Inside the fastest-growing career where you can earn six figures as a side hustle
One of the fastest-growing careers is one you can do from home with no prior experience that can earn you up to a six-figure salary.
One of the fastest-growing careers is one you can do from home with no prior experience that can earn you up to a six-figure salary.
Its social media marketing - a profession that involves working with influencers and businesses to better connect them with potential customers.
Usually, this means helping them create engaging posts with plenty of SEO-friendly keywords on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Job boards such as FlexJobs and Freelancer.com are listing an increasing number of remote, hybrid and freelance digital marketing roles, CNBC reported.
Fiverr, a platform connecting freelancers with clients, also has plenty of these types of jobs, most of which have flexible hours as long as project deadlines are met.
Jennifer Shealey, 46, a social media marketing and graphic design specialist on Fiverr, said she has booked over $600,000 in sales since starting in 2014.
Jennifer Shealey, a social media marketing and graphic design specialist, earned $100,000 last year doing it full time as a freelancer
Digital marketing wasnt always Shealeys main gig. She started out doing it on the side while working as a project administrator at a tile company.
But when she lost that job a few years ago because she was bored with it and constantly distracting herself with her phone, Shealey decided to try to make her side hustle her full-time job.
To sustain herself, she got three part-time jobs while she perfected her craft.
Over time, she expanded what she offers to clients, which now includes website design, Instagram content creation, and SEO copywriting for YouTube videos.
Shealey earned over $100,000 from freelancing on Fiverr, but beyond the lucrative pay, she also enjoys how much freedom she has in her life and over her work.
Its the kind of job you can do from home, from a van or on the road while traveling, she told CNBC. If youre into creativity, analytical work and constantly learning new things, its a great field to get into. We certainly need more people in digital marketing, even I cant keep up with the demand.
There are certainly sacrifices that need to be made in order to get to where is now, according to Shealey.
I just used the extra free time that I had, which was probably a little bit in the evenings and basically my weekends, Shealey said. I sacrificed all that, I didnt go to parties and I said no to a lot of things because I was wanting to focus on Fiverr.
Within four years, she was making more money than she was making at her three part-time jobs put together. That, to her, was a sign that social media marketing had become her full-time job.
Toni Frana, FlexJobs’ lead career expert, told CNBC its much more important for people to build up their skills in social media marketing than to get an applicable degree
More broadly, the demand for jobs in the digital marketing sector - which includes social media marketing - could grow by as much as 8 percent annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
By 2030, there could 200,000 more jobs for online marketers.
Some of these jobs do prefer applicants to have a bachelors degree, but a formal education isnt necessarily required to strike it big in this industry.
Toni Frana, FlexJobs’ lead career expert, told CNBC its much more important for people to build up their skills.
This means you need to get good at SEO, or search-engine optimization, data analysis and social media advertising.
Many hiring managers also look for those who can shoot and edit videos, manage online communities, strike up lasting relationships with influencers and develop successful marketing campaigns, noted Sebastián Siseles, vice president of international at Freelancer.com.
Salaries all depend on experience, with entry level roles fetching around $50,000 a year.
Social media strategists or managers who have been in the game longer and have a track record of profitable ad campaigns can upwards of $120,000 a year.
Sebastián Siseles, vice president of international at Freelancer.com, said that people who can shoot and edit videos, manage online communities, strike up lasting relationships with influencers and develop successful marketing campaigns are attractive to hiring managers
To get started in this surging field, you can start by taking online courses to earn certifications in specific skills on platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, HubSpot or Google.
You can also take advantage of the many free tutorials that exist on YouTube from social media marketers-turned-influencers.
Milou Pietersz is just one of these types of educators.
Originally from the Netherlands, Pietersz has been in the United States for 10 years and now runs a YouTube channel focusing on how to break in to social media marketing.
In multiple interviews, she has said that she struggled heavily in the beginning when trying to build up her marketing firm, Simply Multimedia.
Much like Shealey who had multiple part-time jobs to allow her side hustle to flourish, Pietersz has said she used to deliver food with Uber Eats to bring in enough income to survive.
Now her agency works with all types of brands across different sectors to increase their follower counts and traffic to their websites.
Milou Pietersz, founder of social media marketing firm Simply Multimedia, has also become an influencer to teach her followers how to gain the same skills that made her successful
The most popular videos on her channel are How to Become a Social Media Manager in 2024 (even w/ no experience) and What Does a Social Media Manager ACTUALLY Do?!
In these videos, she explains which websites beginners should check out for work opportunities.
She also breaks down what a social media manager actually does all day.
You are responsible for managing and monitoring the social media pages of your clients, she explained.
This means youll be checking their pages for spam comments or reviews, and making sure when their business is tagged in posts from other social media viewers, it reflects positively on them.
According to Pietersz, youll also have to work with your clients to come up with a marketing strategy. A successful strategy will allow you to pump out content that resonates with their customers.
Data from Fiverr suggests that this exact job is becoming more hotly desired than ever.
Between May and October, searches for social media content manager jumped 493 percent on its platform.
Searches for social media account setup, management and content editing also increased.
