How to Become a Social Media Marketing Expert

Social Media Marketing Expert is a term which is heard a lot these days. And a lot of people want to become a Social Media Marketing Expert.

How does the Journey begin to Become a Social Media Marketing Expert?

Becoming an expert or specialist in any field or industry is often a journey that begins with a burning passion. This is maybe the most significant quality. Because you need that zeal to remain dedicated and disciplined which is very essential to master your craft. The same is true if you want to become a Social Media Marketing Expert or a Social Media Marketing Specialist.

See the real-life examples around and you will find that every renowned professional has one thing in common. And that thing is a burning desire to achieve something.

Social Media is growing at a rapid pace. Companies and brands are in constant search for ways to leverage Social Media Marketing. They want to reach out to the people to market their products and services.

Initially, it looks very simple to post some product pictures and content to attract the audience.

But it becomes frustrating when it doesn’t work. Social media marketers are required to do it in the right way to get better ROI.

Social Media marketing also requires a set of skills like other professions. For instance, to become a Social Media Marketing Expert you first need to understand social media platforms.

You need to understand how these social media channels work. Next, you need to understand your target audience, their behaviors, their expectations, their needs, their cultural values, demography, and geography.

Then you need to creatively carve out a way to get their attention.

Who are the Social Media Marketing Experts?

Social Media Marketing Experts are mostly from the two areas which are public relations and marketing. They also need to have creative skills like understanding of content marketing, multimedia, copywriting and creative designing, etc.

And the most important skill for a Social Media Marketing Expert is to have an understanding of data. This is what keeps them on track in their quest for determining what does and doesn’t work. Social Media Marketing is a kind of experimental science.

To achieve the objectives the Social Media Marketers need to track and improvising their communication strategies, creatives, and tone.

So, now you have understood what it takes to be a Social Media Marketing Expert. Let’s first see how important is social media marketing for the businesses in this age of the internet.

And then we will see what are the steps involved in mastering this art called Social Media Marketing.

How Important is Social Media Marketing for the Businesses?

Currently, there are over 200 social networks worldwide, with a combined total number of users in billions.

Understanding and targeting these users is a huge business opportunity.

Social Networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, are used extensively by people.

The figures below would make it clearer to you about the power of these social networks. Also, you will have a fair idea about the great marketing opportunity they offer for businesses. 

• Over 20 million websites have integrated with Facebook. (Source: Statista)
• 73% of Facebook users check their feed 5-6 times daily. (Source: Statista)
• More than 5 million photos are uploaded on Instagram every hour. (Source: Statista)
• 467 million users are there on LinkedIn and the website is available in 24 languages and in 200 countries. (Source: Statista)
• Instagram generates higher average orders than other social networking websites. This is especially impressive considering the only clickable links on Instagram are those in profile bio’s. (Source: Shopify)
• Facebook has the highest conversion rate for all social media e-commerce traffic at 1.85%. (Source: Shopify)

How Can You Become a Social Media Marketing Expert?

Now coming to the question — How Can You Become a Social Media Marketing Expert. Let’s get started.

Let’s discuss the steps you need to take and skills you should acquire to become a Social Media Marketing Expert.

Let’s first understand what does Social Media Marketer Do? This will help you understand the roles and responsibilities of the Social Media Marketers. Also, you will have a fair idea of what Social Media Marketers do.

What does a Social Media Marketer Do?

Social Media Marketers utilize traditional marketing tenets and online media best practices to market brands, products, services in order to:

• Drive traffic to the business website to enhance the visibility of a brand, product, services, or person.
• Promote content using strategies such as Social Media Marketing, social advertising, link-building,  and social sharing.
• Use social media analytics to identify the gaps and areas of improvement. And tweak the strategies to achieve the business objectives, identify existing audience demographics, and grow the base.
• Develop relationships with the target audiences and key influencers.
• Apply a blended marketing approach that includes earned, paid, and owned media outreach to attract prospects.
• Keep their audience engaged and interact with them in a meaningful way. They try to solve their audience’s questions and queries up to their satisfaction.

Steps to Become a Social Media Marketer

To become a Social Media Marketer, you don’t need to have a degree or diploma. It’s very much possible to work in social media without a degree or diploma or any certification. But in that case, the job opportunities may be limited.

Most likely, aspiring Social Media Marketers will need more significant education and experience to establish themselves as a Social Media Marketing Expert or Specialist.

So, here are the steps to become a Social Media Marketing Expert:

Step 1: Academic Qualification

Get a bachelor’s degree, because companies want to hire people having at least a bachelor’s degree. If the Bachelor’s Degree is in Public Relations, marketing, communications, English Literature, or Journalism would be an added advantage.

Step 2: Knowledge & Skills

Learn about social media on popular blogs like Agora Pulse, Buffer, HubSpot, Social Media Examiner, and on the social media channel blogs itself.

Their blogs are great resources for understanding the trends, finding facts & figures, understand using the platform for marketing.

Below are the resources which you would find very useful to get knowledge and insights about these social media channels.

• Facebook Marketing Blog
• LinkedIn Marketing Blog
• Twitter Marketing Blog
• Instagram Marketing Blog
• Pinterest Marketing Blog

Step 3: Certifications

Facebook Blueprint certifications are helpful and you can do it online. You can also enroll yourself in the Social Media Marketing Courses available online from Udacity, HubSpot, or Lynda or academic institutes offering such courses in your vicinity.

Step 4: Experience

To become an expert in any discipline you need to have relevant experience of a few years.

Try to get a job as an intern in any social media company to learn the art, use your mind, be creative, execute well, and show some results.

Try to get relevant work experience with marketing and PR concepts in both new and traditional media.

There are a lot of self-taught Social Media Marketers who learned on their own and paved their paths to becoming a Social Media Marketing expert.

You can also choose that path and learn on your own and become a self-taught Social Media Marketing Expert.

Step 5: Share Your Thoughts

Write about your experiences and ideas online preferably on a blog so that people know about you and your work.

Step 6: Attend Relevant Conferences

Try to get into Social Media Marketing conferences and get a few speaking opportunities so that you can share your thoughts and experiences there too. Obviously, doing this will help you establish yourself as a Social Media Marketing Expert,

How Much the Social Media Marketing Expert Earn?

Earnings depend on many factors like:

• Coursework Completed
• Geographical location
• Companies they work with
• Kind of campaigns and work they end up doing on social media, and
• General economic conditions

But as a rough estimate, the Social Media Marketing interns in Social Media Agencies get 20-25K in India. Social Media Marketers with 3-4-year work experience get 50-60K per month. Whereas, the Social Media Marketing Experts with 6-8 years’ experience charge whatever they want depending on the work and type of the brand they work with.

This is how you can start your journey to become a social media marketing expert. Since everything is becoming digital, economies are growing, smartphones, internet, and social media users are going higher with every passing day, the opportunities for Social Media Marketers are huge. If you are passionate about this, do not miss the opportunity and start your journey today.

If you found the information share-worthy please do share this article with your friends and connections. I would love to hear your feedback.

Also, you might want to read How to Become a Digital Marketing Expert if you want to understand the whole digital marketing landscape.