Getting a Social Media Job For Dummies

387 Pages·2015·28.071 MB·English

by  Brooks Briz, David Rose

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Getting a Social
Media Job
by Brooks Briz and David Rose
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Getting a Social Media Job For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030‐5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957116
ISBN 978‐1‐119‐00266‐6 (pbk); ISBN 978‐1‐119‐00271‐0 (ebk); ISBN 978‐1‐119‐00278‐9 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This Book ..............................................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................2
Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................3
Beyond the Book .............................................................................................3
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................3
Part I: So You Want to Work in Social Media .................. 5
Chapter 1: The Big Picture of Social Media Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Defining Social Media ......................................................................................7
Separating social media from traditional media ..............................10
Assimilating to the world of social media ........................................10
Demonstrating the Value of Social Media ..................................................12
Soft benefits ..........................................................................................12
Hard benefits ........................................................................................13
Finding an In ...................................................................................................14
Internal and external jobs ...................................................................14
Going where the jobs are ....................................................................14
Knowing Who Does the Hiring .....................................................................15
Being a consultant or an employee ...................................................15
Public and private organizations .......................................................17
Chapter 2: Seeing Yourself in a Social Media Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Preparing to Prove Your Worth ...................................................................21
Checking Your Daily To‐Do List ...................................................................23
Trading Off Between Bigger and Smaller Entities ......................................24
Jobs Coming from All Sides ..........................................................................25
Eyeing the Trends ..........................................................................................27
Understanding the Social Media Department ............................................28
Winning friends and influencing departments .................................28
Using social media in unexpected ways ...........................................29
Measuring Your Results ................................................................................30
Setting up expectations .......................................................................30
Meeting expectations ..........................................................................31
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Getting a Social Media Job For Dummies
Chapter 3: Key Social Media Concepts You Should Know . . . . . . . . . . 33
Knowing Your Value ......................................................................................34
Ensuring Success with Social Media ...........................................................35
Respecting the platforms that you play on ......................................35
Speaking natively to your audience...................................................36
Domo arigato: Automating authentically ..........................................36
Reaching Beyond Social Media ....................................................................37
Defining Your Social Media Talents ............................................................39
Establishing your voice .......................................................................39
Refining your unique selling proposition (USP) ..............................40
Creating Remarkable Content ......................................................................42
Promoting your work ..........................................................................43
Volunteering with influencers ............................................................45
Part II: Getting Your Social Media Education ................ 47
Chapter 4: Roles in Social Media Revealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Honing Your Skills .........................................................................................49
Copywriting ..........................................................................................50
Graphic design .....................................................................................51
Information technology .......................................................................53
Marketing and sales strategy .............................................................55
Knowing Your Type (or Someone Else’s) ...................................................56
Community manager ...........................................................................56
Graphical social media jobs ...............................................................58
Technical social media jobs ...............................................................59
Social media strategist ........................................................................61
Chapter 5: Foundations of Social Media Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Surfing the Learning Curve ...........................................................................63
Investigating Certification Programs ..........................................................65
Hootsuite University ............................................................................67
National Institute for Social Media (NISM) .......................................68
Getting a Degree ............................................................................................70
Going Online for Education ..........................................................................71
Attending and Participating in Conferences .............................................73
Saving up to go .....................................................................................74
Prominent conferences .......................................................................75
Getting properly prepared ..................................................................77
Asking great questions to stand out ..................................................78
Hashtagging and live chats .................................................................78
Bushwhacking Your Own Path ....................................................................79
Educating yourself ...............................................................................80
Asking your friends ..............................................................................81
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Chapter 6: Making Your Own Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Reflecting and Adjusting Your Sails ............................................................83
Taking stock .........................................................................................84
Contemplating your successes ..........................................................85
Absorbing failures................................................................................86
Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and happiness....................87
Exercising your weaknesses ...............................................................87
Matching passions and values ...........................................................89
Establishing your own social media systems...................................89
Chapter 7: Knowing Your Social Media Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Strapping On Your Tool Belt ........................................................................91
Aggregating information .....................................................................92
Automating natively ............................................................................93
Monitoring the social media landscape ............................................95
Measuring results ................................................................................96
Digging In to Your Tools ...............................................................................98
Choosing an angle ................................................................................98
Improving your content quality .........................................................99
Tapping into the Big Five and Further ......................................................101
Maximizing: LinkedIn .........................................................................101
Maximizing: Twitter ...........................................................................102
Maximizing: YouTube ........................................................................102
Maximizing: Google+ ..........................................................................103
Maximizing: Quora .............................................................................104
Blogging ...............................................................................................104
Part III: Finding Your Fit with
the Right Organization .............................................. 105
Chapter 8: Life as a Social Media Consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Seeking Out Social Media Consulting Opportunities ..............................108
Knowing what you offer ....................................................................108
Defining your ideal clients ................................................................109
Offering Your Services to Local Consultants ...........................................110
Searching for established professionals .........................................110
Pitching what you bring to the table ...............................................111
Deciding how to get in touch ...........................................................112
Presenting your offer with confidence ............................................113
Negotiating your contract .................................................................113
Closing the consulting sale ...............................................................114
Looking at a Typical Day ............................................................................117
Typical workload ...............................................................................117
Delivering daily critical activities ....................................................118
Documenting your results ................................................................118
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Getting a Social Media Job For Dummies
Clearing a Career Path: Consultant to Executive .....................................119
Establishing a clear‐cut plan ............................................................119
Asking for what you want .................................................................120
Defining your value ............................................................................120
Pros and Cons of Being a Consultant ........................................................121
Pros ......................................................................................................122
