Have you bought into enough multi-levels to realize that nothing in life is as easy as it sounds? Are you ready to listen to the truth?
It is a fact that a real (not multilevel) market for people of all ages who have social media marketing skills is emerging at break neck pace: and that is also the problem: it is a brand new marketplace:
- Because the market is new, nobody understands it yet
- Because it is new, it is changing so quickly that nobody knows what to do or when to do it
- Because it is new, there are not standards of pricing, performance and payment – very hard to sell or buy
- Because it is new and growing rapidly, nobody knows what it is worth, or when
- Because most people are basically lazy, and they lack tenacity and attention to detail: IE they will loose interest and give up
New markets are hard: for both the buyers (of whom there are many now), and the sellers or would be sellers (us). Although the market is gigantic, and it is growing like a weed, actually getting hired as a ‘social media manager’, or hiring one, as the case may be, is problematic and confusing at best. In this wide-open ‘free-for-all’ of what I call “the blind leading the blind”, however, there is wonderful opportunity emerging for many high quality social media management jobs. If you want to go after this elusive opportunity , there are several things to equip yourself with to succeed: some are life skills, others are more timely – and most can be found by key word search.
- There is no substitute for education: you may think it strange to be hearing this from me (an orphan with a G.E.D. who dropped out of high-school and became an emancipated minor at 17); but you should also know that most of my successes here, and in life, have been made possible partly by a scholarship to a boys prep school in southern California (The Midland School). I obtained this opportunity because of my brains and my poverty, and, during my 18 months there, I received a college level education in English (my first love). I tell you this not to brag, but only to point out the importance, and usefulness of writing skills in this environment – which is still largely centered around the written word. In short (even if you center on video and/or graphics) a command of the language in which you are publishing, and probably English (at the very least) are a must. I wish I knew more languages! If you love to write, and you covet an opportunity to have a voice; you may be right for a career in social media marketing, and/or social media management and measurement.
- HTML, XHTML, HTML5, CSS, Java, CMS…the list goes on: the Internet in general is made up of a whole bunch of constantly changing computer code. Like learning to drive a car: you cannot learn it without sitting behind the wheel. No, none of us really like it all that much: it is a means to an end. But the more of it you know, the more useful, effective, powerful, hire-able, and able you will be online: and we all must keep learning all the time. If you cant apply yourself to it, you will not fair well in this environment; I am sorry, but you need to learn to use your computer, and the Internet in general: and the changes, and the learning never stop.
- Social Networks and Networking – much more fun that any other aspect of this IMO (in my opinion) are the speed at which people can communicate online with this technology; and sheer number of people you can keep track of and establish real relationships with at the same time when you learn to use it. The networks come and go, and grow and grow, and, again, the learning never stops: but the software gets better and better, more and more user-friendly: this is the ‘secret-sauce’ that actually drives the explosive growth in this new media: it is driven by basic human needs and instincts: we want to connect, discuss, establish, listen, watch, be watched, and be heard; humans are gregarious! Contrary to popular belief among those who do not understand this phenomenon, social networks enable and empower us to get more of these basic human needs met. Google and Facebook are good examples: social networks and networking are what the internet is all about: the more you stay upon, participate in, and understand them: and the more reach you have within them (IE; Friends, connections, popularity, endorsements, visibility); the more value you will have on them, and the more power you will be able to use to accomplish your goals using them.
- PASSION – It has been said that: in such a new marketplace, winning can simply be a matter of staying in the game. In other words: being in the right place at the right time; and being a little bit lucky once in a while, are also factors that always enter into any interesting scenario. However: the Internet, and businesses in general are competitive, and very brutal at times. Only your passion, your desire to succeed, or to communicate, or to establish yourself, or to be heard, or to make money, or to do all these things (social media marketing and management) will carry you through these times. What will you do in social media? The beauty of it all, and the challenge: is that it is really all up to you!
