When applying for a job, everyone wants to make their application stand out from the crowd. Knowing what employers are looking for will increase your chances of success. Many businesses are aware that they need to up their game on social media and are keen to attract applicants with good social media skills. If you have such skills and experience, you should emphasize this on your resume and in job interviews. Alternatively, if you are planning on undertaking some training to boost your employability or enhance your promotion prospects, a course that covers social media marketing is an option well worth considering.
There are many reasons why businesses are looking to improve their social media presence and are keen to find employees who can manage it.
Boost Visibility
With so many people on the various social media platforms, a social media presence is a good way to boost visibility, making potential customers aware of a business and hopefully attracting new customers. It can also help keep existing customers up-to-date on changes, events, or any other news that might help gain repeat or more frequent business.
While social media is an excellent way to boost awareness and quickly spread news, it is also a crowded field, with many businesses trying to do the same. It may seem that simply posting the occasional tweet or Facebook post takes no unusual skills, but this is likely not enough to effectively boost visibility. This is why businesses are particularly interested in employees with particular expertise in social media. They want to know which platforms are most relevant to their target audience, as different age groups and demographics might be big users of one platform and barely touch another. A post on an irrelevant platform for a company’s target demographic will be worthless! Additionally, businesses are realizing that social media experts will be familiar with how to word a post, what (if any) images should accompany it, and how often to post to ensure maximum visibility.
Encourage Communication
Unlike traditional marketing campaigns that might involve radio or television adverts, billboard advertising, and newspaper spreads, social media marketing campaigns are a two-way street. They encourage interaction, with potential customers adding their views, ideas, and judgments, giving businesses valuable insight into how they think and what they want from a particular business.
Many people also use social media to communicate with businesses, to ask questions, deliver comments, and yes, make complaints that all on their social media feed can see. Praise from someone on social media can be amplified many times, with posts, shares, and likes. If it comes from someone with a genuine social media presence, this can look a lot more authentic than anonymous reviews left on a website. Posted by someone with a very large following, this word-of-mouth type promotion can become very effective indeed!
Businesses are also beginning to understand they shouldn’t see the potential for complaints as a negative of social media marketing. Even criticism and complaints on social media can be turned into positives. Nobody expects businesses to be perfect all the time. Customers appreciate prompt, thoughtful replies, and businesses can use social media to prove they can deliver it. With the help of social media skilled employees, businesses have an opportunity to demonstrate how they respond quickly and professionally to complaints and how effective they are at resolving any issues.
An employee with good social media skills will not only be able to use all interactions on social media to enhance a business, but they can also help maintain an authentic, recognizable voice that will increase awareness. Plus, they can use their analytical skills to study those interactions to gain valuable knowledge of customer preferences.
Accessibility
Increasingly customers are choosing to connect with businesses on a personal level and social media is ideal for this. While promotions will be a part of a social media campaign, they may not be effective on their own. With posts allowing customers to ‘meet’ the staff or see behind the scenes of the business, they can feel they know the people behind the business. Good social media skills include storytelling, so businesses require savvy employees who can use social media to tell customers the story of the business, helping them feel a part of it.
Developing Skills
If you do not already have good social media skills or much in the way of experience, a course to acquire them will enhance your employment prospects. Universities and other educational settings are waking up to the need for social media marketing and are providing courses at a variety of levels to help prepare students for a career in this field.
You might choose to increase your social media skills after already starting a career in marketing or because you have your own business to promote. Full-time, in-person study may not fit in with your existing commitments for these reasons. Fortunately, there is an excellent alternative. Social media marketing is a subject that lends itself well to online study, making these courses more easily accessible. An internet search will show a wide selection of courses at different levels, so you will need to do your research carefully to make sure you opt for an effective course. Among other factors, determine the quality of the materials and teachers, the support offered, and how the careers of course alumni have fared.
For those already with a bachelor’s degree, an online master’s in marketing from Emerson College is a good option. Developed by industry professionals, the course will teach you how to use the latest tools and technologies, giving you high-demand skills and specializations through 100% online study.
With social media increasingly becoming one of the most effective marketing tools, time and money invested in a good marketing course that includes social media will be well spent. Businesses are realizing they greatly need these skills, so by gaining them, your employment and promotion prospects will skyrocket.