By Hannah Lathen/ managing editor
Peter Matthews/The Collegian
A new line of jobs in this digital age is being run right from people’s thumbs.
Job-searching sites like Indeed.com and Monster.com are filled with hundreds of listings for jobs in social media in the DFW area.
For example, Nationstar Mortgage recently posted a job listing on Indeed.com for a social media analyst, which includes using social media to “promote positive engagement and promote brand awareness.”
Social media has opened up a channel for people to communicate through the company’s or organization’s online accounts, and TCC’s web communications strategist Barbara Prellwitz says part of the job’s role often includes monitoring social media 24/7 to deliver answers in real time.
“You need to have at least one, or even a group of people, but at least one person that can focus solely on that job to make sure that things aren’t getting unseen or being untouched when people send comments and messages,” she said.
Prellwitz says these jobs entail keeping up with trends and learning new things.
“I am past the age of Snapchat, and I didn’t really understand it or appreciate it when it first came out,” she said. “But having this job forced me to look into it more and figure out how we can use it. I am definitely still learning, but it means just willing to bend and be flexible.”
NE radio/TV/film instructor Adrian Neely says knowing how to use social media apps to increase the visibility of the brand and to get the most traffic is a huge part of the job, but so is staying consistent.
“To have a presence on social media, or anything like that, there has to be someone who is consistently reaching out,” he said.
Neely says he tries to introduce his students to social media in some aspect in his classes.
One thing he stresses for students entering this field is the big difference between using social media for messing around with friends and using it for business purposes.
Open Channels Group client strategy vice president Shawn Paul Wood, who works with TCC’s agency of record, says students considering social media jobs need to make sure their own social media presence is impressive.
“The first thing that is going to happen when someone interviews you for social media, they’re going to check you out on social media,” he said. “And if all you’re doing is putting up Insta-lunch photos and other stupid things, they’re not going to hire you. If you can’t even control the trajectory of your own social media channels, what are you going to do for my client? And you will probably lose an interview out of that.”
