How to Land Your First Job in Social Media

Looking to land your first social media marketing job? 

Throughout this article, our goal is to walk you through the steps you need to take, from developing the right skills and understanding potential roles to searching for jobs and interviewing for the role that you want. We also include a few real-life journeys that current social media managers took to land their first jobs in the space.

Read on to learn more about how to land your first job in the social media industry.

First things first: What does a social media marketer do?

Social media marketing is still a relatively new field, and many businesses are still figuring out how to integrate it into their overall marketing strategy. As a result, you might come across “social media marketer” roles that are somewhat vague, with limited details on the actual responsibilities.

Unfortunately, this can lead to the role being undervalued or misunderstood. So, to clear things up, here’s a look at what a social media marketer typically does:

• Content strategy: Planning content for the company’s social media channels, which could involve higher-level strategy decisions, like what type of content or which platforms will help the company reach its goals, or more on-the-ground strategy, like developing campaigns and brainstorming content.
• Content management: Moving content through a social media workflow from ideation to production to approvals and scheduling. This often entrails creating content themselves, working with an in-house creative team, or overseeing freelancers like copywriters, videographers, or graphic designers.
• Community management: Interacting with your audience by responding to comments and messages. Strong people skills and the ability to stay calm under pressure are essential here.
• Social listening: Keeping an ear to the ground by monitoring what people are saying about your brand online. Social listening tools can help track mentions, whether they’re positive or negative.
• Video: Video is the major unit of currency on social media platforms, and its value is growing every day. Many social media marketers find themselves either concepting, shooting, or editing video — or doing a combination of all three.
• Design: Even basic design skills can make a big difference. Tools like Photoshop or Canva allow you to create eye-catching content that captures attention and drives engagement.
• Copywriting: Crafting compelling captions, ads, scripts, and promotional materials is key. You’ll also need an understanding of SEO and keyword research to make sure your content reaches the right audience.
• Running ad campaigns: Knowing how to navigate different ad types and bidding strategies for each platform is critical to running successful social media ads.
• Monitoring analytics: Tracking key performance metrics to ensure they align with business goals, like revenue or customer acquisition. Reporting on this data is also a big part of the job.
• Staying on top of trends: Social media is a fast-moving space, with trends, memes, and challenges popping up constantly. Jumping on relevant trends can showcase your brand’s personality and boost engagement.
• Staying up-to-date on technical changes: Social media platforms evolve quickly, so it’s important to keep up with industry news, algorithm changes, and new features by reading articles, attending webinars, and more.

As you can see, social media marketing requires a mix of creativity, analysis, and organization. If this sounds like the right career for you, start by developing your skill set and learning the basics of these key areas.

1. Develop your social media skillset

When we say “proper training,” we’re talking about learning how to manage social media for business — no matter where you’re starting from. The beauty of a social media marketing career is that there’s no single path. Whether you’re fresh out of school with an unrelated degree, or pivoting from a totally different career, or launching into full-time work after years of freelance experience, there are plenty of ways to build the skills you need.

56% of our poll respondents found their social media careers along the way!

The good news is that depending the company and the role you’re going for, you don’t always need a four-year degree to break into the field. In fact, as of early 2024, over half (52%) of US job postings on Indeed didn’t even mention formal education requirements. Employers are shifting toward skills-first hiring, meaning they care more about what you can do than where (or if) you got your degree. Whether you’re learning through online courses, certifications, or hands-on experience, what really matters is that you can prove your skills.

And if you have a degree in something unrelated? That’s not a dealbreaker either! Many people have successfully transitioned from far-off fields by building their digital marketing skills and showing they can adapt to the fast-evolving world of social media.

Let’s explore a few ways to start growing those skills and get job-ready.

On-the-job training

The best way to get an education in social media management is through on-the-job training like internships, freelance gigs, or simply helping a small company manage their social media presence.

Prioritizing this type of training means you’ll walk away with more than an understanding of social media — you’ll also get to know the behind-the-scenes work of social media. After all, content creation is just one piece of the social media puzzle; there are plenty of responsibilities like project management, data analysis, and stakeholder management that you will need to learn.

Our social media manager here at Loomly, Christie Osterhus, fell into social media while she was looking for a role she could grow simultaneously alongside her acting career. “I started running the social media accounts for a co-working space I was working for.”

After that, she landed a role at a marketing agency before coming to join the Loomly team. She adds that she consumed a ton of social media content, determined to “crack the algorithms,” which helped her learn more about the industry while on the job. 

Sammie Jo Concilio, an account manager at Weller Media Agency, had a more winding pathway to social media. While studying culture and media in university, she ended up with a pivotal internship at an arts and music space in Queens.

“I was given the opportunity to run their social media—mostly out of necessity, as it was a small, resourceful nonprofit. Later, my boss from that internship asked me to help develop the social media brand identity for a new music venue he was launching. I was still in university, learning as I went, and while my work in social media was definitely still ‘green,’ the project turned out to be very successful and an incredible opportunity to grow my network.”

