Social Media Coordinator careers guide and job profile

You’ll handle a business’s online social presence, and your work goes a long way to help them build their brand.

Your professional goal? To break the internet. In a good way. How’s that for ambition?

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Useful skills to put in your CV:

• Written communication skills – you’ll often use a combination of words (aka copy) and imagery (videos and GIFs can capture attention) to get your message across in an engaging way. You’ll take care to remove any pesky typos or broken links before a post goes live (this needs attention to detail!). There’s nothing worse than a post going viral with that one glaring typo staring you in the face.
• Problem solving skills and an curious mind – what steps would you take to make sure an employer gets as many website visits as possible from a social media campaign?
• Organisation skills – you’ll often be working to tight deadlines, and sometimes for a number of clients – especially if you’re working in a marketing agency which handles social media accounts for clients
• Teamwork skills – you’ll be working as part of a team, supervised by a social media manager.
• Self-management skills – you’ll use your initiative to offer ideas for social content, and contribute to team meetings. You’ll be able to get on with your work without a team leader always telling you what to do.
• It goes without saying that you’ll be passionate about social media and the possibilities it offers to build relationships with brands and audiences
• Digital skills – to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently

Top Skills-boosting Tip

Keep up with marketing trends! New features, apps and trends are appearing all the time and you don’t want to be late to the party. Look at how big TikTok is and how jumping onto a viral trend can boost your brand awareness and visibility!

You could keep up to date by joining webinars about social media trends.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

Training

You could do qualifications through professional bodies like the Institute of Data and Marketing and The Chartered Institute of Marketing to build your skills, knowledge and experience in marketing.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. There are a number of BTEC subjects you might want to consider if you are interested in becoming a Social Media Coordinator. Courses available could include:

• Marketing and Social Media Level 3 BTEC
• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Marketing
• BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Business (Marketing)

Courses available can vary across schools, colleges and sixth forms and across training providers.

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you’ll most likely start on a Level 1 course.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. With an apprenticeship (or advanced apprenticeship) you’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

You could do a digital marketer advanced or degree apprenticeship, or a digital community manager higher apprenticeship.

Anyone over 16 can study for an apprenticeship. You will normally need at least 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9 (A*-C) to study for an apprenticeship, including English and Maths.

University degrees and graduates

Some employers may expect you to have a degree in a relevant subject, like:

• advertising
• marketing and public relations
• digital and social media marketing
• journalism
• business management

A degree with a work placement will help you gain valuable experience and may be an advantage when you look for work.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

A-Levels

A Levels are academic qualifications that come after GCSEs. A Levels can be an ideal stepping stone to an advanced apprenticeship, a degree, a job, or going straight into a freelance career.

Any A Levels relating to Business, English, or Media and Journalism will be useful.

You’ll normally need GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and Maths. 2 to 3 relevant A levels, or equivalent, are usually required to complete a degree.

T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels.

T Levels, an alternative to A-Levels, are qualifications in vocational, technical and hands-on subjects that you can choose to do after GCSEs instead of traditional academic qualifications.

They include a mixture of classroom-based learning and industry placements where you can put your new skills into practice in real-world scenarios.

You may need 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for T Levels.

With time and experience you could become a social media manager or head of social media. Once you build a strong CV and network of contacts, you can become freelance and work as a social media consultant.

Gaining marketing, editorial and digital experience will help you to move into related business areas like sales, advertising, PR, journalism, or publishing.

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in marketing, especially working with social media. Work experience in a marketing environment can help you build useful skills.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

You could start work with a social media or marketing company as an assistant or digital content writer. As you get more experience, you could work your way up into a management position.

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

You could get experience by volunteering to manage a charity’s social media channels. To get a role as a Social Media Coordinator, you’ll most likely need to show you know how to use social media. You can do this by:

• managing your own social media profiles
• setting up and writing your own blog, and tracking its use and popularity
• getting involved in social media for the company you already work for

Volunteering tips

Some example daily responsibilities include:

• Help to develop social strategies and campaigns as part of a team
• Plan the social content calendar to ensure posts are regular and will be seen by more of the target audience
• Analyse social media performance to spot campaign successes and opportunities for improvement
• Report on any social media performance.

 

• Post across multiple social media platforms and know them inside-out, from Twitter to Instagram – whatever your employer or client wants you to use
• Identify and engage with relevant influencers (the VIPs of the social sphere who can help you share and amplify your message)

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with keywords such as:

• Social media coordinator
• Social media executive
• Social media apprentice
• Marketing executive
• Digital and social media coordinator
• Marketing communications coordinator

You can take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started. Create Your Future!

Local Opportunities

All these types of job can be a good match for your skills.

When applying for these jobs, it may be useful to have examples of your successful work on social media.

You may even be required to create social media posts or a strategy as part of your interview.

Researching how to do this, or learning by gaining experience in your current role will help you.

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.