It's been a while since I've blogged about my favorite topic: social media salaries. Since a lot of you find this blog through Google searches for "social media salary" I figure I'm not the only one who's obsessed with the topic, so I may as well do another post about it, right?
What's there to obsess about, you say? Plenty. The fact that social media salaries are all over the place, for one. The fact that you have social media consultants charging a fortune to do the same things other companies are hiring interns to do for either free or close to it. And, while you can feel free to leave a comment about "you get what you pay for" or "price is an indicator of quality" or something like that, in the case of social media, that just doesn't hold true. There are plenty of snake-oil sales people out there charging--and making--a killing who don't know what the hell they're doing but, for now, continue to dazzle and snow clients with talk of "potential reach" or other sleight of hand nonsense. Just as there are plenty of of super-smart people who "get it" and are doing great work but not getting any credit--or making any money.
And let's not forget the gender gap in social media salaries...something that seemed plenty news-worthy to me yet you read nary a whisper of in the billions of social media blogs, industry newsletters, white papers, press releases, etc. You're telling me that it is not blog-worthy, news-worthy or any other kind of worthy to pause to wonder why the ONE social marketing compensation study done recently reports that "On average, the female participants earned an annual salary of $64k, which is significantly lower than the average annual salary for men, which was close to $104k"? Here's the thing: IF NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THIS NOW IT WILL ONLY CONTINUE AND GET WORSE.
Social media is such a new field that there aren't many established benchmarks so it's the Wild West as far as salaries are concerned. There are consultants out there charging thousands of dollars a month and providing nothing--I've heard and seen LOTS of this. A guy charging $10,000 a month to maintain a company's Twitter and Facebook Accounts and giving excuses every month about why there are only a handful of followers/fans. Companies being clueless enough to continue to pay that. Big-name firms offering social media strategy and services for tens of thousands--if not hundreds of thousands--of dollars, while the staff performing those functions don't even come up in so much as a Google search--let alone have active social media presences themselves.
Then the flip-side; interns or low-level staffers successfully managing their companies social media presences totally under the radar, making peanuts and being required to be on call 24/7. I've heard from people who make salaries in the twenty-thousand range whose bosses are requiring that they check Twitter and Facebook literally around the clock and respond to any/all issues immediately. Plenty of people in low-paying positions writing their companies' social media policies and procedures, managing their social media presences--doing the work that consultants or agency staff make a mint doing--and having to take side jobs to pay their rent. LOTS of ads--especially in the DC area--looking for volunteers to manage an organization's social media strategy/presences. I'm talking create strategy and content, do blogger and community outreach, analyze and report data, train staff...the same stuff others are getting paid a fortune to do. But for free, or almost free.
What say you? Is this no different than any other job/field and therefore totally not noteworthy, or are others noticing these same kinds of discrepancies?
Showing posts with label social media manager salary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media manager salary. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Association Social Media Staffing
It's Friday night and I REALLY should be doing something other than blogging...but I happened to leaf through the Association Buyers' Guide (can't link to it b/c it's not online yet--if it's posted I'll come back and update with link) to an article called "WatsNxt4Tech?" According to the article "Today's top trend in association technology? Hands down, it's social media." This supports one of the main findings of NTEN's 2010 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report that I blogged about the other day: "one-half of organizations indicate that they will increase employee staffing related to commercial social networks in the coming 12 months."
The article goes on to talk about the importance of hiring the right kind of person to ensure the success of their social media endeavors, and how "more times than not, associations' social media attempts leave visitors searching for real value" because "many organizations simply plopped the community manager role onto a communications person's already-full plate and hoped for the best."
Here's the thing: if, as the article asserts "we've fully entered the time of mass adoption [of social media], and the key to success is hiring someone with the right skills and experience to drive an associations' social media and online community initiatives...where are the salary benchmarks associations need to attract and keep qualified candidates?
I've blogged about this issue so often that if you Google "social media salaries" or "social media manager salary", my posts appear in the top 3 results. Yes, I am known to obsess over certain issues...and this is one of them.
Here's the thing: when new association jobs are created, the salaries are determined by benchmarking the position against similar positions in the association world. Right now, ASAE does not have any benchmarks for social media/community management jobs. Benchmarks do exist: read my other posts about the various social media and community management salary surveys that have been conducted over the past 2 years. However, association social media salaries don't even come CLOSE to the average salary reported in those surveys. Or, I should say, MY salary and the few other salaries I know of other association social media professionals don't come close.
