YellowDoorMedia: Social media skills important in the online marketing job hunt

2009-08-18

A growing number of companies are looking for people with social media skills It appears that knowledge of web 2.0 is a must for those in the workforce as more companies are looking for experience in social networking and blogging.

A new study from Pressroom, with help from the Public Relations Society of America, Korn/Ferry International and Trendstream, finds that an increasing number of public relations companies say they are looking for recruits with a variety of online marketing knowledge - including search engine optimization (SEO), blogging and social networking.

More than 80 percent of companies said knowledge of social networking was important when hiring while 72 percent said skills surrounding the use of Twitter were important.

Firms with revenue ranked blogging as the number one digital skill they were looking for from new hires, with social networking coming in second. For smaller companies, the roles were reversed with social networking ranked as the top skill.

"Hiring decision makers recognize the importance of social media in organizational communications," finds the report. "To meet the needs of internal and external communications today's organizations, public relations or marketing job seekers need to develop a comprehensive portfolio of digital communications skills."

Although a growing number of companies appear to be looking for workers with these skills, not as many companies seem to be using social media. A recent study from Burson-Marsteller and Proof Digital Media found that 40 percent of companies do not have accounts on Twitter or Facebook and do not have a blog. ADNFCR-1844-ID-19318638-ADNFCR