Can You Make Money as a Social Media Marketing Expert in 2024?

The social media industry has experienced exponential growth in recent years as more companies have embraced the importance of using social media for marketing their brands.

Many companies sell to customers from different parts of the world through social media. It is a powerful tool to target customers, get leads, and boost sales and revenue. For that reason, there has been a boom for social media marketing experts.

In this article, we share how to make money as a social media marketing expert, tips on getting started, and the qualifications you need.

What is the Role of a Social Media Marketing Expert?

Before we go through different ways to make money as a social media marketing expert, let’s dive deeper into the roles of a social media marketing manager.

First, your role is to plan and implement strategies to build and maintain personal or business brands.

Other roles include creating a content strategy to increase followers and engagement, content creation such as graphics, social media posts, and captions, replying to comments, creating campaigns, reviewing and reporting analytics, and creating posts to increase brand awareness and boost engagement with the audience.

Social media marketing aims to attract and engage target customers using organic or paid channels by addressing the pain point and giving solutions for the customer’s needs, desires, and frustrations.

For example, most brands use posts to share information on their products or services or to notify clients of upcoming sales. They may also use ads to boost the reach of the posts.

You need to stay updated on the trends and changes in algorithms or tools to schedule posts and manage analytics and new platforms that come up.

The field of social media management is wild, and you can work with celebrities, nonprofits, companies, and the government.

How Do I Become a Social Media Marketing Expert?

There is no shortage of information online, with numerous free and paid social media marketing courses. It may get confusing to know how to get started. Let’s look at the steps you need to take to become a social media manager.

1. Get the required skills and certification

So, what qualifications are needed for social media marketing?

Before starting as a social media expert, you need the right knowledge and skills to do the role. You can get free or paid social media management courses or enroll in digital marketing boot camps to accelerate your knowledge.

You have an advantage if you have a degree in communications, public relations, advertising, or marketing. However, even if you don’t have a degree, you can still get online certifications.

What most clients want is proof that you can boost their social media growth, and you can easily do that without a degree.

Some key skills you need are content creation, copywriting, editing, an eye for design, project management, storytelling, creativity, organization, and communication skills.

You also need to learn about the different social media platforms and how each works, such as TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

You can get a free social media marketing certification course from Alison, LinkedIn, Coursera, and Hubspot and a paid certification course on Future Learn or Udemy.

2. Grow your social media presence

One of the best ways to build your skills is to apply them to real situations, and what a quick and free way to do it than with your own social media profile. It makes it easy to make money as a social media marketing expert in the crowded marketplace.

Clients will easily trust you if you have proof of your work, and the best way to do that as a beginner is to grow your social media platforms.

Create an outstanding social media profile on your desired niche and post consistently to grow your brand. For example, if you want to work with clients in the beauty industry, start posting on the topic and build a brand as someone knowledgeable in the niche.

Alternatively, you can post on your passions or daily life to showcase your personality and build your brand around your niche.

You are not limited to one account; you can create and manage multiple platforms to learn how to create content for different channels. You can also create a blog or YouTube channel and cove topics your potential clients may be interested in your target industry, then add a call to action for your services

3. Get experience

Once you have built your personal brand, you can approach people in your networks to manage their platforms for free or for a small stipend.

You can also search for companies with internship or volunteer positions or entry level jobs on job boards such as LinkedIn. For example, most student and non-governmental organizations are good places to start.

Getting such entry level positions will provide you with valuable experience to boost your portfolio. Some of the roles you can search for are social media coordinator, social media specialist, marketing assistant or associate, social media analyst, or digital content producer.

Remember that you can easily get a job if you have a significant following on your personal channels, as it shows your clients that you have the necessary skills to build their brand.

4. Build a strong resume and portfolio

Now you’ve finished with the skills and experience parts. It’s time to get in with both feet.

Create a portfolio to show your potential clients that you can create a social media content plan, create engaging posts, and analyze results.

Add an intro about yourself and your experience, give an overview of your best content and how they performed, and add some client testimonials. Then, update your resume with the skills and experience that you have gained.

Include your personal and previous client profiles to prove you can manage their brand. Emphasize the experience you have gained in the internship roles and add all your skills.

