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Want an insider’s look at where the industry’s social media jobs will be in 2012? Look no further than Ari Aronson and Diane Pellegrino of the Toronto-based Ari Agency, which specializes in the advertising, digital marketing, social media and technology. In the Oct. 24 issue of Marketing, they identified 10 social media positions that are – and will be – in hot demand.
Information design/user experience designer
What might have been the most under-rated discipline has become one of the fastest-growing jobs in the digital agency and corporate design departments in Canada. Information or interaction design combines information architecture and user experience design to shape the way people interact with digital content and services.
The designers, strategists and planners with these skills will flourish in 2012. (For those looking to break into the field in Toronto, keep an eye out for Sheridan College’s Interaction Design Program set to kick off in fall 2012.)
Creative technologist
This skill set straddles the creative design and technology departments. You have a deep understanding of web and social media development environments along with the vision to use emerging technology creatively. Tech gurus who thrive on building bleeding-edge social media and mobile apps have the chance to move out of their tech department cubical and into he corner office in 2012.
Social media strategist/manager
Those with experience developing strategy within the worlds of Facebook and Twitter will continue to be in demand in 2012.
Community manager
Building and managing your online community is becoming more and more important to keep customers engaged. The online community needs to be led, managed and listened to.
Mobile app developers and marketers
With the growing popularity of mobile apps, developers are in demand. The mobile app and social media space are colliding so those with experience and skills across Android (Google), iOS (Apple) and Blackberry platforms will be the darlings in marketing boardrooms.
Digital marketing manager
Marketers who bring fundamental marketing principles and rigour to the digital world will be leading many marketing departments in 2012.
Strategic/account planner
Some of the brightest minds in the digital space are leading planning and strategy for major brands and agencies, and will continue to be in demand. They are big influencers and clients stick to them like glue.
Digital producer/project manager
Those who commit to becoming certified project managers (PMP, PMI are common designations) will continue to be in demand to manage emerging digital marketing and social media projects.
Measurement and analytics
Those with super-acute data analysis skills and the ability to interpret numbers like Spock will fit in just fine here. If you have experience with social media tracking and listening tools, you’ll take your career where no man has gone before.
Seasoned executive leadership
There is a big opportunity for the seasoned executive with years of experience managing and mentoring teams, and overseeing financial operations. All those digital and tech startups led by twentysomethings who have little to no management and financial operations experience will need an executive to chaperone all those beer bashes.
This article appears in the Oct. 24 issue of Marketing as part of its Salary Benchmarks package. To find out how salary compares to others in the industry, subscribe today.
