Social Media Strategist
The role of social media strategist is all about presentation, so your resume has to be a work of art. Here is what you need to do to achieve exactly that.
It wasn’t even that long ago that the social media strategist role didn’t exist. And now we’re writing the rules about how to get the job! How quick is this world changing, aye? Of course, if it’s a job that you can apply for then there are going to be some dos and don’ts that you need to be aware of when making your resume.
And as it’s quite a new position, you might not yet know what those are. Fear not! I’m here to help. Here we’re going to look at the most important facets to consider when you’re putting together your resume so that your chances of success are multiplied.
Demonstrate your understanding of the big picture
As they say in the army you’ve got tactics and strategy. Tactics are how the guys in the field work together to get the upper hand in a battle. The strategy is what the generals use to win the war.
Now often online those words are used interchangeably or incorrectly. In this case, that’s not the case, however. Social media marketing strategists need to care about the big picture. They need to understand how the field hangs together. And that doesn’t just include social media, but that also includes search and what content are about.
So, the first thing that somebody reading your resume will look at is if you’ve got that understanding. Do you discuss the interrelationship between the different areas or do you solely focus on one area? In the latter case, they’re going to assume you’ve reached too high and should start somewhere lower down the hierarchy first.
You need to show you understand the tactics
Of course, you’ll need a good understanding of the tactics as well. That means you need to showcase where you’ve cut your teeth and what kind of things you learned there.
Here it is important to focus less on the role that you played (i.e. social media profile manager) and more on the successes you booked (tripled traffic by utilizing new ideas in content marketing). But then you should always focus on using the latest ideas (more on that below).
Demonstrate you understand the technology
It’s kind of a given, no? Make sure that you demonstrate that you understand the different platforms and how they work. Showcase your experience with them and highlight which platforms you know best and where you’ve worked with them.
Also, try to subtly point out that you’re very quick to pick up new tools and platforms when you’re asked to learn them. After all, the social media stage is still very much evolving and the company isn’t just looking for a strategist for today, but for the years to come as well. You can only fill that role if you’re able to evolve along with the market.
Stay Up-to-date
As social media is still a new field, you’ve got to make sure that you know everything and then some about what’s going on. Yes, you can write about the latest trends but you’d do even better if you showcased them in your resume.
Why not make your resume a display of your online marketing skills by creating an interactive and cutting-edge resume? Then you can show that you don’t just know the buzzwords but can actually create something high-quality that doesn’t just list your skills but shows them off as well.
Whatever you do, make sure that your resume follows the most recent guidelines in resume-creation. So, as mentioned before, list achievements not positions held and keep your resume to the two-page length that has become common practice today.
Those dotted ‘i’s and crossed ‘t’s
As the buck often stops with the social media strategist and they get the final say on the product that gets delivered, they have to be able to give a product that is error free and high quality. So you want to make sure that your resume is both of those things as well.
One error – be it a typo, a miss-aligned line, or bold where there should be italics and you can be pretty sure the company that you’re trying to get a job at is going to look elsewhere. And why shouldn’t they? After all, if you can’t find all the errors in a document that you spent hours on, how can you ever create error free content for their site for which you often only have minutes?
So edit your work. Even better, get somebody like resumes.expert to look over it again for you. That will make sure that what you’ve written is truly error free.
Data skills
The one big advantage that you’ve got on the internet is that you can actually figure out what people are doing based on what you’ve done. That’s wonderful for a social media marketing strategist as it allows them to learn from their mistakes as well as their victories.
Of course, that will only work if you can actually demonstrate that you know how to analyze the numbers. You’ve got to, therefore, include your experience and aptitude with numbers and the programs that give them to you.
Write like a beast
Of course, the best social media marketing won’t get you very far if you don’t have anything to back it up. For that reason, you’ve got to have your writing skills stick out head and shoulders above the competition.
The good news is that you’ve got a great opportunity to do exactly that. After all, what are a resume and a cover letter except for writing, editing and putting things in a nice clear format?
So, use this opportunity to really wow your audience. Write your resume like it was an actual bit of social media marketing (though it’s important you stick to the traditional formatting). After all, one of the biggest rules in writing is to show not tell and this is the perfect opportunity to put that skill into practice.
Leadership and communication
Unless you’re applying to a very small company, if you’re going to get a position like social media marketing strategist there is a good chance you’ll have people working for you. That means you’ll need leadership qualities.
So, make certain that you actually highlight these in your resume. Demonstrate where you’ve held a leadership position and (once again) make sure that you don’t just discuss your position but also your position as this is far more likely to impresses.
Last words
So there you go, the vital skills and laws that you’ll need to master if you want to get a job as a social media marketing strategist. Yes, it’s quite a list, but that’s because the position is all about presentation and so is your resume. That means that it’s a perfect opportunity to showcase your talents and your abilities, but also a perfect place to screw up and put your foot in your mouth.
Therefore, make sure that you take the time to make your resume the best it can be. Yes, that is always what you should do, but it’s extra important in this field. Good luck!
About the Author
Malia Keirsey is a passionate blogger and writer from Chicago. She has finished The University of Chicago with master’s degree in sociology. Malia is fond of blogging and web design. Follow @MaliaKeirsey on Twitter.
