What skills do I need to get into social media?
Tips on becoming a Social Media Stormtrooper
Remember the old HTML Goodies website? Remember?? Ah well. Maybe not. It’s still there, still churning out 1 million visitors a month. I found it sometime ago – at the same time I started learning HTML back in 97/98 – back when tables and frames were all the rage. And no body seemed to mind just how deep your navigation was. Or so we thought. Regardless, this is a site with a deep history.
The important thing about this tale is that this is where the digital space started for me. HTML Goodies was a tutorial started by some guy named Joe Burns – who took me through from fonts to frames in the original HTML primers. There were no rule books around then about how to get into digital – it all just evolved, and that’s really where I feel this whole social media space is at now.
The social media agency I work for is now at a point where we’re looking to hire our next social media coordinator. And the most common question is all around what skill sets we’re looking for – which ultimately defines where I see this space heading (writing something longer on that now). Feel free to contact me about the position too (suit junior or graduate).
So hope this helps business and social media job seekers alike.
My intentions here aren’t to write a mantra, or a fucking stone tablet for social media skill sets – it can, and it does change between businesses, clients, agencies and needs! And no, I’m not the first to write about how this all fits together, fellow Social Media Stormtrooper Matt Granfield wrote a piece for MarketingMag.
Three key areas we’re looking for:
- Research & Reporting: deep research skills – not only undertake both qualitative and quantitative research, but be able to record and present meaningful information and insights
- Technology: a strong understanding of emerging digital technology to develop solutions that are both strategic and practical – and incredibly dynamic
- Communication: an exceptional ability to communicate via a wide range of digital mediums, including written; verbal and visual
Yes, you can get much, much deeper and with this comes an understanding of user experience, community drivers and technical developments. And we feel that by breaking it into these three key areas, we’ll have the most effective skill set as a part of our team.
So, my advice?
- Start doing social yourself for the things you love (music for example)
- Set yourself goals, think about being creative, interesting and useful
- Fail often, fail fast: and learn
Thoughts?
2 Comments
Jye, I think this is great.
The image is clear and explanatory.
Do you think between Tech and Research you would put ‘Monitoring’?
Maybe – definitely as a service. But not necessarily a skill set. I still think there’s something around being interpret both independently.