Sports Jobs in Focus: Becoming a Sports Social Media Coordinator

Social media has altered the relationship between teams and their fans - and smart brands are making it a part of their overall marketing strategy

Ask most seasoned business professionals about jobs in social media and they will reflexively respond, 'social media isn't a job, it's a function of a job" as if they are personally offended by the question.

And while in some corporations that may be true, more and more sports organizations are seeing the value in having a dedicated social media team.

For these forward-thinking organizations, social media isn't just a responsibility of the marketing department, the public relations department or the sales department, it's a conglomeration of all three disciplines and therefore needs a staff solely dedicated to the craft and execution of an all encompassing social media strategy.

Alas, you are not alone in thinking that crafting creative social media communication for a professional sports team or organization sounds like a really, really cool career move.

There will be competition. Lots of it.

So how do you stand out?  Let's start at the beginning.

Where to Find These Sports Social Media Jobs

Social media is a part of the marketing department at most small to mid-sized businesses, who don't have the luxury of having highly specialized roles.

Small to mid-sized businesses have to hire versatile employees who can wear many hats and accomplish many tasks. At companies of this size, expect the responsibility of social media to fall to a more generic, marketing coordinator role.

Specific social media jobs exist at larger corporations, those who can afford to have deeply specialized roles – think NBC Sports, Taylor Made Golf, Burton Snowboards – these are organizations that have a robust marketing/social media department rather than a one or two person team who do the marketing and social media.

Coordinator jobs, either in social media or marketing, are usually the most entry level of the sort and will be executing on strategy, rather than having a hand in creating it.

Skills Needed for Social Media Career Success

A social media coordinator job is a great way to gain experience at a larger company in marketing and communication.

Now let’s talk about the role – there are four major components:

Creativity and Knowledge – You are becoming the voice of a brand, communicating interesting topics in unique ways that don’t get lost in the shuffle. You’ll help the team with campaigns, research hashtags, build editorial calendars, plan and organize.

Technical Skill – To get hired, you’ll have to show you can create a GIF, manipulate images using Photoshop, edit videos using non-linear editors, competent in scheduling/social media management programs like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and are well-versed in maximizing exposure on all social media platforms.

Writing – Brands look awful if they communicate in poor grammar, can’t get a message across, or are wordy. You’ll be writing daily, and it rarely will be long-form. Sure you’ll craft some campaign strategies and present to your superiors, but the majority of your work will be as a copywriter, trying to attract eyes in a few concise yet convincing words.

Data Analysis – Finally, no campaign or marketing effort is complete without knowing how to crunch the data to see what worked and what didn’t. This role will test your ability to analyze results of a campaign and make adjustments moving forward.

Think you are ready for a job as sports social media coordinator? Follow this link and you'll find all of our sports social media coordinator jobs which you can apply to with ease.