I'll get to the point so we can all go on with our Friday evenings: ASAE, PLEASE put your money where your mouth is. Yes, social media is a growing trend, one associations can no longer ignore and need to start staffing for. PLEASE develop some kind of salary benchmarks for the position. If you don't, associations will continue to want to pay coordinator-level salaries and expect director-level strategy, continuous learning as social media changes on an almost daily basis, and much more than a 9-5 commitment to real-time social media monitoring and responsiveness.
Ok, I am stepping away from the keyboard now...
The article goes on to talk about the importance of hiring the right kind of person to ensure the success of their social media endeavors, and how "more times than not, associations' social media attempts leave visitors searching for real value" because "many organizations simply plopped the community manager role onto a communications person's already-full plate and hoped for the best."
Here's the thing: if, as the article asserts "we've fully entered the time of mass adoption [of social media], and the key to success is hiring someone with the right skills and experience to drive an associations' social media and online community initiatives...where are the salary benchmarks associations need to attract and keep qualified candidates?
I've blogged about this issue so often that if you Google "social media salaries" or "social media manager salary", my posts appear in the top 3 results. Yes, I am known to obsess over certain issues...and this is one of them.
Here's the thing: when new association jobs are created, the salaries are determined by benchmarking the position against similar positions in the association world. Right now, ASAE does not have any benchmarks for social media/community management jobs. Benchmarks do exist: read my other posts about the various social media and community management salary surveys that have been conducted over the past 2 years. However, association social media salaries don't even come CLOSE to the average salary reported in those surveys. Or, I should say, MY salary and the few other salaries I know of other association social media professionals don't come close.
I'll get to the point so we can all go on with our Friday evenings: ASAE, PLEASE put your money where your mouth is. Yes, social media is a growing trend, one associations can no longer ignore and need to start staffing for. PLEASE develop some kind of salary benchmarks for the position. If you don't, associations will continue to want to pay coordinator-level salaries and expect director-level strategy, continuous learning as social media changes on an almost daily basis, and much more than a 9-5 commitment to real-time social media monitoring and responsiveness.
Ok, I am stepping away from the keyboard now...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
How Much Do YOU Make As A Social Media Professional?
I seem to be getting an increasing amount of traffic through people searching for information about social media salaries. Not at all surprising because there is precious little information out there about social media salaries. As I've blogged before, social media jobs in general are an enigma...titles are all over the place, from VP Digital Strategy to Intern to Community Manager. Now David Meerman Scott created a new one: Social Media Administrator. And my association friend Elizabeth Weaver Engel just came up with a great one: Chief Community Officer.
About the only definitive thing I've found recently regarding social media salaries is Forum One Networks' Online Community Compensation survey from 2008. You have to purchase the report to view it but can get a complimentary summary; basically the summary says that the average annual survey for participants was $81k. They just completed the 2009 version, which should be available within the next few months.
Granted, there is (or maybe not?) some difference between online community manager and social media what-have-you, so perhaps this data doesn't 100% correlate with the average "social media doer", as Jim Durbin calls it. To me, this is the main problem with social media jobs: there is no consistency with position titles, so how can there be any consistency with regard to salaries? There may be very little difference between what a VP, digital strategy and social media coordinator do, but you can bet the salaries are probably vastly different. I know--you're reading that sentence thinking "duh--of course it's a different job"--but actually, don't assume so quickly that it is.
Think that a social media "doer" is just leaving comments on Facebook or tweeting? Maybe in some cases; but in others they are doing a lot of the same things--if not the exact same things--as the people in the higher-level jobs. People assume that the lower the title, the less strategy the person is involved in, but that's not necessarily true at all. This is my exact point: title and what the position encompasses may well be two entirely different things with social media jobs.
As if it weren't already confusing enough--this whole mess with the titles and compensation--doing social media for an association adds a whole new level of ambiguity. The position is so new that ASAE has no benchmarks for it yet, thereby leaving the whole thing to the discretion of each individual association to decide which position they think most closely correlates with social media whatever they're choosing to call it. PR manager? Communications director? Marketing assistant? In my case, it was benchmarked against web content coordinator and PR representative. It remains to be seen what associations end up doing on the whole when it comes to staffing their social media initiatives.
I'd love it if anyone reading this would weigh in with any salary information they have, either for their own social media position or others they've heard about. Feel free to leave your comment anonymously if you don't want to reveal your identity.
**UPDATE**
To add to the confusion and fun, I've tracked down some more social media salary info to add to the pot:
SimplyHired average social media salary: $55,000
Indeed average social media salary: $79,000
Salary.com: no results for "social media"
About the only definitive thing I've found recently regarding social media salaries is Forum One Networks' Online Community Compensation survey from 2008. You have to purchase the report to view it but can get a complimentary summary; basically the summary says that the average annual survey for participants was $81k. They just completed the 2009 version, which should be available within the next few months.
