Social media marketing is considered an exciting career by many, and for the most part, it is. This might be due to the fact that the job involves a lot of creativity and communication. Of course, research and marketing analysis are also essential parts of the job.
A social media marketer’s career satisfaction is usually based on how effective their marketing campaigns are, which is measured by how well their target customers connect with the content and how many sales leads are generated as a result. Below, we’ll get into what it’s like to work as a social media marketer, including the ups and downs of the job.
What Is a Social Media Marketer?
A social media marketer is a type of digital marketer who relies on the use of digital advertising and promotions to sell virtual and physical goods and services on social platforms. A social media marketer should have communication, creativity, and analytical skills which they will use to devise effective marketing strategies.
Those who excel in this role will have mastered the art of digital social interaction and will also have extensive knowledge of marketing techniques. They understand that to sell a product, you need to have an attractive and engaging ad campaign that convinces customers that said product is useful.
Is Social Media Marketing a Good Career?
Social media marketing is a new-age career with major growth prospects. This is the right career for you if you are comfortable with the fact that many social media marketers work as freelancers or independent contractors. As such, your earnings will be directly tied to your performance.
So, in order to get more clients and make more money, you’ll have to demonstrate that the marketing campaigns you have designed for other clients have paid off. If you work as a contractor, keep in mind that you also won’t be entitled to the benefits that come with working full time for a company.
However, if working freelance isn’t for you, there are plenty of full-time jobs for social media marketers who prefer to work for one agency or company. Regardless of the path you take, the compensation for social media marketing is decent, with an average salary of $51,000 annually, according to PayScale.
Social Media Marketer Satisfaction Rates
Social media marketers have a fairly high satisfaction rate. Reviews on PayScale indicate that digital marketing specialists have a job satisfaction rating of 3.83 out of 5 stars. Similarly, social media managers have a job satisfaction rate of 3.7 out of 5 stars. According to Payscale, these satisfaction rates are higher than average.
What Makes Social Media Marketing Jobs Satisfying?
There are several reasons why social media marketing is a satisfying job. Browse through the list below for just some of the reasons why professionals in this field are content.
Good Pay
Whether you’re working freelance or for a company, you can earn a decent salary as a social media marketer. Still, it’s worth noting that social media marketers working as independent contractors get to set the price for the work they do on a project-by-project basis. Plus, you can take on many projects at one time if you’re comfortable with a hefty workload.
Social media marketers who work for a company will also be well-paid if they can demonstrate the value they add to the company. This should be easy if they can point to revenue growth coming from sales that can be traced back to an ad campaign they initiated.
Freedom to Be Creative
Social media marketers have the freedom to express their creativity, which can be a major source of satisfaction. Although social media marketers have to stick within their clients’ guidelines, they must also be creative while developing the right marketing strategy to sell a certain product or service.
When workers are allowed to be creative, it can boost productivity. In the best case, the outcome of that productivity would be engaging content that resonates with the target market and generates sales for a client. If a campaign works well, it can further boost a social media marketer’s job satisfaction.
Freedom to Choose Clients
This applies only to social media marketers who work as independent contractors. This may not apply to you if you’re just starting out in marketing, but it will be a great source of job satisfaction once you’ve gained experience in social media marketing.
Being able to choose your projects and clients means you can pick work that interests you. By picking projects you think will be successful, you are also likely to be more productive. Plus, launching a successful campaign means you’re likely to be asked to do more work for the client, which will further boost your satisfaction.
Reasonable Working Hours
Unlike jobs that cause individuals to sacrifice their personal life for work, most social media marketing jobs come with an acceptable work-life balance. More often than not, you can schedule your work around your social and family life, especially if you’re working freelance.
Furthermore, most social media marketing work can be done outside of the typical nine-to-five work-day. You shouldn’t have to work long hours or suffer from sleep deprivation unless you have made the choice to take on extra work.