The best way to build your portfolio is to create a personal website that shows your work and pricing models. You can also create your portfolio on a PDF file or use Google Docs or a professional LinkedIn profile to attract potential clients.

5. Apply for jobs

You now have all it takes to make money as a social media marketing expert. The next step is to market your services to get jobs.  

Use your resume and portfolio to apply for jobs on various job boards or within your network on social media. Make sure to tailor your application as per the job description, avoid using the same proposal for each job, and showcase some of your best jobs that align with the role you are applying for.

You can also network and attend events to network with other professionals. Chances are that you may get jobs easily from your networks because they know you, and often, jobs are advertised internally.

You can also get jobs on social media forums and platforms where they post social media manager jobs.

Keep improving your skills since algorithms change and the platforms have regular updates. Upscale your skills, and your future as a social media marketing expert will be guaranteed.

How to Make Money as a Social Media Marketing Expert

Now that you have the required skills and experience let’s look at the three ways you can make money as a social media marketing expert.

1. Get a social media manager job

The first way to make money as a social media marketing expert is by getting a job on a contract or full time basis.

As a freelancer, you can work with multiple clients on a contract basis. The advantage is that you can choose your working hours, have control of when and where you work, and can design your own schedule.

The downside of freelancing is that you don’t have a guaranteed paycheck and benefits as a full time employee. You can counter this by working for as many clients as you can.

If you value certainty and wish to have additional employee benefits, consider getting a full time social media manager job where you work with just one client, remotely or in the office.

2. Start a social media marketing agency

Once you work with several clients and build your skills and experience, you can start a social media agency to scale your business. This helps you to employ other social media experts and work with unlimited clients.

The first thing to do is to determine your niche and the services you want to provide, then create a company website with your services and pricing. You can offer full social media marketing services or specialize in content creation, strategy, or ads.

Owning a social media agency is one of the best ways to stop trading time for money because you can outsource the tasks to freelancers and use the time to follow other pursuits.

Your work will be mainly to look for clients and outsource the work to your freelancers. Start with a few freelancers and increase your team as your customer list grows. A good way to boost your revenue is to introduce a referral incentive for your clients, where they earn a bonus when they refer you to new clients.

Ensure to hire an accountant to manage your expenses and file taxes to comply with government regulations.

3. Become a social media content creator

Imagine not having to work for other people but earning from your digital presence.

Remember, we said in the previous section that you should build your social media presence before you start working for clients.

Once you get enough followers, you don’t have to look for work, but you can leverage the following to sell your own products, such as branded merchandise, books, or coaching services. You can also partner with brands that will pay you to market their products.

The key is to give value to your followers and market the products you would use. You can also join affiliate programs such as Amazon Associates, Commission Junction, or Jumia, share content around the products, and get paid a commission if your followers purchase through your affiliate links.

The best practice is only to recommend programs you trust and can use and disclose the links as affiliates to be transparent with your followers. 

You can also earn through monetization platforms such as TikTok creator fund, Pinterest creator rewards, Facebook and Instagram reel bonuses program, or YouTube partner program.

FAQs

• How do social media marketers get paid?

As a social media marketer, you can work full-time for a company or with multiple clients as a freelancer and get paid per hour or on a fixed project basis.

• How to start a career in social media marketing with no experience?

To start a career in social media, you need to get the required skills through an online certification or a degree in marketing to become familiar with different social media platforms and marketing tools. Then, grow your social media presence to gain experience and build your portfolio, create a resume, and apply for jobs.

• How can I make money on social media without selling anything?

You can make money as a social media marketing expert without selling anything by building a personal brand on social media in your preferred niche. Then, once you get decent followers and traffic, you can charge brands for sponsored posts to promote their products and services.

• How can I sell on social media without ads?

You can sell on social media without ads by posting high quality content consistently to increase your visibility and reach.

Final thoughts

There you have it: a comprehensive guide on how to make money as a social media marketing expert. Hopefully, these tips will help you kick start your career in social media marketing. Remember to keep upskilling and improve your knowledge and skills on social media platforms, and you’ll be on your way to making good income as a social media marketing expert.

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