To be a social media manager, you need to be able to evaluate a company’s position, learn enough about the company to develop an initial online strategy, and then proceed with doing all the steps to prepare a dynamic plan for a quality online presence with  ongoing content and relationship development. While the manager may have to handle everything from choosing the account names to loading and editing photos, the more challenging aspect is the overall decision making about the program, how to manage it, how to evaluate performance, how to handle the challenges, where to take it as it evolves.

Social Media related jobs continue to grow. More people need to be trained in social media for business to fill the jobs that are posted, and the many that have yet to be created.

Where do you find social media jobs? You can find them formally posted on on online job board sites like Indeed.com.

Here are a few links:

Indeed.com’s Social Media Strategist positions.

Simply Hired’s social media marketing jobs.

There are also less formal job sites like Craigslist. Look for  “social media” in Raleigh Jobs on Craiglist.org.

And, contract job sites, like guru.com and elance.com. Here’s a link: social media marketing jobs on elance.com.

There are hundreds of other opportunities that haven’t been posted anywhere. If you get out and talk with small business owners, they’ll tell you about their challenges. If you want to build your own business doing contract social media management work, these business owners may become your clients.

Although a whole generation of people has been raised on computers, mobile devices and Facebook, this younger generation does not always have the business savvy or know-how to manage a business’ social media and Internet marketing presence from definition to hand-off. It’s not something one is born with, and businesses vary too much industry to industry to be readily handled simply by someone who has “been on Facebook since 2004.”

No semester-long training can substitute for ongoing practice and live experience, a thorough training by people who have current experience, is an excellent way to start.

What kinds of social media manager or management or marketing training is available near RTP (Research Triangle Park) in the Triangle?

One source is Martin Brossman & Associates. Martin Brossman has been teaching social media and online marketing for small business all around North Carolina. Martin and Anora McGaha taught a Social Media Management Certificate Program at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro in the Spring of 2013.

In 2012, Anora McGaha and Martin Brossman developed a specific online training for becoming a Social Media Manager Training Program – covering all aspects of defining a social media program for a business or non-profit and creating and managing it. That specific training had as prerequisites the basics of setting up social media accounts, posting, blogging, basic Google Analytics and photo handling, to name just some of the basics.

The Social Media Manager training program is an advanced training in social media management – even though participants are learning the fundamentals of Social Media Management. So much basic knowledge of social media sites and the Internet is needed before adding on the Social Media Management phases. Then they developed a broader program, the Social Media Management Certificate Program which starts at the beginning and takes you through Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced levels before moving through the Social Media Manager Training.

Although a 14 week course, the pace is fast and requires a lot of independent learning through watching videos and experimenting. Students are required to develop their own project in social media management to demonstrate application of the concepts and practices taught in the course. Find out more by emailing info@martinbrossmanandassociates.com.

Martin Brossman and Anora McGaha, Co-trainers and co-authors of the book Social Media for Business – Available on Amazon

Video of Anora McGaha and Martin Brossman talking about their book:  

What Does Social Media Training Cost?

Social media work is available at all levels from interns, assistants, coordinators, analysts, specialists, managers or directors; both in office and virtually. But how many people have the training and experience to fill the positions? If you don’t have experience, getting training will give you a head start; and the better training programs require you to apply the learning live to gain experience.

What does social media training cost? You have many choices today for Social Media (SM) training. Prices vary from under $40,000 to a couple of hundred dollars, and of course, what they offer varies too, from a Master’s degree to a certificate. Here are some examples.

Master’s degrees in Social Media Related Fields from graduate schools:

• $32,000, if you get accepted, for a Master’s Degree in Communications with a Digital Communications concentration from Johns Hopkins.
• $10,000 for a Master’s degree in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University.

Bachelor’s degrees in Social Media or related disciplines of digital marketing or Internet marketing:

• $8,000 for a Bachelor’s in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University to study Social Media Optimization.

Special or Certificate Programs in Social Media at Universities:

• $5,000 you could get a Certificate in Digital Media Marketing from NYU.
• $4,995 you can attend Rutgers’ Mini MBA(tm): Social Media Marketing.
• $3,000 or less you can get a Certificate in Social Media Technologies and Implementation from the University of Washington.
• $2,200 or less, San Francisco State’s Social Media Marketing Certificate.

Commercial or Non-Academic Social Media Training Programs:

• $4,000 as an estimate, for attending 4 PR News Digital and Social Media Conferences to earn a PR News Certificate in Social Media
•   $3,700 to attend the Social Media Academy’s Certified Social Media Strategist training.
• $500 or less, Media Bistro’s Social Media Marketing Boot Camp
• $399 one time fee, and $20 a month for Web Media University’s Social Media  Certification program

Community College Social Media Training:

Community college education is often restricted to residents in the local area, and so, while more affordable than other education, is not accessible to just anyone.

• under $1300 for the 12 credit 4 course SM Certificate Program at Madison Area Technical Community College in Wisconsin.
• $120 for the 2.4 CEU 24 hour SM Manager Certification at Sandhills Community College in North Carolina.

Higher prices do not necessarily guarantee better training or better preparedness for employment and higher income. Though certainly, we all know that a Master’s Degree program gives us a qualification and status that you can’t get with a non-degree program. These different programs have different purposes.

What Are Your Goals for Social Media Training?

In order to evaluate what program serves your needs, within your budget, part of it is understanding what your own goals are.

• Are you looking for the skills to be able to do hourly work through elance.com or guru.com or virtualvocation.com, part time and virtually?
• Are you looking to work for an agency, as a social media assistant or specialist?
• Or do you want to manage one or more organizations’ online marketing strategy, plan and campaigns?

The bigger the organization you want to work for, the more depth of study and experience you’ll need. Strategies and implementation for Fortune 500 companies are on a wholly different scale than for small businesses of under 50 or under 20 employees.

Ultimately, the more hands-on experience you have the more informed and savvy you’ll become, and the more value you’ll offer as a contractor or employee.

Anora McGaha collaborates with Martin Brossman & Associates for social media manager training that builds skills, concepts and methods for developing and managing social media programs for micro and small businesses. Martin Brossman and Anora collaborated to develop a Social Media Manager Training program.

See the 14 week in-person Social Media Management Certificate Program at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro. It includes  Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Social Media for Business Concepts and Applications; and our 14 Module Social Media Manager Training developed from close to 6 person/years of hands-on social media management work.

Note. None of these programs are endorsed. They are simply listed as results from current online research. Fees are approximate only, as of June 2012. Contact the organization offering training for exact fees.