Problem-Solving
Social media marketing isn’t all fluff. It’s more than just a strategy to get consumers’ attention. You are creating a solution to a real-world problem that your client is facing. Effective social media marketers help direct consumers to products they want or need.
Social media marketing also facilitates business growth, since companies rely on marketing professionals to build rapport with their target market and achieve their sales goals. Businesses also rely on marketers to stay relevant. So, social media marketers are essentially solving problems faced by their clients and consumers.
Social Media Marketer Stress and Rewards
The assumption that social media marketing is all fun isn’t accurate. Social media marketers experience work-related stress just like other professionals. Below are some of the causes of stress and the rewards that come with the job.
Social Media Marketer Stress
- Dealing with negative feedback. Social media marketers actively seek feedback on their marketing efforts because it’s key to planning better marketing campaigns in the future. But sometimes feedback from either the client or the consumer can be negative, which can be quite stressful for the marketer.
- Handling difficult clients. One downside of the job is working with difficult clients, which can be extremely stressful. If there is a barrier in communication or if a campaign doesn’t go exactly as planned, clients can get very frustrated.
- Keeping up with marketing trends. To succeed in social media marketing, you have to come up with effective marketing campaigns, which involves adjusting them over time to maximize your results. This isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of effort, and you need to do your research in order to come up with unique content.
- Juggling a large workload. If you work alone instead of with a marketing team, you could end up overwhelmed if you take on too many projects at once. If you become overwhelmed and make a mistake that affects the outcome of the campaign, it will create even more stress.
- Making sense of complex marketing metrics. Social media marketers use tools like Google Analytics to generate insights that they use to help plan their digital campaigns. If you don’t understand the tools well enough to generate actionable insights from the data, this can lead to stress.
Social Media Marketer Rewards
- Meeting and interacting with diverse people. One advantage of working in a social field is that you get to interact with people to grow your network. Interacting with people from diverse backgrounds can help advance your career and open you up to new work opportunities.
- Seeing your creativity generate results. It’s a huge payoff when you see that all of your hard work has amounted to a successful media campaign. This is a rare source of satisfaction that’s specific to creative careers like social media marketing.
- Learning transferable skills. Social media marketing involves many skills, some of which can be applied to a broad range of roles. For example, communication, analysis, research, and networking skills are quite broad and can be applied to a new field if you decide to switch careers.
- Building a reputation. Having a good reputation and web presence will boost your credibility, which will allow you to earn more money. Once you’ve established yourself as an authority, you’ll be able to bring on bigger clients.
- Enjoying work benefits. If you work for a company, you will be entitled to benefits and perks. You’ll have access to health insurance, paid time off, bonuses, and the option to work remotely.
Life as a Social Media Marketer
As opposed to many office jobs, there isn’t necessarily a standard daily workflow for social media marketers. If you work as a contractor, you have the freedom to devise the work strategy that works best for you. If you work as part of a company, your tasks are likely to vary from day to day. Below are some aspects of work that will be consistent regardless of who you work for.
Social Media Marketer Work Environment
A social media marketer can create their ideal work environment whether in a structured office setting or while working remotely. Usually, the workday will start with checking the weekly schedule and planning for an upcoming project.
If there’s no active project, the social media marketer will review scheduled social media posts, respond to emails, and engage with their client’s audience on social platforms. If there’s a project in the planning stages, a social media marketer will design a plan with a goal and audience in mind, and will also determine the necessary budget.
They will then draft social media messages that are in line with the marketing strategy. Then, once the campaign has been implemented, the marketer will begin to monitor activity on the posts and make amendments to them as necessary in order to boost engagement.
Social Media Marketer Benefits
Being a social media marketer means you can still have a social life and a work life. With your flexible schedule, you can even take time to get additional certificates or degrees to further advance your career.
If you’re working for a company, you will likely enjoy benefits such as working from home or in a shared office space. Plus, most major companies will also provide you with health insurance, relocation assistance, work equipment financing, and recreation facilities.
