My 8 Takeaways from the NISM 2024 Social Media Job Study
I’ve been doing this insane social media thing for more than a decade now, and the truth is that now, (in 2024!) social media jobs are still completely misunderstood by pretty much everyone who doesn’t do one for a living.
That’s what makes the 2024 Social Media Job Study from the National Institute for Social Media so relevant right now. (Full disclosure: I serve on the NISM Advisory Board).
Released this week, the study surveyed more than 1,400 social media professionals. If I can brag for a minute, I am personally very proud of this research because there is no other job study that I know of that is specific to social media professionals and that goes this deep – digging for insights into work responsibilities, challenges, success and whole health.
The report is rich and deep, and I’d encourage anyone who works in Marketing or Communications to give it a look. If you’re among the elite club of masochists who do social media for a living, I promise you will see yourself represented here and possibly gain some solace in knowing you are not alone. If you don’t work in social, this will help you understand and appreciate your social team more. Triple bonus points if you take an actual action based on what you learn!
Download the full report here.
And, if you want my hot take, here are my top 8 takeaways.
1. We continue to have a gap in understanding. Sadly, the new data from this year’s study and the data from our 2016 study show that social media teams have made very little progress when it comes to feeling respected and valued by others within their organizations. Without getting on a soapbox, I can say this is so prevalent in corporate America. Social has been around for 20 years, folks (MySpace was founded in 2003). Let’s stop treating it like a black sheep. Social is PART OF Comms, or PART OF Marketing, not an afterthought.
2. We’re burning out. The chart above gave me concrete evidence for something I’ve known anecdotally for a long time: those of us who have been at this for awhile are getting out. I can’t tell you how many of my friends with “Director of Social Media” job titles are changing career tracks, making parallel leaps or leaving the corporate world. I’ve owned Serna Social for four years, and one of the most common requests I get is, “Could we have coffee? I’d love to pick your brain about how you made the leap to being out on your own…” Companies are going to have to reconcile the chronic understaffing of social media and the emotional and personal toll it takes on the team. Corporations are going to have to understand that just like any department, if you chronically understaff it, the ship will start to leak.
Ask yourself this: In an industry that’s only 20 years old, what happens if everyone who has more than 10 years of experience all walk out at the same time?
Ask yourself this: If you’re at a Fortune 500, why do you have a social media team of ONE? What kind of sense does that make? (Solo social managers, I see you!)
3. Tool explosion. This chart also rather dramatically highlights one big change since our 2021 study… the number of tools being managed by the social team has exploded. Most teams are managing probably half a dozen to a dozen tools just to get the job done. Oh, and by the way, most IT departments have no idea how much identity management, security work and governance is taking place (in some cases, very poorly). This is only going to get worse as the number of tools keeps expanding, and it will.
4. Proof positive that there’s more work than ever. Social media teams are often accused of complaining about the hours they work, but is there any question about why? Social media has NEVER been this complex. Remember the good old days when you made a thing and posted it on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? Today’s social media manager is literally making 10-20 versions of each post in different formats. It still blows my mind that people will deny the social media team any additional resources and then turn right around and talk about how much they love Reels and Shorts and Stories without ever thinking about the person who has to generate all that content.
5. Social listening is exploding. OK so if you don’t know what social listening is, it’s a practice that’s different than managing your company’s own channels. This is more like “listening to the broader conversation.” Think of it like the digital town square. I could write a book about the different applications and possibilities here (and that’s before you add AI to help with the analysis). But trust me, some companies are investing heavily in this space (Read my post: Social Media Data is a Competitive Advantage, and your competition may already know it.) If I may, let me draw your attention to “a lot” in the chart above. That’s a big jump for three years, folks.
6. Governance is a hot mess. As this is my personal area of expertise, this chart was no surprise. If you want the long version, please read my post Let's Address a Gap in Understanding. The short version is this: The social media team and the IT/cybersecurity team have one of those “gaps in understanding” I love to talk about. Social is too busy trying to just do their jobs every day. They aren’t trying to make more problems for themselves. IT isn’t aware of how incredibly governance-heavy social can be – unfortunately often until after there’s a crisis. IT needs to really get into the weeds and understand how social is done so you can then work together to create processes and procedures that work and keep the company’s social footprint safe. Remember to invite Legal and Compliance to the party – they’ll be butthurt if they’re not invited to the ball.
Also, can we talk about the percentage of folks who answered N/A? If you have no idea what social media governance is, time to get on the ball (read all about it here).
7. “Who” does social is scattered. This one is one with a two-pronged explanation. 1) Companies have no real structure or governance for social media, which results in what I call “The Wild West.” Everyone who wants to gets to do social with little to no oversight. 2) At companies that are large and matrixed, several teams want/need to be involved in the community management, either due to subject matter expertise or those good old internal politics. Regardless, this is one that companies are going to need to wrestle to the ground over the next few years. I see it over and over with my large enterprise clients. There’s one centralized corporate social team with varying levels of control, but then HR does career social, and customer service might be involved. But there’s no structure or clear leadership on the messy middle. Should customer service team members become integrated into the social team? Should social positions be created on the service team? Are there (everyone’s favorite phrase) “dotted lines?”
8. Finally, we’re hungry to learn. Social media professionals acknowledge that the world they manage changes all the time. We’re gluttons for punishment. This means keeping up to date on industry news, trends, new skills, tools, etc., is crucial. I see it at every conference and speaking engagement. People need experts in this space. People need senior leaders to teach younger future leaders (remember how we’re all burning out?). It’s clear that the appetite for learning from others in the industry is massive.
Now, if you’ve gotten this far, first thank you. And second, I hope you won’t mind if I drop a little shameless plug here. If you are one of the hungry professionals referenced above, the resources offered by NISM are among the best, which is why I choose to dedicate my time to this organization.
So please, check out NISM if you are not familiar, and hit me up with any questions about becoming a certified Social Media Specialist like me, or anything else.
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