An exploratory study of skill requirements for social media positions: A content analysis of job advertisements

TL;DR

This study analyzes job advertisements to identify key skills required for entry-level social media marketing positions, emphasizing digital marketing, communication, and IT skills, with implications for curriculum design.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive content analysis of social media job ads, highlighting core skills needed and informing marketing education curriculum development.

Findings

Digital marketing skills are most desired.

Communication and problem-solving skills are also important.

Relevance for designing targeted marketing education programs.

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about the comparative advantages of marketing education emphasizing theoretical knowledge and applied skills. The current study investigated the skills necessary for entry-level marketing positions, specifically that of Social Media Manager (SMMgr) and Social Media Marketer (SMMkt). Data was collected from Indeed.com using a web crawler to extract job postings for SMMgr and SMMkt. A total of 766 and 654 entry-level jobs for SMMgr and SMMkt, respectively, across the entire United States, was collected. Independent raters separately analyzed the data for keywords and categories. Findings suggest that the most desired skills are occupational digital marketing skills. Other relevant skill categories included communication, employee attributes, problem-solving, and information technology skills. This study extends the current literature by highlighting the desired skills prevalent across the social media industry. The findings also have relevance in designing the marketing education curriculum, specifically in isolating core skills that could be integrated into the marketing courses.