There’s been a flurry of media interest lately in the importance of hiring dedicated social media positions throughout the organisation. Both US News & World Report and Fortune magazine have picked up on the trend and consider whether  stand alone social media roles are here to stay or just a Web 2.0 fad. Both publications cited the research we did in our recent Social Media Jobs special report so we thought this would be a good time to spotlight the work once again. As we wrote when we first published the report:

Just 59 of Fortune Global 100 firms have invested in recruiting staff specifically assigned to core social media duties that include customer outreach, PR and marketing support and internal communications. And, while our research shows that demand for social media positions has increased more than five-fold in the last five years social media salaries lag behind the equivalent positions in the traditional fields of PR, marketing and publishing.

Some of the key points of the report included:

•    The social media “laggard” sectors include: financial services & insurance; petroleum & energy and utilities.
•    The social media “active” sectors include: healthcare, telecommunications, retail and automotive.
•    The number of social media job postings has increased by more than 600 percent to over 21,000 in the past five years.
•    On average, social media salaries come in $5,000-10,000 lower than their traditional counterparts.
•    Social media salaries are on the rise and could close the gap within the next year.

You can download the full report.

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