Social media managers are about average in terms of happiness.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, social media managers rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 42% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy social media managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Consultant | 3.2 | $77k |
| Distance learning coordinator | 3.2 | $91k |
| Desktop publisher | 3.2 | $47k |
| Online merchant | 3.2 | $75k |
| Search marketing strategist | 3.2 | $90k |
| Social media manager | 3.1 | $31k |
| Marketing manager | 3.1 | $135k |
| Advertising manager | 3.1 | $127k |
| Digital marketing specialist | 3.1 | $39k |
| Human resources manager | 3.1 | $126k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are social media managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do social media managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as social media managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are social media manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are social media managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are social media managers happy with their salary?
Social media managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Social media managers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked social media managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
2067 social media managers
9% of social media managers rated their compensation 5 stars
20% of social media managers rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of social media managers rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of social media managers rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of social media managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do social media managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, social media managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of social media managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked social media managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
2107 social media managers
9% of social media managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
15% of social media managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of social media managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of social media managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
24% of social media managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as social media managers?
Social media managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of social media managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked social media managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
2281 social media managers
26% of social media managers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of social media managers rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of social media managers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of social media managers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of social media managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a social media manager’s work environment?
As a whole, social media managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of social media managers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a social media manager.
We asked social media managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
2273 social media managers
22% of social media managers rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of social media managers rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of social media managers rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of social media managers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of social media managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are social media managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former social media managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Social media managers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked social media managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
2286 social media managers
12% of social media managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of social media managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
29% of social media managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of social media managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
13% of social media managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars