With businesses from all industries discovering the many benefits of staying connected with their communities, the social media job market is vastly growing. According to Monster.com, social media job listings have increased 75 percent since 2010, with more than 10,000 jobs requiring digital and social media skills posted each month. Also, according to Berrie Pelser, CEO at Ber|Art Visual Design V.O.F., 93 percent of marketers use social media for business.

Carl Myers, business administration graduate student at Hope International University, is currently employed in a social media position as the Marketing Copywriter at Rainman Web Development. As copywriter, Myers is responsible for writing industry-related content for clients’ marketing materials as well as their websites.

“The social media intern is in charge of finding creative content to gauge a particular audience base for the client,” says Myers. “This involves thorough research of the client’s customer base and demographics. The perceived outcome was to develop the company’s brand online while engaging current and new clientele through the social media platform.”

Myers is also responsible for implementing search engine optimization practices, which is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a website as a result of search engine use, such as through Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

“What surprised me about search engine optimization was the amount of social media that was involved in its process…One part of this process is having a strong social media presence for credibility,” Myers says.

The new up-and-coming social media industry is constantly growing and developing. The way people now interact with one another via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram is not the same as it was even five years ago. As social media’s reach and influence have grown, people have discovered new ways to drive political, economic and social change.

“I think that social media is going to be a mainstay in marketing while print will most likely fade into history,” says Myers. “With online presences there is no limit to how it can change and adapt for the time. It gives businesses and individuals room to play and grow as these changes happen.”

Myers describes “finding out the fun and exciting trends that happen online as well as being a part of this change” as one of the fun perks to handling social media for a company.

Of course, with perks come drawbacks. “Sometimes clients can be reserved about their content, which can hurt them in the long run when trying to reach a younger demographic. Having appropriate and fresh content is key to reaching all platforms and audiences,” Myers says.

Myers shares his experience of having to face one of the many challenges related to handling social media: “I once used a social application that did mass posts on a large scale of social platforms. While this tool is easy and helps for time management, it can be detrimental for clients that need custom and quality content on all platforms.”

While Myers may face these challenges, he explains how he was able to effectively solve these problems. “One time a client pointed out that their own clientele noticed that the same types of postings were being posted on their Facebook, Twitter and Google+. What I realized was that these accounts had different audiences. So, I tailored custom posts for each platform and their ‘likes’ went up, which caused better interaction.”

According to Myers, old marketing positions have transformed into the new style of social media. Social media jobs are rapidly increasing in demand, with companies looking to fill positions such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Specialist, Social Media Strategist, Online Community Manager, Social Media Marketing Manager and Social Media Copywriter.

Myers advises those who are interested in joining the social media industry to be adaptable. “Change is concurrent with this type of position, so don’t rest on your laurels. Be aware of this change and take it all in stride.”