As the social media industry constantly advances and expands, hiring managers are continually facing a human resource conundrum. While no one can debate the fact that the field requires individuals with open minds and strong imaginations, there is a burgeoning need for professionals with vigorously analytical minds. However, emerging departments often do not have the budgets to hire separately for different skills, requiring that new hires possesses a blend of capabilities that defy the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory.
Although it has become widely utilised by organisations large and small in effective marketing campaigns, there is still some hesitancy and confusion when it comes to staffing social media specific departments. Ideally, any VP of digital would prefer a complete team with members fulfilling every role found in traditional marketing: director, manager, campaign strategist and coordinator, account executive, analyst, editor, copywriter, graphic designer, and software engineer or developer. The reality, due in large part to the newness and growing importance of the field, is that these roles are often conflated, with one individual having to wear several different hats at once.
Social media combines the quintessentially human need to communicate with the complexities of technology that is being reinvented on a daily basis. This unique combination presents a perplexing challenge to all who work within the industry. Flexibility in approach and thinking is paramount and traditional separations of skills may no longer apply. To succeed in this industry, professionals must be able to tackle creative brainstorming to come up with innovative ideas one minute and then be able to unpack detailed analytical reports the next. In one day, a single person might handle the responsibilities of creative roles such as copywriter and graphic designer predominately seen as the territory of the right brain and mathematical positions such as analyst and strategist usually viewed as the jurisdiction of the left brain. Thus, the goal of any savvy hiring manger in the field is to hunt down those rare creatures that can switch gears between vastly different thought processes with ease.
Overall, social media is still relatively new in the grand scheme of things and the learning curve is steep on all sides. Platform upgrades, site updates, hot upstarts, new measurement tools, and completely original developments occur on a daily basis. The continually evolving landscape requires creative thinking from managers in nurturing employee development to encompass the expanding skill set required to meet changing needs.
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