation management and PR driven as it is no longer adequate to simply “have” an online presence; instead, in today’s mobile-first world companies have to deploy proactive solutions if they wish to remain competitive in their respective industries.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting a 9% growth for the “advertising, promotions and marketing managers” umbrella group.
We anticipate an even steeper demand for social-focused manager positions given how integral social media is now to so many aspects of a company’s image from branding and customer service to customer acquisition and content marketing.
Common Titles and Classifications of Social Marketers
Social Media Marketers are simply marketing specialists who work with big networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, news sites like Reddit and Digg, microblogs like Twitter and Tumblr, media sharing platforms like Youtube, Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram, bookmarking websites including StumbleUpon and Delicious and even industry-related forums and communities. These are all domains of the SMM specialist.
In addition to the above digital spaces, SMM’s may also choose to specialize in various aspects of social media where they can employ their marketing skills for the benefit of their employer or client.
Managers may specialize in branding, using social media to promote brands via events, contests, and user engagement.
Managers can also specialize in customer service, utilizing social media channels to immediately connect with users and keep a pulse on satisfaction rates for products and services.
Likewise, managers can also specialize in digital marketing initiatives, combining their knowledge with content marketing. PR and search engine marketing to help grow a companies web traffic and ultimately sales.
Social Media Specialist Resume Download (MS Word Format)
Below is a sample of a professionally crafted real-world SMM-focused resume that you can download and save to reference when crafting your own resume.
How To Write Your Own
Show Broad Marketing Knowledge
Unless the company being applied to specializes solely in social media, you will want to project yourself as a more well rounded digital marketer to make yourself appear to be a more adaptable marketer.
Many companies, from larger PR agencies to in-house marketing departments will want a social media whizz who can coordinate with sales, customer service, IT and designers to constantly keep their social channels updated and looking good.
Understanding how social media fits into the greater context of brand awareness, reputation management and search marketing is critical. Do this by mentioning coordinating with various other specialists on previous projects.
Do not be afraid to drop other digital marketing related “keywords” like SEM, PPC, GDN, GA, or SEO as knowledge of these terms and their role in building an organization’s digital presence indicate a up-to-date and self-aware marketer.
Including other ways social traffic can be leveraged, such as product launches, event promotion, poll gathering, or lead generation will also indicate you are a team player with all the tools required to help make a positive impact on an organization’s bottom line.
Have Examples of Past Success
There are two places to highlight projects by name that can be independently referenced, thus verifying your claims and adding credibility to your application.
First and perhaps most obvious is the professional experience section of your resume. Here you will mention large projects or brands you worked with and how you helped achieve target objectives.
For example, mentioning growing a company’s Facebook page from X number of users to XXXXX users, you will want to share the brand name in the bullet point, given you did not sign any previous non-disclosure agreements.
The second place you can highlight your work online would be a personal website/portfolio. Most self-respecting digital marketers of all focuses will try to have one of these to serve as a digital copy of their resume that employers can search online.
This is important given that your resume may never even see the day of light in printed form and your application may be processed 100% digitally, meaning in seconds a curious HR or department head can pop your name into Google on their second monitor and it would sure be dandy if you had a professional site to pop up number one.
Owning a digital space not only puts your skills, work and achievements front and center it is also a good indicator you know search marketing (granted ranking for one’s own name should be a snap unless your last name is Trump).
Quantify Numerically
Being able to assign numbers to your achievements in dollar or percentage terms serves multiple purposes. First, it provides scope and gravity to the achievement. “Increased revenue” is pretty much a worthless statement without including “..by $XX,XXX” for example.
The same goes with growing social network user lists, increasing sign ups, increasing engagement rates, share, and interaction rates. It may feel like a hassle gong back into various business accounts to pull this information, but once added to your resume you will be thankful you did.
If you no longer have direct access to manager permissions then do your best approximation and underestimate if not positive.
If you don’t have access to the exact number then neither will your interviewer, however at the same time you want to avoid inaccuracies and falsehoods when writing your resume.
Obviously numbers like total fans/users and other public information must be exact at the time of writing.
Flaunt Software Knowledge
Being a digitally based occupation the knowledge of using industry specific software is utterly critical for conveying to potential employers that you are an applicant who will be able to hit the ground running and not require weeks of training and acclimation.
List your tools knowledge when relevant to experience bullet points. For example, if talking about increasing engagement for a particular experience you can mention optimizing publishing times via Buffer App or Hootsuite.
Don’t worry about fitting all your software into your professional experience section as what doesn’t fit there can be included in your additional skills section at the bottom of your resume.
Also don’t forget to include other web-based skills you have that may not be directly related to social media but are definitely useful to have when working with a digital medium.
This includes coding abilities, basic HTML knowledge for example, photo editing and touch up skills, project management software skills, etc.
Sample Bullet Points
Below are a selection of marketing-relevant professional experience points you can expound upon and include in your own resume to add diversity and to guarantee you hit on some of the more commonly desired traits of highly successful social media specialists.
