What is a Social Media Strategist? Explore the Social Media Strategist Career Path

The Day-to-Day as a Social Media Strategist

Social Media Strategists design social media blueprints to achieve a client’s or company’s marketing targets. They also create content and manage client or company accounts. They can find jobs remotely, in-house, part-time, full-time, and even freelance. The opportunities are virtually endless for this role with jobs at agencies, tech companies, retailers, restaurants, hospital networks, nonprofits, and more. Some Social Media Strategists work alone, especially if they are freelance, but many work on a team with other digital marketers.

A Social Media Strategist can be found analyzing and tracking your account and competitors accounts, responding to social interactions and increasing community engagement, scheduling posts, creating and executing hashtag strategies, testing and measuring new strategies, tracking trends, collaborating with teammates, creating reports for clients, creating graphics and videos, adapting content for multiple platforms, outreach for amplification, monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), and occasionally meeting with clients.

What Skills Should Social Media Strategists Have?

Social Media Strategists must be good communicators and collaborators. On most projects, they will need to communicate with writers and designers who are creating the copy and graphics for the majority of the posts and they’ll need to be able to work with the marketing and product teams within their client’s or company’s staff. They will also need to be able to demonstrate their results to their client or company. Plus, Social Media Strategists will be engaging with their company or client’s followers and customers through social media and must be able to do so personally and professionally.

Social Media Strategists must be able to analyze and track key performance indicators within their own efforts and their competitors. Passionately following trends and new developments in social media, their industry, and their competitors will be a key foundation for an adaptable social media effort.

Social Media Strategists should be stellar planners. They’ll be architecting strategies for hashtags, growth, engagement, brand story, customer journeys, and more to be successful in this role. They’ll most likely be managing multiple accounts across multiple social media platforms and should have a preferred social media management tool but also be familiar with any tools they may need to use for a specific client or employer. They must be proficient at social media marketing (SMM), Google Analytics, and Google Ads. They should have a solid understanding of digital marketing best practices.

Learn the Skills You Need to Become a Social Media Strategist

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing utilizes the internet and web based digital platforms to promote products or services. This includes the use of digital advertisements, social media, brand identities, and more.

In-person courses Live online courses
Google Analytics

Google Analytics measures your advertising return on investment while tracking your video, Flash, social networking, and applications. Google Analytics works by tracking website activity through a block of JavaScript code that the web developer, designer, or website owner, embeds within pages on a website.

In-person courses Live online courses
Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the practice of using social media platforms to connect with your target audience or end-user. Social media marketing aims to build brand awareness and loyalty, increase sales, convert leads, and drive website traffic. Social media management can be done through content creation, keyword and target audience research, and the use of social media management platforms like Buffer and Hootsuite.

In-person courses Live online courses
Google Ads

Google Ads is the new name for Google AdWords. It is an online advertising service that allows advertisers to pay for the display of brief advertisements, video content, listings, and calls to action within the Google Display Network (GDN) to web users. You'll see Google ads on the GDN which includes Google Search, YouTube, and over 2 million other sites.

In-person courses Live online courses

Social Media Strategist Salaries

A Social Media Strategist in the United States makes, on average, $60,544 annually, according to Indeed.com.

Salaries for Social Media Strategists vary by region within the the United States. Listed below are some Social Media Strategist salaries for specific areas with the United States compared with the average national salary:

U.S. Average $60K source n/a
New York City $62K source
+2.7%
Washington, D.C. $62K source
+2.53%
U.S. Average $60K source n/a
Los Angeles, CA $58K source
-2.87%
Chicago, IL $58K source
-3.9%
Orange County, CA $58K source
-4.02%
Alexandria, VA $57K source
-5.81%
Fairfax, VA $55K source
-7.6%
Dallas, TX $55K source
-7.7%
Houston, TX $54K source
-9.58%
Miami, FL $53K source
-12.2%

Typical Qualifications to Become a Social Media Strategist

Many employers and recruiters prefer for their Social Media Strategists to have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or a related field. It is possible, however, to land a Social Media Strategist position without a degree as long as they have proof of prior successful social media clients or projects. Social Media Strategists are expected to have some prior experience with demonstrated, quantitative proof.

Searching for Social Media Strategist Jobs

There are many opportunities for Social Media Strategists, especially if they choose to freelance or consult. There are also plenty of in-house positions for Social Media Strategists including part-time, full-time, and remote options. Freelancing and consulting will likely lead to a higher pay-grade for this position, but will also have a steep learning curve and will mean juggling multiple social media accounts and brands. Working in-house will allow a Social Media Strategist to focus on just one company or a few subsidiary brands. A happy-medium between those two options is working for an agency. Agency-employed Social Media Strategists usually work with two or three clients.

Social Media Strategists can find in-house, full-time, and part-time jobs on these sites:

Social Media Strategists can find remote, freelance, and consulting gigs on these sites:

Tips to Become a Social Media Strategist

The most common path to a Social Media Strategist career begins with earning a bachelor’s degree in communications or marketing, doing an internship at a marketing firm or within a company’s marketing department, and move into an entry-level position at a marketing firm after graduation. While this is a common path, it is not the only path. If you have no degree and no experience, you can get into social media strategy by educating yourself through online courses, building a portfolio and building your own online presence.

To build your portfolio, volunteer your services to a nonprofit or small business or practice by building your own online presence. Make sure to include the data behind all of the work that you do, an explanation of your strategies, and the outcomes. Publishing a case study for each client or friend that you help will show future employers or recruiters that you are talented enough to do the job! Your online presence should include a search engine ranking website and blog, at least two social media platforms with high engagement, and a portfolio.

While you’re building your online presence, be sure to spend some of your time networking. Whether those efforts are direct messaging other social media and digital marketing professionals on your favorite social media platform to start a conversation, connecting with potential employers and recruiters on LinkedIn, or attending workshops, networking will definitely pay off in the long run. Try asking for an informational interview or coffee date with a Social Media Strategist. They probably have plenty of tips for you, connections to possibly find you a job, or at least shared experiences to make you feel better about your journey. You may even find a mentor out there!

The Day-to-Day as a Social Media Strategist

What Skills Should Social Media Strategists Have?

Learn the Skills You Need to Become a Social Media Strategist

Digital Marketing

Google Analytics

Social Media Marketing

Google Ads

Social Media Strategist Salaries

Typical Qualifications to Become a Social Media Strategist

Searching for Social Media Strategist Jobs

Tips to Become a Social Media Strategist

What Job Titles Would a Social Media Strategist Hold?

Related Careers

Salary Comparison to Social Media Strategist

Marketing Manager

Paid Search Manager

Digital Marketer

Digital Strategist

Digital Analyst

Web Optimization Specialist

Search Manager