Full Service Social Media Marketing

Your 7 Step Checklist to Applying For a Job in Social Media

Tessa-May Marr

March 10, 2015


checklist applying for social media job

Working in a social media role requires a very dynamic candidate. To be great in social media, you need to wear many hats. If you're a Social Media Rockstar, you not only understand modern marketing (and analytics), you're also an aspiring photographer, a witty writer, and a have a professional, personable and active online presence on most, many or all social platforms that clearly communicate your personal brand.

We're currently recruiting for a Social Media Rockstar. If you're thinking of applying for this role or another role in social media, you better be sure you've got the following checked off when you apply.

1. Your application should NOT include a resume. Hold on, before you go writing this off as crazy, let me explain. Yes, we need to know your work history, but you know where we want to review it? On your LinkedIn Profile. LinkedIn is THE social network for recruitment. It is an always-live, interactive resume tool that even gives opportunity for references. (This feature is awesome as it saves your prospective employer from having to call and leave messages for your past bosses, who may or may not be with the same company and be reachable, or have time to call them back.) Anyone looking to work in social media should be an early adopter of most or all social networks, and this one isn’t even new anymore guys. If you’re not on LinkedIn and using it, how are you going to recommend this platform to clients?

2. An active Twitter account. This is one of the first places prospective employers will go to see what you can do. It will allow them to evaluate your ability to tweet strategically, effectively and how you use interesting Twitter-length copy. Also, an account that's buzzing with activity demonstrates to your employer that you will have no trouble checking in on accounts multiple times a day. If you’re going to get the job, then you're definitely going to be on your client’s Twitter accounts multiple times a day. This could be a daunting concept for some people, but not for a Social Media Rockstar. The right person for the job is going to love the idea of checking in on client accounts every hour or two, because they are usually already in there checking on their own.

3. An Instagram account, with pretty photos. Now, you don't have to be a full-fledged photographer to work in social media. You don't need to understand dark rooms or Photoshop or any of that, but you do need to have a knack for composition and to be comfortable using filters and effects to make your pictures really pop. Photos are proven to drive engagement on social media, which makes them essential to your posts. Successful social media strategies capitalize on this, and use visuals as much as possible. The best way to demonstrate that you know how to do that, is by doing it with your own account.

4. A blog. This is not a necessity, but it's definitely an asset. A big part of working in social media is writing. No, not essay style writing. Writing in 140 characters or less usually, or short and catchy Facebook posts. But regardless of length, it’s important you have experience with written communication. A blog is a perfect way to experiment with this because you don’t have to be too formal and you can play with your tone, be funny and witty, etc. If your prospective employer can head to a website and see a collection of your work that showcases how hilarious and readable you can be, well that’s just awesome. (Go the extra mile and have your Twitter feed and Instagram set up on your blog even, so they can get a full portfolio when they visit your site!)

5. An understanding of modern marketing. Modern marketing means social and content and design... all exciting new things. But modern marketing also means analytics and data and ROI. Marketers are getting smarter, understanding more and becoming more technical. It's great! But it can be hard. It's part art-part science.

6. Be interesting. Have opinions. Have a style. In order to present brands as being cool, and exciting and engaging, you have to be cool, and exciting and engaging. As mentioned before, letting your personality shine through is good! This is how people connect, and what leads to the most engagement.

If you understand this enough to create this in client brands, you will be doing it well yourself. You will be confident enough to trust your brand and what you're sharing and connect openly and publicly. Except with...

7. Facebook. You should definitely have a profile on this platform (otherwise how can you manage this for clients?), but this is the one place we think keeping your account locked down is an okay idea. Facebook is not really for connecting with NEW people, but rather people you already know. It has become a human directory, with 71% percent of Internet users using it (at least in North America), it's likely the most intimate representation of your personal life. Likely, your prospective employer will search you out on this platform (even though there is technically a law in the US that says they can't) and if you're smart, they should find one of two things when they do. Either a locked-down profile with a couple nice photos. Or, if your profile is open (which you should possibly re-think), all of the accessible photos of you should be safe to be seen by your potential new boss. The blending of our personal and professional brands is such a hot topic with the dawn of social media, and it’s imperative that someone working in social media understands the importance of this, so they may put these best practices to play with clients. Of course you can be personal and funny. That's good. It helps people feel connected to you. But there is a line between funny and inappropriate. Ensure that you've found it. Anything you have posted you should be prepared to talk about with anyone and everyone. (We'll give you a hint: Take down that picture of you drunk, only one eye open, outside the club with two cigarettes in one hand wearing daisy dukes and cowboy boots.)

If you've just read through this blog and realize that while you thought working in social media sounded cool, you don't have any of those things, and aren't really interested in getting them, that's ok. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, but social media is probably not the job for you. If you've just read through this blog and can easily tick everything off the list, then why not head straight HERE and apply for our posting!

#socialmediamanager #socialmedia #virtualteam #career #business #twitter #facebook #instagram

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