The secret sauce to social media marketing as a career

It”™s no surprise that social media is taking over the world in almost every aspect possible. Now more than ever, we”™re all feeling the need to connect with others and communicate beyond what we used to. With so many platforms to network, learn and utilize, it”™s become apparent that every person ”” and now every business ”” needs a social marketing guru on staff. The social media landscape is evolving daily, and businesses and brands need to ensure they have strategies and staff that can evolve with it.

With social media marketing becoming a degree in many universities, you don”™t have to actually spend that kind of money to land a job.

If you want to know how, just read along.

Obviously, you need to be able to navigate all social media landscapes and have knowledge of what each of them are before you are able to market a brand or a business.

Start off with opening an account with the biggest social media giants: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and the new, ever-growing TikTok. Embracing your own account and interacting with others will get you to understand the technical side of things.

There”™s a lot more to it than just knowing how to “post.” Probably the most important area of a social media marketing specialist is having a social media strategy. You”™ll be responsible for defining, developing and incorporating your brand through all of these channels ”” it”™s super important! The best way to reach your audience or client is by being social. You can accomplish this by:

”¢ Doing extensive analysis and research on your competitors ”” see what they”™re up to (good and bad).

Ӣ Understand your goal. WhatӪs your marketing objective? Build your social media strategy on what youӪd like to get done and what you want your target audience to learn from you or your brand.

Ӣ Distinguish content pillars that will guide your social marketing strategy and then determining which social media platforms will be optimal to those specific strategies.

”¢ Plan. It. Out. Seriously. Whip out a designated calendar and plan every single post on every single channel. This will help with your overall goal and relieve you of coming up with content every day. (Side note ”” My favorite desktop app to do this is later.com.)

Social media has become a pay-to-play arena: If you”™re not paying, you”™re not playing. While it”™s crucial for businesses to have a social media spending budget, it can be a challenge to get the best bang for your buck when it comes to advertising on social media.

Here are some certifications I recommend you get under your belt before you go off spending someone else”™s money, plus they”™re free and look amazing on your resume!

Facebook Blueprint
Great to learn Facebook ads and manager and how to run paid social media with more than 90 eLearning courses for both Instagram and Facebook. If you”™re going to try to earn any of these certifications, I highly recommend this one.

Hubspot Academy
Great fun courses on organic social media and digital marketing. They also explain the basics of each social media platform and how to use them all. Their blog is also extremely helpful when staying up to date on new trends.

Google Garage
Learn Google analytics and more on how to measure effectiveness of digital marketing via Google.

Neil Patel
Just go follow him. Go! He teaches you a lot about SEO and content marketing. Many don”™t realize this, but your social media posts need SEO help too. You can also analyze your own website for best SEO optimization.

Social media marketing management is pervasive across all businesses with a marketing function. The scope of career paths and diverse range of roles mean that whether you”™re a community manager, content marketer or media coordinator, social media marketing is a transferable skill that can make an impact on your career or business goals. The best part is, you can learn it all pretty much for free by taking online courses and gaining as much experience as possible.