Social Media Salaries

About 6 months ago I posed the question "Social Media Manager: What's It Worth To Your Association?" At that point, I wasn't able to find any data about social media salaries at associations; at this point, I still am not really able to. More on that in a minute, though.

In addition to what I included in my previous post, I've recently found a few new sources of salary data for social media/community manager/specialist positions. Connie Bensen, goddess of social media job description and salary information, updated her information on March 1: $50,000-$85,000 for an entry-level online community manager (depending on location). Tom Humbarger--awesome blogger who I just discovered--participated in an online community compensation survey last summer and recently blogged about the results: 27% of respondents were in the $50,000-$75,000 category and 21% were in the $75,000-$100,000 category. There were also a decent amount of respondents in the <$50,000 category and a significant number in the $100,000-$150,000 category.

$150,000 to play on Facebook and Twitter, you say? Sign me up! Not so fast, though, especially if you work for an association.

The underlying problem with pinning down the worth of social media positions is that there is so much latitude when it comes to the job description for social media roles. Social media manager? Community manager? Strategist? Specialist? Intern? Pick one. Then, depending on what you pick, benchmark it against similar existing jobs in the association world. Oh, wait--there aren't any? Bingo!

I just had some first-hand experience with the issue when my job title was changed and the position "re-benchmarked" against comparable DC area association positions. The new title is Social Media & Community Specialist; the positions considered comparable in terms of re-benchmarking were "PR Representative," "PR/Communications," and "Web Content Coordinator/Manager." Kind of random and, I thought, not the most accurate points of comparison. If I had to pick the most comparable existing position against which to benchmark it I would have chosen Communications/Public Relations/Public Affairs Specialist. But I am not a numbers person or an HR person, so I digress. And frankly it really doesn't matter all that much to me. I guess that's one of the benefits of getting older; in my younger days title mattered a lot to me; now I just want to like what I do.

Anyone want to take one for the team and tell me and the rest of the world what you make in your social media job? Or what your company pays for social media jobs? No? Then how about just your thoughts about the matter--what do you think social media jobs should pay and why?