Online courses

There a number of online courses and certifications you can take to learn more about social media marketing as well. An online course isn’t a replacement for real-world experience, but it’s a great place to either build a foundation (and see if you even like social media) or hone specific skills. 

There are endless classes available on sites like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare.

However, some social media marketing tools and experts have also put together their own resources — and many of them are free. If you want to learn about a variety of social media marketing platforms and skills, check out more of Loomly’s educational content on social media, marketing, and careers — or download one of our free guides!

Maneesh Sharma, Sr. SEO Manager at Donorbox, took a less traditional route to land his first social media job. “A͏fte͏r͏ ea͏rning a degree in a comp͏l͏e͏tely di͏fferent f͏i͏eld,͏ I pivo͏ted by e͏nro͏lling in an ͏onli͏ne co͏urse fo͏cused on di͏gital marketing͏ and soci͏al m͏edia mana͏gem͏e͏nt͏.” 

From there, Sharma built͏ ͏a small͏ portfolio by managing s͏ocial medi͏a accounts ͏for local b͏usi͏n͏es͏ses and ͏no͏npro͏fits. “Th͏is han͏ds-on exper͏ience, combine͏d with ͏networking on LinkedIn, h͏elpe͏d ͏me secure my fi͏rst role as͏ a ͏social me͏di͏a ͏manager. It was a ͏mix of self-educa͏tion, ͏practical experience, ͏and lever͏agi͏ng connectio͏ns.”

Platform certifications

You can also go directly to the source to learn about and get certified in a specific social media platform:

• Meta Certification
• YouTube Certified
• Pinterest Academy
• LinkedIn Certifications
• TikTok Business Learning Center
• X Ads Academy

Any of these certifications or classes can show potential recruiters that you understand the fundamentals of marketing on each platform. 

Your own social media presence

Another option is to simply take matters into your own hands. Create your own social media profiles and grow your following the same way you would for a business. You can become an influencer with an impressive following or share social media tips with others trying to do the exact same thing you’re doing.

By taking a more hands-on route like this, you can prove to companies you apply for that you have the skills needed to grow an online presence from scratch.

2. Have a basic understanding of entry-level roles

After you decide what training route you want to take, it’s time to learn the basics of the entry-level roles you might be looking for when you start your job search.

When you’re just starting out, keep an eye out for roles that have terms like “intern,” “assistant,” or “junior” in the job title. This can be a good sign that a company is looking for someone brand new to the industry.

Some of the different job types you might find include:

• Social Media Coordinator: Assists with day-to-day social media management, including content scheduling, monitoring engagement, and supporting marketing initiatives.
• Social Media Specialist: Focuses on creating and curating content, analyzing social media performance, and developing strategies to grow a brand's online presence.
• Community Manager: Manages and engages with a brand's online community, responding to comments, messages, and fostering conversations to build relationships with followers.
• Content Creator: Produces and edits social media content, such as images, videos, and copy, designed to capture audience attention and promote engagement.
• Social Media Assistant: Provides administrative support to the social media team, helping with tasks like scheduling posts, tracking metrics, and assisting in brainstorming sessions.
• Social Media Manager: The level of this role depends on the company that’s hiring for it. At a large company, this role typically sits in the middle of a social media team and has a few more entry level positions beneath it. However, at a small company with a small marketing budget, social media manager might be considered an entry level role.

3. Search for the right social media job

Once you’ve gone through your training and have a basic understanding of the role(s) you might be interested in, you can begin your job search.

There are a few ways to go about this:

• Check out company websites for brands you love to see if they’re hiring: If there are a few specific brands or industries you really want to work for, you can check out their career pages to see if they’re hiring a social media manager.
• Use an online job board: Online job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, or Remote can be a great place to start your search. You can also turn on alerts so that you receive emails about new job openings and can be one of the first to apply.
• Freelance marketplaces: Set up profiles on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to find companies looking for social media marketers and people with associated skills, like copywriting and video editing.
• Reach out to your network: Do you know anyone who works in the social media or marketing industry? Reach out to those in your network to see if they know of any job openings that you might be a good fit for.

• Join online industry communities: Online marketing communities like OnlineGeniuses or Marketers Chat can be a great place to talk shop and find out about open roles in the industry.

• Search social media: Use social media platforms like LinkedIn and X (Twitter) to keep your eyes peeled for job opportunities.

• Follow Loomly’s job round-ups: We round up and share social media and marketing job listings, especially for entry level positions. Follow Loomly on LinkedIn to get the weekly updates!

As you start looking through job postings, there are some red flags to be on the lookout for. While they don’t always scream “scam,” they can scream “you don’t want to work here.”

Some job description red flags include:

• Vague job descriptions: If the company doesn’t describe your job role well, they likely don’t have a good understanding of what you should be doing. This can mean that they won’t support your role well, will have too high of expectations of results, or that they won’t properly train you, which is something you’ll want in an entry-level position.

