While crafting a strong resume is important in any professional role, it’s especially valuable to social media marketers looking to stand out in a relatively new, fast-paced field. As social trends and platforms continue to evolve, showcasing your strengths in a unique way can set you apart from other candidates with similar experience.
To get the inside scoop, Emplifi asked 13 social media marketers for companies across various industries to share their top resume-building tips. Whether you’re looking to break into the world of social or just interested in elevating your social media marketing resume, the following templates and advice can help you put your best foot forward.
Use your experience to tell a story
Storytelling is a skill that comes with the territory for social media marketers; you know how to convey your brand’s voice and value in a way that feels natural to followers. Apply this skill as you put together your social media marketing resume in order to give a full picture of your expertise and how you got to where you are now, in a way that’s interesting to read.
Azad Yakatally, Head of Social Media at Klaviyo: "When it comes to resumes, focus on storytelling. Move beyond generic bullet points and highlight your successes by narrating challenges you’ve overcome, strategies employed, and measurable outcomes achieved. Let your resume speak volumes about your wins rather than just your daily tasks."
Mikey Cook, Senior Social Media Strategist and Content Creator: "I think it is so important to craft your social media marketer resume like a compelling story, where every stat and experience serves as a plot twist showcasing your impact. Highlight metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, and campaign ROIs to quantify your success. Format it with clarity, avoiding cluttered designs, and include sections on key skills, notable achievements, and certifications to stand out in the digital crowd."
As you tell your story, remember to keep the focus on your top achievements rather than every detail of your accomplishments.
Josh Rangel, Executive Director/SVP, Social Media at Golin: "Frame your resume as a highlight reel of your experience and results. What did you do that impacted social and/or business objectives? Did you grow your social audience? Great. How much, and what did it lead to from a business standpoint? What are you most proud of? A resume isn't your full-length movie, it's your trailer. Don't try to include everything. Focus on the highlights and the impact you made." (Learn more from Josh in our Q&A on the “unhinged brand” trend and meme marketing.)
Metrics are your best friend
You’ve probably heard this one before, and that’s because it’s crucial to your social media marketing resume. While you may know that your social content and campaigns are top-notch, using numbers to clearly show the impact of your work can help those reading your resume understand your value.
Christina Linnell, Social Media Manager - Americas at Indeed: "Top-tier marketers harness the power of data to refine their strategies and enhance their social media marketing initiatives. Providing numerical evidence validates your expertise and demonstrates your capacity for data-driven decision-making. While it's wonderful to articulate your previous role's successes, sharing key growth metrics like user engagement, reach, impressions, and video view rates over time will significantly highlight your impact, which helps recruiters understand the results you can deliver."
Louise Glover, Social Media Manager & Freelancer: "Over the years as a social media manager, I’ve learned the importance of showcasing your skills by leading with results. Include metrics that support your experience and help you stand out. This could include audience growth, impressions, engagement rate, and campaign results."
Robyn Nissim, Fractional VP of Social Media + Brand Marketing: "If a resume doesn't have metrics, I'll automatically pass. As a hiring manager, I am looking for quantifiable results, no fluff. My advice is to highlight your community growth since joining the company. If there was an increase in engagement rate or, even better, conversions, share it. It would be even better if you could concisely explain why. Let me know how you affected change, and above all, speak metrics to me." (Check out Robyn’s top advice for social media marketers to promote cross-departmental collaboration and inclusivity.)
Sylvana Sabella, Director, Brand Social and Activations at Subway: "With social media, it’s sometimes hard to prove how content has been impactful beyond likes, comments, and shares. Find metrics that others won’t usually think of, like weighted engagements, owned/earned comments sentiment, or how they support broader campaign objectives. Social media is different at every company or agency, so make sure you also highlight how you’ve adapted your skill set depending on your responsibilities."
Hannah Shirley, Social Media Specialist & Content Creator: "When it comes time to communicate your experience on your resume, remember to emphasize impact over simply listing out your responsibilities. Whenever possible, include metrics and communicate key moments such as follower growth rates, engagement rate increases, viral content results, or successful campaigns you contributed to. Your proven track record of generating results for previous employers will make you a more desirable candidate in your job search."
Keep it short and to the point
Most of the open marketing jobs on LinkedIn get hundreds of applicants, meaning hiring managers spend a fair amount of time sifting through social media marketing resumes. Keep your resume as concise as possible while shining the spotlight on your most impressive achievements — and how your expertise from those accomplishments is transferable to the company in question.
Michelle Fan, Social Media Manager at FELFEL - USA: "Lead with your proudest accomplishments. As social media marketers, we understand how important it is to hook the audience — the same thing applies to your resume! Push your numbers, achievements, and most meaningful projects to the front of the sentence and top of the page. And always include a link to your profile in your header. If you don't have one, now's the time to add it!"
Tyler Paget, Global Social Media Manager at Fox Racing: "Crafting a social media resume is similar to composing a social post. Recruiters glance at resumes for just 7.4 seconds, according to a 2018 study, which emphasizes the importance of visual appeal, consistency, and brevity. My key tip is to highlight business impact in your achievements when applicable. For instance:
Original: Regularly posted content and promptly responded to comments.
Revised: Boosted brand reach by +30% and ramped up engagement by +40% through strategic planning and community interaction."
Kassandra Quinn, Social Media Strategist at ModSquad: "Keep it short and sweet! One page is ideal. Your cover letter and interview are your chance to dive deeper, but your resume should be a snapshot of your social media experience. For each role, use bullet points to highlight your biggest wins. Tailor these to the job you're applying for, showcasing relevant skills and achievements. Don't forget to add a ‘Skills’ section — that's your chance to showcase platforms and tools you're a master of!"
Help hiring managers get to know the true you
At the end of the day, the people reading your job applications are trying to get a sense of your skills and experience but also want to get to know you as a person. Ensure your personality shines through in order to foster authenticity. Who knows, you might even list a personal interest on your social media marketing resume that happens to strike a chord with the hiring manager.
Kimberly Tipton, Social Media Manager & Creative Strategist: "My biggest piece of advice for creating a strong resume as a social media marketer is to find the balance between showing who you are vs. what you can do. Make sure there’s a strong infusion of personality beyond your work experiences in the form of a personal summary, design elements, tone of voice, etc. Something that makes people say, ‘I really want to meet them.’ More often than not, recruiters are hiring, reaching out to, and connecting with the social media professionals that they find compelling beyond simple performance metrics because it is such an interpersonal discipline. What sets you apart is the you of it all. Embrace that!"
If your reader feels like they’re getting to know you as a person, they’re more likely to visualize you bringing your expertise to their company. Make sure you highlight your skills in a way that showcases versatility and adaptability.
Nycole Hampton, Senior Director, Content + Engagement Marketing at GoodRx: "Social media is such a critical component of brand marketing and building relationships with customers; it's not just about ‘going viral’ or jumping in on trends. Make sure your resume reflects your versatility across things like content and channel strategy, creation, creator partnerships, paid tactics, and, most importantly, cross-channel collaboration with other teams. With so many brands starting to adopt a social-first way of thinking, you need to show that you've got the chops to take on bigger, more impactful thinking and ways of working across an organization."
Embrace your social media marketing resume as an opportunity to show off your skills in a way that’s unique to you. Tell your story, but keep it concise and prioritize numerical data to get your point across. Interviews (and your cover letter) offer more space to get into the details of your successes.
Thank you to all of the social media experts who participated in this article. Get more advice from seasoned social media marketers in our "Social secrets to success" blog post.
