Get linked, go viral

The social media has opened up a number of lucrative job opportunities.

Indian colleges and universities are yet to offer full-fledged social media courses — though digital marketing with social media as a component is offered as a subject in a handful of B-schools. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

A doctor in a popular medical drama, when introduced to her new colleague, whips out her smartphone, and exclaims to the newcomer, “According to Google, you don’t exist!”

It does not suffice to exist on Google alone today, but on a host of social media, if you want to be talked about, and, more importantly, talk back. Whether you disapprove or exult at this obsession with tweeting between toilet breaks or checking Facebook notifications as soon as the snooze button is hit for the last time, social media is serious business today, considering it has launched new job opportunities like social media managers, marketers and strategists.

What is it all about?

Social media agencies, digital marketing start-ups and in-house social media teams are growing with brands realising that the platform lets them engage personally with the perpetually plugged-in generation. “Ultimately, we have one goal,” says Abhishhek Tripathi, social media specialist and digital marketer for major brands including Coca-Cola, Samsung and Airtel, in the past. “We have to market our product or service by reaching out to the maximum number of people possible and by spending the lowest amount that could lead to sales.”

Understanding, operating and analysing social media tools — Instagram, Twitter etc — is as important as aligning digital campaigns with the talk of the town today. Social media managers who manage these various tools for a brand, follow all the buzz online and try using it for better reach of their product or service through witty content on social media channels. Social media strategists, who are one step higher, analyse insights, research the effectiveness of campaigns and work on strategies that are built around the buzz of the moment.

“The buzz might be the Mars Orbiter Mission or Kim Kadarshian's bottom which could either help us form a strategy or spark off an idea for creative content,” explains Abhishhek. Keeping an ear to the ground constantly is a prerequisite of this job, as an idea can click or connect with people anytime, and exploiting this to maximum advantage is important.

What does it take to make it?

It is not enough to be a Facebook or YouTube enthusiast, though it is a prerequisite. But if you’re the kind of person who is the first to cotton on to a video that goes viral, stays constantly on top of what’s trending online and pride yourself on staying abreast of everything from politics to Bollywood, this may be the career for you.

“Apart from a knack for coming up with good content and design, you should be able to analyse what's working and what's not,” says Garima, co-founder, ViralCurry Digital Media. “You must understand what the world is following and know how to reproduce content of the similar kind in a unique way.”

Coupling knowledge of nuances of Facebook Insights, Google Analytics and Cloud-based analytic tools along with a creative bent of mind can give you an edge.

What to study and where

Indian colleges and universities are yet to offer full-fledged social media courses — though digital marketing with social media as a component is offered as a subject in a handful of B-schools. “As social media industry is evolving fast, educational institutions are not in a position to offer a quality course unless they partner with an industry player, who ropes in practitioners,” says Pradeep Chopra, co-founder and CEO of Digital Vidya which offers Digital Marketing certification programmes in collaboration with Vskills, a Government of India enterprise.

But there are more than a dozen online course providers trying to bridge the gap, some of them certified by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (www.iamai.in). A majority signing up for these courses are marketing professionals who are now expected to have digital marketing skills.

“The idea of learning at your own speed makes these courses attractive to working professionals who do not have to jeopardise their work for acquiring new skills,” says Ishan Gupta, CEO of Edukart.

NIIT Imperia offers an Advanced Programme in Social Media Marketing while the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, New Delhi, has a postgraduate diploma in Digital Marketing Communication. Though a diploma may give an extra edge, it may not mean much if the individual has little to show for it, Varadharajan Krishnamoorthy, Social Business Advisor, says. “If two candidates apply for a social media job and one has a certificate to show he is an expert in Twitter but the other has a Twitter profile with thousands of followers and interactions, the winner is obvious.”

Fad or Future?

The time to question if social media is a fad is over, asserts Chopra, citing growing internet penetration, rise of mobile internet and increasing number of social media subscribers in India.

“To build a rewarding career in this industry, individuals can choose to focus on social media or expand their horizons to Digital Media,” he says.

Accompanying social media certifications with a degree in management or marketing can speed up the ascent on the corporate ladder, feels Gupta. “Knowledge of social media will help future professionals grow exponentially as the supply of experts in this domain is currently short compared to the burgeoning demand,” he adds.