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Career Paths and Top Tips from 27 Big Company Social Media Professionals

Posted Under: Social Pros Podcast
Hosted By
Jay Baer

Daniel Lemin

Convince & Convert
Jay Baer

Hannah Tooker

LaneTerralever
Jay Baer

Leanna Pham

Convince & Convert
About Social Pros Podcast:

Social Pros is one of the longest-running marketing podcasts in existence (10 YEARS and counting), and was recently recognized as the #1 Audio/Podcast Series by the Content Marketing Awards.

Our purpose? Making sure that we speak to real people doing real work in social media.

Listeners get inside stories and behind-the-scenes secrets about how teams at companies like Google, Reddit, Glossier, Zillow, Lyft, Marvel, and dozens more, staff, operate, and measure their social media programs.  With 600+ episodes, the Social Pros Podcast brings the humanity of social media to the forefront, while providing incredibly useful marketing strategies that listeners can immediately implement.

Follow Social Pros on LinkedIn.

To inquire about becoming a guest or show sponsor, please email our Executive Producer, Leanna Pham, at leanna@convinceandconvert.com.

Apple Podcast Reviews:

The Social Pros podcast has quickly become a favorite in my feed! I'm consistently impressed by the engaging conversations, insightful content, and actionable ideas. I truly learn something every time I listen!

@Arlie K

This is absolutely an awesome listen for anyone in communications or social media!!

@Will31C

This podcast has become one of my staple weekly podcasts for learning about marketing! Love the conversations that they have and it's always enjoyable and educational!

@Simonstone95

Love the podcast - informative, in depth and spot on for any business size.

@MissTriathlon

It’s Opening Day of baseball season, so what better time to launch the first-ever Social Pros All-Stars baseball cards? See directly (and download) on Slideshare here What Is This All About? For more than two years, each week I’ve recorded an episode of the Social Pros podcast, where my co-hosts and I interview a social […]

Scott_Monty_All-Star
Jay Baer Blog PostIt’s Opening Day of baseball season, so what better time to launch the first-ever Social Pros All-Stars baseball cards?

See directly (and download) on Slideshare here

What Is This All About?

social-pros-iconFor more than two years, each week I’ve recorded an episode of the Social Pros podcast, where my co-hosts and I interview a social media professional about their day-to-day work and successes.
After 110+ episodes, we’ve gathered together this first batch of 27 All-Stars from big B2C brands to provide a handy reference for the education and employment history of some of America’s leading social media professionals, alongside interesting facts and their best advice for aspiring social media managers.
Once we completed the research four interesting patterns started to emerge:

Twitter is the Favorite Social Network for Social Pros

52% of the Social Pros All-Stars say that Twitter is their favorite social network, and Instagram is the favorite of another 30%.
Remarkably, Facebook, which is far and away the largest social network by consumer usage, and is also the most widespread social network used by business (alongside Twitter), is the favorite of just three of the Social Pros All-Stars in this collection.
Why is Facebook so popular among the masses, but not as popular among people who manage social media professionally?

Facebook has more users overall, but Twitter is by far the favorite social network among Social Pros (tweet this)

Agency or Consulting Experience Common Among Social Pros

Screenshot_3_29_14,_11_33_AMAmong this inaugural group of Social Pros All-Stars, 56% have worked at an advertising/marketing/PR agency and/or have run their own consultancy.
Of course, this is not a randomly selected sample of social media professionals, and the total number of included Pros is small. However, seeing agency
experience in the employment history of more than half of the All-Stars doesn’t surprise me, as the broad task assignments and fast-paced nature of agency work can be a good preparatory ground for large-scale social media management.

56% of Social Pros All-Stars Have Worked at an Agency or as a Consultant (tweet this)

Marketing Education Not Required

I expected most of these social media managers to have a marketing or business degree, but that’s true for just 22% of them. Instead more than half of the All-Stars have a degree in English, public relations, or journalism.
Given the historically written nature of social media interactions, this makes sense. Considering, however, how visually oriented social media has become, I wonder if up-and-coming Social Pros will be more likely to have art and photography-oriented degrees?

What did social media all-stars study in school? Check out the Social Pros baseball card collection to find out (tweet this)

Advanced Degree Not Required

In this first batch of All-Stars (2 more batches on the way in 2014), 30% have a Masters degree, while 70% do not.

Think you need a Masters degree to be a big-brand social media manager? You don’t. (tweet this)

Enjoy the Social Pros All-Stars Collection

We put a ton of work into this project (check out the custom baseball caps!) and I hope you’ll love it, be fascinated by it, and share it with your own social media connections.
Note that there are direct links baked into the baseball cards so that you can connect with each All-Star in social, listen to their episode of the Social Pros podcast, or subscribe to the podcast yourself (which I’d love for you to do!).

Check us out on Stitcher Radio:

Subscribe on iTunes:

Special thanks to our friends at TapInfluence for sponsoring this project and making it a reality. TapInfluence is a software platform and marketplace that brands use to co-create content with influencers. It streamlines the process of finding, coordinating, and measuring influencer-developed content. It’s a great system, and reasonably priced.

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