Granted, there is (or maybe not?) some difference between online community manager and social media what-have-you, so perhaps this data doesn't 100% correlate with the average "social media doer", as Jim Durbin calls it. To me, this is the main problem with social media jobs: there is no consistency with position titles, so how can there be any consistency with regard to salaries? There may be very little difference between what a VP, digital strategy and social media coordinator do, but you can bet the salaries are probably vastly different. I know--you're reading that sentence thinking "duh--of course it's a different job"--but actually, don't assume so quickly that it is.
Think that a social media "doer" is just leaving comments on Facebook or tweeting? Maybe in some cases; but in others they are doing a lot of the same things--if not the exact same things--as the people in the higher-level jobs. People assume that the lower the title, the less strategy the person is involved in, but that's not necessarily true at all. This is my exact point: title and what the position encompasses may well be two entirely different things with social media jobs.
As if it weren't already confusing enough--this whole mess with the titles and compensation--doing social media for an association adds a whole new level of ambiguity. The position is so new that ASAE has no benchmarks for it yet, thereby leaving the whole thing to the discretion of each individual association to decide which position they think most closely correlates with social media whatever they're choosing to call it. PR manager? Communications director? Marketing assistant? In my case, it was benchmarked against web content coordinator and PR representative. It remains to be seen what associations end up doing on the whole when it comes to staffing their social media initiatives.
I'd love it if anyone reading this would weigh in with any salary information they have, either for their own social media position or others they've heard about. Feel free to leave your comment anonymously if you don't want to reveal your identity.
**UPDATE**
To add to the confusion and fun, I've tracked down some more social media salary info to add to the pot:
SimplyHired average social media salary: $55,000
Indeed average social media salary: $79,000
Salary.com: no results for "social media"
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Why A Social Media Career Might Not Be As Great As You Think
My kids love to snicker about my job: I'm a social media & community specialist. I kind of though they'd think it was cool that their mom gets paid to be on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all the time, but of course I was wrong. They think it's not a "real" job.
Not surprisingly, many people feel this way...and sometimes I have to say I question the long-term validity of my own career choice.
Why? Let me list just a few reasons:
Ok--your turn--feel free to add your own reasons social media jobs might not be all they're cracked up to be.
Not surprisingly, many people feel this way...and sometimes I have to say I question the long-term validity of my own career choice.
Why? Let me list just a few reasons:
- Your livelihood rests in the hands of web services that are out of your control. If part of your job as a social media person is justifying your existence by virtue of stats like click-throughs on links, what happens when the service you're using ceases to exist and that data is gone? Or when you're doing a demo on the importance of Twitter for the Board of Directors and the site is down? What if Facebook decides you're a spammer and shuts your page down? When you are a social media professional, the tools of your trade are, for the most part, free services with no stable business model. Doesn't exactly instill confidence that social media is a rock-solid career choice, does it?
- You can do no right. People have very strong feelings about the "right" and "wrong" ways to use social media. Everyone knows you can't please all people all the time, but because the nature of social media is about real-time and transparency and, well, being "social" you're going to hear about anything customers or members or fellow social media professionals think you're doing wrong. Look at the American Cancer Society--who would ever diss them? I mean, who could find anything wrong with a campaign called "More Birthdays"? Celebrities endorse it, people dedicate their birthdays to finding a cure for cancer--who could find fault with that? Well, the answer--with all things social media--is, inevitably, someone. Or millions of someones if you're that unlucky. With social media it's anyone's guess as to what people will find brilliant and viral and what people will consider to be intrusive and spammy. So when a campaign inevitably goes wrong, who takes the fall? The "expert" who came up with the idea in the first place.
- It's anybody's guess as to what the value of your position is. For all the talk about "transparency" in social media, it's hard as hell to figure out what people get paid to do social media as a profession. How do I know? Because I've blogged about it before--and because an increasingly significant portion of my blog traffic comes from Google searches for "social media salaries." I've noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of traffic referred by that search recently--which is no coincidence as more and more companies are beginning to hire social media professionals. Here's the thing, though: for the same skill set and basic job description you've got salaries all over the map. Some companies are using free interns while others are paying consultants top dollar...all to perform the same basic function. It doesn't help that the titles for social media positions are all over the place; creating social media job titles is like playing word jumble. Pick two or more terms from the following: community, social media, manager, coordinator, new media, digital, strategist, director, specialist, vice president, expert. Now benchmark the resulting position for salary. Or spin the roulette wheel--both strategies are probably equally accurate.
