What makes Career in Social Media Marketing a Red Hot Career Trend?

Consider these pieces of recent news:

• 50% new subscribers jumping on the Internet bandwagon in India are from Tier-II cities or non-metro cities, leaving metro cities behind. It is said that the Internet penetration in India will increase dramatically in the coming years and number of Internet users is expected to increased from current level of 8 crore to 24 crore by 2015. Presently, more than 2.5 crore Internet users use their mobiles to access net.
• Social Media and Networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut have been popular to find long-lost friends and find new friends as well. Besides, professional networking sites like LinkedIn have become an excellent platform for recruiters and employees to find right job profiles. Digital Media has also emerged as an excellent platform for promoting brands and businesses virtually for free.
• Social Media marketing strategies, sharing product presentations and blogging is helping businesses to make a turnaround from losses to profits. Online leads and social media chatter has now become a must-have tool for marketing of all types of businesses - big or small. From business giants like Bharti Airtel, PepsiCo India and IBM, little-known start-ups like 99labels.com and Hopsim, India's world of business have woken up to the power of people-to-people conversations and actively engage with its target communities as their marketing strategies

Social Media is getting bigger everyday and it is high time that business start enchasing its power. To be successful in a career in Social Media Marketing, you need to learn skills that will help the business of your company stay ahead of the curve and come with digital media strategies that can think beyond Google Ads, Search Engine Optimization or SEO, and Pay-Per-Click Ads.

How to make Career in Social Media Marketing?

Any kind of marketing, whether it uses social media sites or traditional media, requires knowledge of basics such as how to connect with people, gather relevant information and market a product or service. Hence, a marketing degree or diploma course with focus on social media can equip you better for a career in this field.

C2W.com and its sister concern mobile2win.com is capitalizing on fun games and quizzes to advertise products of various companies. Simple flash games such as Angry Birds are becoming increasingly popular too and you can see more and more companies gravitating to games and apps for smart phones and tablets to market their product in a casual manner. So, those from designing or IT backgrounds play important roles in generating ideas, launching products, driving sales to online stores, create communities around a brand on social networking sites by tweeting, actively engaging with followers on Facebook and tinkering around with Youtube and flickr.

Good command over English language and courses in advertising, PR or online marketing can boost your chances of landing an entry-level job in Social Media Marketing.

What are the prospects of Social Media Marketing in future?

India has third largest Internet user population in the world, which is about 100 million. Social networking sites attract about 84% of the web audience in India and about 21% of all the Internet usage time spent collectively online. Last year (in 2010), about 11% of $250 million spent on online ads were directed to social media which has increased to about 18% this year. It is expected that overall online ad spends will reach $1 billion by 2015, and social media marketing is expected to attract half of that booty.

Secondly, social media marketing is considered one of the most affordable advertising platform options available to startups that do not have deep pockets to do multimedia campaigns. Besides, social media marketing allows you to choose your target audience with ease. According a recent estimate by Facebook, out of 600 million phones in India - about 300 million phones are capable of net access, which means that reach and appeal of social networks is only going to increase in the future.

Salary of a Social Media Marketer

In Social Media Marketing, the starting salary may range anywhere from Rs 3.5 to Rs 8 lakhs depending on your work experience. An MBA degree can help you get a good starting salary too.

To know more about a career in Social Media Marketing, post your queries here.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)