Market Rates for Social Media Professionals
As you get to know me, you’ll find that I’m very open.. But in turn, I expect the same in return. So when I saw this question posted by a friend at the Community Manager Facebook Group I sent him a PM with the info I had gathered.
David Yeo (Singapore) wrote on Sep 28, 2007 at 11:38 PM
I’d like to find out what is a fair amount to pay for a community manager ? I reckon it varies with places and the amount of work to perform.
I researched this last summer & had some numbers for him. But then others have been wanting them, so I thought it easiest to post the info here. Please comment if you have numbers that you believe are more reflective of the marketplace.
For the web strategist position, I have seen $80 - $120 k/yr on Jeremiah Owyang’s blog. For consulting work another friend told me that the rates range from $50 - $400 /hr.
Talking about rates of pay is sticky business, I realize that. So I’ll add the factors that I think need to be taken into account:
- A Community Manager is responsible for a proportion of what a Web Strategist does. This will vary widely depending on the position.
- Location - another big factor. I’m working remotely which is of a lot of value to me, but will add costs for my periodic travel to the home office. My cost of living is lower in rural MN.
- Size of company & point of adoption - I think this affects the value they place on the position
- Salary vs contracting - If you’re contracting, you need to ask a % more to compensate for:
- paying all of your FICA here in the US
- health & life insurance benefits, 401k, paid vacation & sick leave, etc
- home office costs.
- People come from different backgrounds - IT vs Marketing & experience
- Jeremiah O. has a list of these types of positions but I’ve found very few list salaries.
- These positions go by a number of names which makes it hard to research them on salary websites.
What am I forgetting? These numbers have been helpful to my sister & I. Job satisfaction rates really high for me & that’s for another post.
Plurk
joec says:
Under salary vs. contracting, you left out having to add on for health insurance, which is a huge cost for most people, unless they get it through their spouse.
Connie says:
Yes that’s true - benefits such insurance, 401k etc are quite important. I’ll add them.
Thanks Joe!
David Yeo says:
Hey Connie, thats very generous of you to be open with such information
Positions such as web strategist, community manager are terms which are quite alien in this part of the world.
Although I suspect a very popular community site like Stomp.com.sg will probably have someone who handles that role in some degree.
I did a search on Jobstreet.com.sg, simply pouring through terms “web strategist” (0 results), “community” (0 results) and web (400+ not quite relevant positions).
In general, I notice rates are about 20% - 30% lower than in North America - lower taxations, lower costs of living(debatable) etc.
Connie says:
Hey David,
I was glad to help. The info has helped my sister & I. For searching try e-commerce.
And in terms of contracting, my accountant said I needed to pay in 45% to cover state & federal taxes as well as FICA. ouch! Now imagine if I needed to pay for insurance benefits too?!
Although we live in Minnesota & our tax rate is one of the highest in the nation.
Andy Kaufman says:
Hey Connie, thanks for sharing. I recently found myself in the same predicament and after some researching and triangulating, I came up with similar results.
Connie says:
Thanks Andy for confirming. Yes, there are some numbers out there, but asking people is helpful too.
Lois Phelps says:
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