• Job descriptions that list too many responsibilities: On the other hand, you also want to be wary of job descriptions that put entirely too many roles into a single job. Even as a generalist social media manager, you shouldn’t be expected to do the job of five people.

• No salary range: No salary range or a salary range that’s way too wide is an indicator that the company has no idea what your job is actually worth.

• Requires unpaid tests/trials: Be wary of unpaid work. While test runs or trials can often be part of a job application, make sure that they’re either very small and won’t take too much of your time or they’re properly compensated.

• Spelling/grammatical errors: This can be indicative of an AI-generated job description, meaning it’s potentially a scam or the hiring team doesn’t actually know what’s in their job description.

• Asking for sensitive information: A job application should never ask for sensitive information like your social security number. This is a scam.

• Contract position that mandates full-time hours or rules: Full-time hours is a full-time job — not a contract position. Contract positions cannot tell you how to get the work done. Don’t let a company try to hire you on as a 1099 contractor when you should be a full-time W-2 employee.

4. Apply for your first social media job

We covered some of the entry-level positions you should look for and where to search for the right job. Now, it’s time to compile a few open roles and start applying. No, we're not throwing you off the deep end here — we actually put together a short guide to tools you can use to make your job search and applications easier.

7 Job Search Tools To Help You Land a Role in Social Media Marketing

If there's one piece of advice we'd give you for your application materials, it's to tailor them to the job you're applying for.

Tailor your resume and cover letter to the job

Start by creating a resume that shares all of your relevant skills and experience. If you don’t have much work experience to share yet, you can include any trainings, degrees, or certifications you’ve obtained in relation to the social media field. You can also create a list of your skills that will relate to the job.

However, your resume isn’t a one-and-done job. Pay attention to some of the responsibilities and skills listed in the job description. By tailoring your resume (while still remaining completely truthful) to match the wording of some of the skills they’re looking for, you can appeal even more to certain roles.

You should also write a completely customized cover letter to go along with your application. Explain why you’re excited about the position, share why you want to work for the company, and detail why you’re the best person for the job.

While there will be some lines you can recycle from cover letter to cover letter, you still want to fully personalize it for each job you apply to. Here are a few personalization tips:

• Research the company - This will also help you further personalize your cover letter. But make sure you’ve checked out the company’s social media accounts already, browsed through their website, have a firm understanding of what they do, and have cataloged a few ideas of how you can turn their social media presence around.
• Share how you would improve their social media - That last one is going to be extremely important. As a part of your cover letter, share some ideas you have. This is a great way to set yourself apart from other applicants, while also giving yourself a way to hit the ground running if they do hire you!

You should never have ChatGPT full-out write your application materials — but it can help along the way. These tips for your resume and cover letter include some time-saving ways to use ChatGPT.

5. Interview for your first social media job

Before long, your personalized resume and cover letter should land you an interview for a potential social media job. Congrats! Now it’s time to prepare for your interview so you ace it and land that job

To help you out, here are a few tried and true tips to keep in mind as you prepare for your interview:

Rehearse your answers

There’s no shame in preparing some answers ahead of time. By researching some common social media interview questions, you can feel more prepared and confident as you relay your answers.

Some questions to rehearse include:

• Why should a business have a social media presence?
• What is your favorite social media platform and why?
• Which social media platforms would you recommend for our brand and why?
• What are your favorite brands on social media right now and why?
• What is your social media content creation process?
• Why do you want to work for our brand?

Bring work samples or ideas

Regardless of whether you’re interviewing in person or online, having work samples or ideas handy that you can present or share is always a good idea. If in person, print off anything relevant. If online, be sure to have something ready to present if the opportunity arises.

This can show that you’re prepared for the interview and have some ideas to bring to the table as soon as you get started.

Come up with your own questions

Ask your own questions! This is an interview with the company just as much as it’s an interview with you. You want to make sure this is the right fit for you as well.

Some questions to ask include:

• What does a typical day or week look like in this role?
• What are the most immediate projects that need to be completed?
• What could I do on day one to make your job easier?
• What are the most important things you’d like to see someone accomplish in the first 30, 60, or 90 days on the job?
• What skills is the team missing that you’re looking to fill with this role?

Be honest about your experience

Be honest about your experience in the industry—even if that’s no experience at all. However, you can still share things you’ve learned through your own research, education, and training. Plus, talk about the skills you bring to the table that can relate to the job and bring in a different perspective.

6. Land your first social media job

So you got the call and the job is yours! Now it’s time to brush up on your social media skills and kill it at your new social media job.

Some marketing skills that you’ll want to keep sharp are:

• Writing
• Graphic design
• Video creation and editing
• Content planning
• Strategy
• Customer service
• Analysis

Get ready to land your first social media job

These six steps should help you find your first social media job, no matter how you decide to go about it — via an internship, getting a certification online, or creating your own social media presence. 

To learn more about what it takes to break into social media — and how to be part of a team once you make it — check out the Work Life section on the Loomly blog!