Social Media Marketer Career Growth
Social media marketers have several opportunities for career growth. This occupation is a great stepping stone to becoming an entrepreneur and running your own online business. You may also want to become a marketing manager or consultant. Working as a digital advertising executive is another option.
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You don’t necessarily need a college degree to become a social media marketer, but if you’re planning on advancing in your career, you may need a bachelor’s degree or even an advanced degree in marketing. Once you have an advanced college degree, you’ll be eligible to work as a marketing manager or media communications expert.
Social Media Marketer Job Outlook, Salaries, and Career Growth
Before you start any job, it’s a good idea to consider the long-term demand for the career, and whether it will remain relevant in the long run. You should also think about what salary you’d like to have, and whether the industry you’re interested in can provide that. Luckily, when it comes to social media marketing, there’s plenty of demand and a decent salary in store.
Is Social Media Marketing In Demand?
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected employment growth for social media managers is 10 percent between 2020 and 2030, indicating that social media marketing jobs will continue to rise.
Social Media Marketer Salaries
Based on the latest salary data from PayScale, social media marketers receive an average annual salary of $51,000, while social media marketers who advance to managerial positions earn an average of $55,533.
High-Paying Social Media Marketing Jobs
| Job Title | Average Salary |
| Public relations manager | $78,391 |
| Copywriter | $75,211 |
| Digital marketing manager | $71,914 |
| Content manager | $63,314 |
| Web designer | $60,202 |
Public Relations Manager
- Average Salary: $78,391
Copywriter
- Average Salary: $75,211
Copywriters plan, write, edit and publish advertising and marketing content across digital and print platforms to create brand awareness, stimulate customer traffic, and boost sales. The content created by copywriters is intended to attract customers and spur consumers to action.
Digital Marketing Manager
- Average Salary: $71,914
A digital marketing manager coordinates the planning, development, implementation and management of advertising and marketing campaigns across digital platforms. Digital marketing managers develop the marketing strategy and campaign process. They specify the tools and techniques used in measuring marketing and sales outcomes for each digital platform.
Content Manager
- Average Salary: $63,314
A content manager coordinates all written content for an organization and arranges when it will be published and on what platforms. The content manager coordinates the efforts of all members of the content team and edits their work. The manager must make sure the content produced is engaging, informative, and that it meets the requirements of the client.
Web Designer
- Average Salary: $60,202
A web designer creates the client-side of websites. They do not write the source code for the website, but they create and implement the design aspects and layout of the website. They are knowledgeable about the programming language Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and graphic design for web.
Should I Become a Social Media Marketer?
You should become a social media marketer if you’re interested in a creative job that allows you plenty of freedom. To get started in this role, you don’t need a degree or a certification, but you do need an impressive portfolio.
Better yet, if you choose to work as a consultant, you can specify your own rates and work remotely on your own terms. As a social media marketer, you will develop transferable skills and will be able to bring in a decent income as you go.
Social Media Marketer Career Change FAQ
Working as a social media marketer can give you a good foundation to build up to a higher paying job within marketing or media communications. A well-compiled portfolio can set you up to build up your client base and receive more compensation in the future. Plus, social media marketing is expected to see 10% job growth by 2030.
If you’re already working as a social media marketer, you’ll have plenty of skills that will transfer to digital marketing. The difference is that digital marketing can take place offline, whereas social media marketing is limited to social platforms. Research which one you’re most interested in before you start applying for jobs.
The best way to get into social media marketing is by attending a training program. This can either be a bootcamp, internship, or apprenticeship with a professional social media marketer. Each of these paths will give you the practical skills you need to succeed.
No, you don’t. Social media marketing is a somewhat easy field to break into. As long as you have a stable Internet connection and are familiar with how social media platforms work, you can get started. Still, some formal training will give you a major boost toward picking up your own clients.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
