Want a job in social media?

What does it take to make it in social media? Is there even such a thing as a career in social media? Simon Young says the answer is yes - kind of.

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As a social media consultant, I often get people asking how they get a job in social media. It's a tricky one.

Social media consulting is a brand new field. Look at every other field: law and accounting were new once, but they have evolved norms that now seem etched in stone.

More recent disciplines, like public relations, database marketing and advertising account planning, are still finding their feet decades after being established. It'll take a while before we know what a normal social media job - or agency, or consultancy - looks like.

Having said that, there's a bigger issue.

Social media is a side dish, not a main. It's designed to go with something, rather than to be the main attraction. 

Or to put it another way, social media is a lens. A lens by itself doesn't look very interesting, but when it focuses on something, that's a win-win! The lens becomes useful, and the item being focused on looks better.

It's the same with social media. When it's combined with a depth of skill, like writing, or videography, or photography, or website development, or facilitation, or networking, it comes alive. 

Want a job in social media? Pursue your strengths. Take the areas you're already good at, and work on making them better. Become a T-shaped person, deep in one discipline, and broad in your understanding of the context.

Be broad too in your network. A network - online or off - can connect you with knowledge you need much faster than simply trying to learn it all yourself. 

Interested in being a T-shaped person? Watch my review of How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read - a surprisingly serious review of a surprisingly serious book.

(Thanks to Leo Reynolds for making his photo Creative-Commons licenced, so we could use it in this post)