Cons .....................................................................................................125
Chapter 9: Working as an In‐House Social Media Specialist . . . . . . 127
Typical Social Media Team Roles ..............................................................128
Social media manager .......................................................................128
Social media strategist ......................................................................128
Community manager .........................................................................128
Copywriter ..........................................................................................129
Graphic designer ................................................................................129
Programmer/web developer ............................................................130
Knowing Your Role’s Expectations ...........................................................130
Getting Assigned Projects ..........................................................................131
Being Part of a Business Unit .....................................................................133
Communicating Across Business Silos .....................................................134
Delivering Results ........................................................................................135
Chapter 10: Living on the Edge with a Start‐Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Knowing Whether You Have What It Takes .............................................137
Start‐Ups with Social Media in Their DNA ................................................138
Crowdfunding companies .................................................................139
E‐commerce ........................................................................................140
Software and SAAS .............................................................................140
Social media management firms ......................................................141
Marketing and advertising agencies ................................................141
Bootstrapping a Social Media Team .........................................................142
Clearly defining social media roles ..................................................142
Wearing multiple hats .......................................................................143
Doing whatever it takes.....................................................................144
Focusing on direct response deliverables ......................................144
Pros and Cons to Start‐Up Life ...................................................................146
Pros ......................................................................................................147
Cons .....................................................................................................149
Chapter 11: Starting Your Own Social Media Company . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Giving You a Heads Up ................................................................................153
Establishing Your Offering .........................................................................154
Defining your scope of work .............................................................154
Designing your ideal workday ..........................................................156
Envisioning your ideal client ............................................................156
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Making It Clear How You’ll Compete: Your USP ......................................157
Handling Legal Matters ...............................................................................157
LegalZoom ..........................................................................................158
SBA.gov ...............................................................................................158
Banking .........................................................................................................159
Small business account .....................................................................159
Minimum standards ...........................................................................160
Accounting Best Practices ..........................................................................160
Wave ....................................................................................................161
QuickBooks .........................................................................................161
Local sources .....................................................................................162
Graphic Design .............................................................................................162
Fiverr ...................................................................................................163
99designs ............................................................................................164
oDesk ...................................................................................................164
Developing Your Company’s Website .......................................................165
Buying a URL ......................................................................................165
Strikingly .............................................................................................166
WordPress ..........................................................................................167
Client Acquisition ........................................................................................167
Part IV: Becoming a Top Social Media Pro .................. 169
Chapter 12: Building Your Network and Your Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Have We Met? ...............................................................................................172
Networking Effectively ................................................................................172
Using the Big Five to Your Best Advantage ..............................................175
Focusing on Facebook .......................................................................176
Creating conversation on Twitter ....................................................180
Creating art on Instagram .................................................................183
Crafting a professional LinkedIn presence .....................................187
Riding the Google+ momentum ........................................................193
Contacting People You Know .....................................................................195
Making a spreadsheet .......................................................................195
Getting in touch..................................................................................197
Being disciplined during unemployment ........................................198
Going with the Pros .....................................................................................200
Meeting Face to Face ...................................................................................201
Tweetups.............................................................................................202
Meetups ...............................................................................................203
Tapping Into Groups and Associations ....................................................204
Keeping Tabs ................................................................................................206
Trolling your networks......................................................................206
Who’s worth following ......................................................................208
Building a Professional Brand Presence ...................................................210
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Building Your Personal Brand ...................................................................210
Designing your personal brand ........................................................211
Assembling the elements ..................................................................212
Pushing information ..........................................................................213
Pulling information ............................................................................213
Participating .......................................................................................216
Contributing .......................................................................................216
Chapter 13: Creating a Winning Résumé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Knowing the Basics .....................................................................................217
Defining Résumé Types ...............................................................................218
Traditional formats ............................................................................218
Producing portfolios, videos, and infographics .............................219
Spotting Résumé Content and Layout ......................................................224
Killing the objective ...........................................................................224
Summarizing qualifications ..............................................................224
Highlighting accomplishments with data .......................................225
Focusing on specialized skills and training ....................................226
Crafting the Perfect Cover Letter ..............................................................227
Defining the types of cover letters ..................................................227
Components of the perfect cover letter..........................................228
Valuing Professional Recruiters ................................................................229
Corporate recruiters .........................................................................229
Third‐party recruiters .......................................................................230
Chapter 14: Preparing to Nail Your Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Using the 7‐3‐1 Principle .............................................................................231
Learning About Culture ..............................................................................232
Exploring the heart of an organization ...........................................232
Locating mission and values ............................................................233
Validating perception: Blogs ............................................................234
Validating perception: Testimonials ...............................................234
Validating perception: Glassdoor and Career Bliss.......................235
Validating perception: Company websites .....................................236
Taking on Applicant Relationship Systems (ARS) ...................................238
Finding multiple positions ................................................................238
Thinking like the system does ..........................................................239
Realizing every company does it differently ..................................240
Preparing for an Assessment .....................................................................240
Valuing Types of Interviews .......................................................................241
Managing the phone interview .........................................................241
Embracing the video interview ........................................................242
Performing during the live interview ..............................................243
Accepting the importance of the panel interview .........................243
Mastering Interview Basics ........................................................................243
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