Useful Social Media Marketing Bullet Points
| Collect and analyze Web metrics, such as visits, time on site, page views per visit, transaction volume and revenue, traffic mix, click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per acquisition, or cost per click. |
| Identify appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and report key metrics from digital campaigns. |
| Assist in setting up or optimizing analytics tools for tracking visitors' behaviors. |
| Coordinate with developers to optimize Web site architecture, server configuration, or page construction for search engine consumption and optimal visibility. |
| Conduct online marketing initiatives, such as paid ad placement, affiliate programs, sponsorship programs, email promotions, or viral marketing campaigns on social media Web sites. |
| Participate in the development or implementation of online marketing strategy. |
| Improve search-related activities through ongoing analysis, experimentation, or optimization tests, using A/B or multivariate methods. |
| Optimize digital assets, such as text, graphics, or multimedia assets, for search engine optimization (SEO) or for display and usability on internet-connected devices. |
| Create content strategies for digital media. |
| Manage tracking and reporting of search-related activities and provide analyses to marketing executives. |
| Optimize Web site exposure by analyzing search engine patterns to direct online placement of keywords or other content. |
| Combine secondary data sources with keyword research to more accurately profile and satisfy user intent. |
| Communicate and collaborate with merchants, Webmasters, bloggers, or online editors to strategically place hyperlinks. |
| Optimize shopping cart experience or Web site conversion rates against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). |
| Evaluate new emerging media or technologies and make recommendations for their application within Internet marketing or search marketing campaigns. |
| Collaborate with other marketing staff to integrate and complement marketing strategies across multiple sales channels. |
| Execute or manage social media campaigns to inform search marketing tactics. |
| Propose online or multiple-sales-channel campaigns to marketing executives. |
| Conduct market research analysis to identify search query trends, real-time search and news media activity, popular social media topics, electronic commerce trends, market opportunities, or competitor performance. |
| Purchase or negotiate placement of listings in local search engines, directories, or digital mapping technologies. |
| Conduct financial modeling for online marketing programs or Web site revenue forecasting. |
| Execute or manage banner, video, or other non-text link ad campaigns. |
| Execute and manage communications with digital journalists or bloggers. |
| Coordinate sales or other promotional strategies with merchandising, operations, or inventory control staff to ensure product catalogs are current, accurate, and organized for best findability against user intent. |
| Define product requirements, based on market research analysis, in collaboration with user interface design and engineering staff. |
| Collaborate with web, multimedia, or art design staffs to create multimedia Web sites or other internet content that conforms to brand and company visual format. |
| Assist in the evaluation or negotiation of contracts with vendors or online partners. |
| Implement online customer service processes to ensure positive and consistent user experiences. |
| Resolve product availability problems in collaboration with customer service staff. |
| Develop transactional Web applications, using Web programming software and knowledge of programming languages, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensible markup language (XML). |
| Prepare electronic commerce designs or prototypes, such as storyboards, mock-ups, or other content, using graphics design software. |
| Identify, evaluate, or procure hardware or software for implementing online marketing campaigns. |
| Assist in the development of online transactional or security policies. |
| Identify and develop commercial or technical specifications, such as usability, pricing, checkout, or data security, to promote transactional internet-enabled commerce functionality. |
| Identify methods for interfacing Web application technologies with enterprise resource planning or other system software. |
| Keep abreast of government regulations and emerging Web technology to ensure regulatory compliance by reviewing current literature, talking with colleagues, participating in educational programs, attending meetings or workshops, or participating in professional organizations or conferences. |
Career Objective Writing
A career objective is a 1-2 sentence opener where you specify your experience level and declare the position it is you are formally seeking as an applicant.
This section should be short and to the point. An example objective may look like this:
Social Media Strategist with 4+ years of agency and in-house digital marketing experience seeking Account Manager position with SocialGrowth Inc
The real purpose here is to simply reaffirm to the reader of your resume that yes, they are indeed in the right place and this document is relevant to the position they are trying to fulfill.
Customize each objective you right to be targeted to the specific job opening you are applying to.
Useful Additional Skills & Certifications
Because this is such a skills based profession that utilizes a wide variety of online tools the additional skills section carries more weight than your typical non-digital-based resume.
Including things like Google Analytics certification, Google Search Console knowledge, and other web analytics suite experience shows that you don’t just know how to grow social media but you also know how to analyze the results.
Knowledge of the Adobe suit and Facebook’s Power Editor for will show you are skilled not just at engagement and interaction but also with design.
Marketers who can manage their own imagery and create their own infographics are huge assets as opposed to those who will have to eat into design department time for their visuals.
Tools like Buffer App, Hootsuite, Twello, Mention, Followerwonk, TweetDeck, SproutSocial, and IFTTT are all solid social media industry staples.
Including other software tools pertaining to other aspects of digital marketing such as email marketing tools (like Mailchimp, Aweber to name a few), optimization and testing tools like Optimizely and Unbounce, curation tools like Feedly, Scoop.it, or Digg, analytics tools like Kissmetrics, GA and Adobe Analytics, and even customer service tools like Zendesk and Livechat will further round out your resume
