When businesses make blunders on social media, they often go viral. Kenneth Cole’s opportunistic use of the #Cairo hashtag last year to promote his spring collection generated nothing but bad publicity, while the Red Cross’ humorous handling of a rogue tweet about “gettngslizzerd” got props from social media experts for acknowledging the mistake.
With an Internet audience that gleefully pounces on every misstep made by high-profile individuals or companies, organizations are turning to social media professionals to skillfully handle their online presence. In the past couple years, social media jobs have been a bright spot for job seekers in a challenging job market. In March, for example, the New York Times reported a 140 percent increase in mobile and social job postings since 2010, based on data from Mediabistro.
If you have social media skills, including that experience on your resume may be a way to get your name moved to the top of the pile. But if you try to fake it, you may be setting yourself up for some awkward interviews about when to use Quora or what Bit.ly is.
Warning: This is not social media expertise
Knowing how to send a tweet, create a page on Facebook or upload a photo to Instagram doesn’t qualify you as a social media expert. Using social media as a consumer – even if you’re online 24/7 – is not the same thing as using social media to build a brand, create buzz and engage with consumers in a natural manner. Doing the latter requires skills such as planning a public relations strategy, reaching out to influential groups and individuals, and doing damage control, among other things.
What social media experience involves
You don’t need an MBA in project management to work in social media, but you do need to be able to able to connect the dots between social media best practices and your company’s sales goals, brand identity or specific business target. That requires not only in-depth knowledge of social media platforms, tracking tools and analytics but also a strong business and communication skills. For example, a social media professional may need to be able to segment a brand’s customer base into various groups, understand how users are engaging with the brand online, develop an outreach plan to engage those groups on different social media platforms, and be able to track and quantify results.
How to show social media experience on your resume
The ability to do those things is pretty darn impressive, so if you have social media experience, it’s definitely something you should highlight on your resume. Even if your background is primarily managing your sorority’s Facebook page, you can still highlight how you increased engagement or branched out using a new technology.
Here are some quick tips for how to showcase social media experience on your resume.
- Back up your claims
- Don’t: Call yourself a social media expert if you don’t have the goods to prove it.
- Do: Highlight how you’ve used social media to meet a business goal. Providing evidence of tangible achievements such as “increased number of followers by 50 percent” or “improved click-through-rate with targeted, catchy tweets,” demonstrates to potential employers that not only do you understand social media, but you also understand how social media can help them
- Keep it professional
- Don’t: Assume your employer wants to see your Spring Break ’12 photos. If you’re including a social media account on your resume, make sure everything (everything!) reflects well on you professionally. It’s fine to keep your wind-surfing pictures or tweets about your search for the perfect cupcake — after all, employers like to hire humans, not robots — but avoid unprofessional pictures or language. In some industries, you may want to limit social or political commentary as well.
- Do: Include social media contact information and links to relevant accounts to showcase your online presence. Employers hiring you to manage their accounts want to see that you’re active online on a variety of platforms.
- Get creative
- Don’t: Get caught up in the glam and forget the substance. Even if you’re harnessing interactive online tools, your resume still has to sell your qualifications for the job.
- Do: Tell your story with your resume. Creative people have turned social media into a resume, either targeting a specific company or showcasing their creative prowess online. If you’re looking for inspiration check out Jeanne for Pinterest, Alice Lee’s job pitch to Instagram and the Twitter Job Hustle.
Social media workshops and certificate programs are popping up via local colleges and online degree programs to help job seekers get the social media skills they need to compete for new roles in marketing or dedicated social media positions. Social media skills can help you launch a marketing career, but only if you have the experience to back up your claims. Otherwise, your fluffy resume could become its own social media blunder.
Using social media marketing tools is a great way to scale your ability to reach more people on social media in less time more reliably.