- Your position is seen as experimental at best. While many people see the value of social media, many more do not. In times of economic crisis, having the words "Facebook" and "Twitter" in your job description is kind of a liability. You are most likely going to be called upon to prove your worth on an ongoing basis, and, at some companies, unless you can figure out a way to demonstrate immediate, traditional ROI, you might not want to get too comfortable at your desk. Best case scenario, you get to keep your job and are doomed to explaining, on an ongoing daily basis, exactly why Twitter and Facebook are not stupid.
Ok--your turn--feel free to add your own reasons social media jobs might not be all they're cracked up to be.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
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?
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?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Social Media Manager: What's It Worth To Your Association?
Lately there's been a big buzz about a newly-created Manager, Social Media position at the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Judging by the number of people blogging, tweeting or otherwise talking about it, I can only imagine how many resumes are flying into NAR.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm nosy, particularly about people's salaries. What can I say--I like to know how much money people make. And, in particular, I like to know how much money there is to be made in any given job.
Naturally, the only mention of salary in the NAR social media manager position is "competitive salary." My question is: competitive with what? How are associations going to benchmark these newly-created positions? Would they be on par with a communications/pr specialist? Or will associations consider the person managing social media to be part of IT or web? Are they envisioning hiring recent college grads who are, presumably, most familiar with social media concepts and tools, or are they going to want seasoned communications (or marketing or web or membership) professionals who have a passion for social media?
While I don't know the answers to these questions, I do know that there is a fair amount of information out there about what private industry is paying social media or community managers. As of the time I'm writing this post, Salary.com says the median expected salary for a typical Community Relations Manager is $80,218. Connie Bensen, community strategist at Network Solutions, blogged about the results of a survey of community manager salaries. The upshot? The average salary was $81,000 with a median of $72,500.
Many (most?) companies, however, haven't gotten to the point where they're hiring community or social media managers. Good news for social media consultants, who, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb, command rates starting at $150 an hour and going as high as $2,000-$4,000 per engagement (engagement, he describes, translates to 20-40 hours per month).
How will these numbers translate as associations benchmark their new social media manager/specialist/strategist/coordinator positions? Will the position be on par with a Communications/PR/Public Affairs Specialist: $72,000 (according to ASAE's 2006 salary report)? Or will it be classified as a lower-level position, with a lower salary?
In the long run, of course, only time will tell how important social media becomes to associations and, therefore, how much the people who fill those roles are worth. If it turns out that social media efforts meet or exceed predictions in terms of increased member engagement, retention rates and revenue, then obviously the position will be more highly valued. If it turns out (God forbid!) that the haters were actually right and social media is a mere flash in the pan that will ultimately not yeild any tangible results, the position will either be eliminated entirely or relegated to the lower ranks, staff-wise.
But where does that leave the association that's sitting at the table today, trying to budget for this new position in 2009?
Anyone who knows me knows I'm nosy, particularly about people's salaries. What can I say--I like to know how much money people make. And, in particular, I like to know how much money there is to be made in any given job.
Naturally, the only mention of salary in the NAR social media manager position is "competitive salary." My question is: competitive with what? How are associations going to benchmark these newly-created positions? Would they be on par with a communications/pr specialist? Or will associations consider the person managing social media to be part of IT or web? Are they envisioning hiring recent college grads who are, presumably, most familiar with social media concepts and tools, or are they going to want seasoned communications (or marketing or web or membership) professionals who have a passion for social media?
While I don't know the answers to these questions, I do know that there is a fair amount of information out there about what private industry is paying social media or community managers. As of the time I'm writing this post, Salary.com says the median expected salary for a typical Community Relations Manager is $80,218. Connie Bensen, community strategist at Network Solutions, blogged about the results of a survey of community manager salaries. The upshot? The average salary was $81,000 with a median of $72,500.
Many (most?) companies, however, haven't gotten to the point where they're hiring community or social media managers. Good news for social media consultants, who, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb, command rates starting at $150 an hour and going as high as $2,000-$4,000 per engagement (engagement, he describes, translates to 20-40 hours per month).
How will these numbers translate as associations benchmark their new social media manager/specialist/strategist/coordinator positions? Will the position be on par with a Communications/PR/Public Affairs Specialist: $72,000 (according to ASAE's 2006 salary report)? Or will it be classified as a lower-level position, with a lower salary?
In the long run, of course, only time will tell how important social media becomes to associations and, therefore, how much the people who fill those roles are worth. If it turns out that social media efforts meet or exceed predictions in terms of increased member engagement, retention rates and revenue, then obviously the position will be more highly valued. If it turns out (God forbid!) that the haters were actually right and social media is a mere flash in the pan that will ultimately not yeild any tangible results, the position will either be eliminated entirely or relegated to the lower ranks, staff-wise.
But where does that leave the association that's sitting at the table today, trying to budget for this new position in 2009?
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