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Digital media strategist vs social media director

The differences between digital media strategists and social media directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a digital media strategist and a social media director. Additionally, a social media director has an average salary of $70,846, which is higher than the $62,947 average annual salary of a digital media strategist.

The top three skills for a digital media strategist include digital marketing, client facing and search engine marketing. The most important skills for a social media director are facebook insights, instagram, and twitter.

Digital media strategist vs social media director overview

Digital Media StrategistSocial Media Director
Yearly salary$62,947$70,846
Hourly rate$30.26$34.06
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs31,38739,016
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 87%Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age4242
Years of experience44

What does a digital media strategist do?

Digital media strategists assist in building ad campaigns outlined to catch potential clients' awareness and keep existing customers' fealty. Their responsibilities include determining the campaign's target demographic, assessing the best time to run the campaign, and figuring out which medium to use. Also, they analyze data from surveys, develop a budget-friendly ad campaign media, as well as assessing the effect a campaign's online presence will have on its selected audience. Skills required include strong critical and analytical skills, creativity, and excellent communication skills.

What does a social media director do?

Social Media Directors are responsible for the promotion of an organization's brand, services, and products through social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. They are responsible for implementing a social media strategy, tracking social media presence, keeping abreast of social media trends, and adopting new social media channels. Other duties include measuring Twitter activity, analyzing traffic patterns, assessing Facebook comments, and inspecting reception levels of social media messages. They contribute to creating progress reports, providing feedback to management, and contributing to strategy improvements.

Digital media strategist vs social media director salary

Digital media strategists and social media directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Digital Media StrategistSocial Media Director
Average salary$62,947$70,846
Salary rangeBetween $44,000 And $89,000Between $40,000 And $124,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateWashingtonIdaho
Best paying companyGoogleAccenture
Best paying industryMediaInternet

Differences between digital media strategist and social media director education

There are a few differences between a digital media strategist and a social media director in terms of educational background:

Digital Media StrategistSocial Media Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 87%Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common majorCommunicationCommunication
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Digital media strategist vs social media director demographics

Here are the differences between digital media strategists' and social media directors' demographics:

Digital Media StrategistSocial Media Director
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 42.2% Female, 57.8%Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.1% Asian, 5.3% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 5.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage12%16%

Differences between digital media strategist and social media director duties and responsibilities

Digital media strategist example responsibilities.

  • Manage, analyze and optimize ROI for partner campaigns.
  • Manage company website including photography of all images, update images and information as necessary.
  • Offer PPC, SEO, SEM Google programs, and websites.
  • Train in audience exchange segments for mobile and digital including CPC, SEO, SEM, and
  • Research and implement 3rd party ad serving tools such as DoubleClick.
  • Work on monthly media post performance reviews, POVs and media decks for the client.
  • Show more

Social media director example responsibilities.

  • Manage client Facebook accounts to increase their sales/promotions.
  • Perform administrative duties including ordering photography supplies, managing expenses bookkeeping, updating photography inventory and archives.
  • Determine KPIs and metrics for success across platforms and develop strategies to meet client ROI expectations.
  • Create addiction and recovery relate blog posts for fifteen hours each week through a WordPress account.
  • Negotiate SmartPlus, Arbitron and Nielsen contracts.
  • Engage and nurture social media communities using HootSuite.
  • Show more

Digital media strategist vs social media director skills

Common digital media strategist skills
  • Digital Marketing, 14%
  • Client Facing, 10%
  • Search Engine Marketing, 5%
  • Campaign Performance, 5%
  • Facebook, 5%
  • Google Analytics, 4%
Common social media director skills
  • Facebook Insights, 10%
  • Instagram, 9%
  • Twitter, 8%
  • Social Media Marketing, 7%
  • Digital Marketing, 6%
  • Web Content, 5%

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