Alisha
How does one get into the YouTube or Social Media Industry ?
What skills do you need and do you need a degree for this kind of industry? #career #tech #social-media #youtube
7 answers
Keith Sun, MA, NCC
Keith’s Answer
Alisha, that is a great question. Getting into the YouTube or Social Media industry does require some helpful tech-savvy knowledge, such as digital software design, computer knowledge, and information technology. Getting a degree would be very helpful in securing an entry into the social media industry. Depending on what you would like to do in the social media industry, you could major in Marketing, Computer Science/Engineering, Information Technology, Business, Marketing, Animation, etc. Another way of developing the skills would be to secure an internship with a social media company or a company that desires a stronger social media presence. You can help a company with their social media blog, Facebook and Twitter presence, or marketing videos.
Jenny Newman
Jenny’s Answer
Hi Alisha!
Love that you are thinking about Social Media as an industry, because it's definitely evolving in every business. Social media as a concept is actually pretty easy to understand, but how you use social media changes over time. This is why I would pick an area of business that you are interested in, and see how social media can be integrated. For example, I teach/train employees at Dell on how to use Social Media. I teach them rules, benefits, and functionality. But my primary role is a trainer. I love to teach, and have built my career around teaching others. Social media can be infused in just about any career focus like:
* Law
* Governance
* Engineering
* Sales
* Customer Service
* Training
Really, any job you can think of can have a social media department, where you can help monitor conversations, answer questions for your company, or just help employees feel empowered to engage on social platforms. I encourage you to think of what you like to do most, and then see how you can use social media to enhance that experience. Hope that helps!
Thats so true...social media is everywhere! Thank you :)
Alisha
thank you so much
Hajira
your looking beautiful jenny and information its very useful to me thank you
Hajira
Hi there, Alisha and Jenny. my name is David, who is an IT major. Although I consider myself an average social media user, I'm still interested in web development. Since high school, I have been eager to learn how various good websites are made, and how the internet works; also, I hope to develop a social site, like Gitter, in the future, for allowing students and adults to be more collaborative. To ensure my progress, I understand that It will take time to accomplish that goal, and will continue my research as I progress through my college years. Last, this question is for Jenny: what types of IT training do you offer, and which geographic locations are available (is there any in the Greater New York Area)? Thanks.
David
Andrea Rodgers
Andrea’s Answer
I'm not sure about social media but anyone can try their hand at being a youtuber. You just need a camera (maybe some editing tools) and a youtube account. If you have something interesting to talk about, try it out and see what happens.
Simeon Snow
Simeon’s Answer
For doing Youtube on your own, I'd start with big ideas and use a venn diagram, which is just two circles that share a third space between them. In one circle, put all of your interests and hobbies. In the other circle, write some topics that are popular and getting lots of attention right now. Try to look for topics that are shared between the two circles. You'll want to create videos that are related to those topics. If possible, I would start early and look for tips on video editing. If you are looking to do well on Youtube long-term, video editing will be one of the most important skills you can pick up.
Also, since you are looking to get started early enough, I would recommend trying to start multiple different channels that each have a unique and different flavor/identity and see which ones pick up steam. If you have channels that are not succeeding, I would recommend deleting the ones that are dying off and starting off new experiments to take their place. It's hard to know which videos will succeed until you try. You'll want to read all of the comments and respond to comments on your videos. Anything you can do to increase engagement on your videos will be important. Plus, Youtube will be more likely to recommend your videos to other people as you increase comments on your videos. Also, finding other Youtubers who are willing to point people to your videos will be important and they will likely want you to do the same for them in return.
If you do end up getting a successful following on Youtube, you will want to find a messaging service such as Discord where you can have a group chat going on with people who have connected with your videos. The most important key to building a Youtube channel is building a community of viewers that are excited about your content. Only then will you be able to get a following of people invested enough in your videos to financially contribute, which would likely occur through Patreon.
Karine LEFRANCQ
Karine’s Answer
Well it is first a passion going on forums, twit, linked In, facebook, subscribe or like forums that is of interest to you and answer questions, debate post a lot BUT BE MEANIFULL, share advices .... then getting social media certified is a must ! good luck !
Julien Schleret
Julien’s Answer
Hi there,
Just to add to what other members of the community have advised, here are a couple useful links:
- If you want to learn about Social Media, check out this cool article by Social Media Examiner Getting Started With Social Media: A Resource Guide
- If you want to learn about YouTube check out the Youtube creator hub where you'll find tons of resources to get started.
Hope that will help!
Best,
Julien
Malay Kothari
Malay’s Answer
You can get SMAC certified. SMAC is Social, Mobile,Analytics and Cloud.
These certifications will get you a good insight and value.
See example:
http://www.simplilearn.com/10-reasons-to-do-smac-certification-article