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The differences between social media directors and social media strategists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a social media director, becoming a social media strategist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a social media director has an average salary of $70,846, which is higher than the $62,339 average annual salary of a social media strategist.
The top three skills for a social media director include facebook insights, instagram and twitter. The most important skills for a social media strategist are instagram, digital marketing, and twitter.
| Social Media Director | Social Media Strategist | |
| Yearly salary | $70,846 | $62,339 |
| Hourly rate | $34.06 | $29.97 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 39,016 | 43,791 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 81% |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
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.
A social media strategist is primarily in charge of handling a company or an individual's social media platforms, aiming for brand awareness and good public relations through positive online engagement. Their responsibilities revolve around developing and implementing social media strategies and campaigns for marketing, coordinating with content creators and writers, identifying new online marketing opportunities, keeping abreast of the latest trends, and ensuring that all content materials are relevant to the company. Furthermore, as a social media strategist, it is essential to be prepared for any issues by devising damage control plans.
Social media directors and social media strategists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Social Media Director | Social Media Strategist | |
| Average salary | $70,846 | $62,339 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $124,000 | Between $41,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Idaho | Utah |
| Best paying company | Accenture | |
| Best paying industry | Internet | Technology |
There are a few differences between a social media director and a social media strategist in terms of educational background:
| Social Media Director | Social Media Strategist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 81% |
| Most common major | Communication | Communication |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between social media directors' and social media strategists' demographics:
| Social Media Director | Social Media Strategist | |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2% | Male, 39.1% Female, 60.9% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 11% |