Digital & Social Media Marketing

Reaching people where they spend their time online: search engines, social feeds, email, apps, and now AI chatbots.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Director of Digital Marketing: Leads all of a company's online marketing: search, social media, email, ads, and the website. Typical pay $145k.
• Performance Marketing Manager: Manages big online ad budgets and is judged on exactly how many customers each dollar brings in. Typical pay $115k.
• Head of Social Media: Leads a brand's whole presence on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms. Typical pay $112k.
• Digital Marketing Agency Owner: Runs a small business that does online marketing, like ads, social media and websites, for other companies. Typical pay $120k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• SEO Specialist: Helps websites show up higher in Google and other search results. Typical pay $70k.
• AI Search Optimization Specialist: Helps brands get mentioned and cited when people ask AI chatbots and AI search engines questions. Typical pay $88k.
• Social Media Manager: Plans and posts a brand's content on social platforms and talks with followers. Typical pay $68k.
• Paid Search (PPC) Specialist: Runs pay-per-click ads on Google, Amazon, and social media. Typical pay $68k.
• Email & Lifecycle Marketing Manager: Designs the emails and app notifications that keep customers engaged after they sign up. Typical pay $88k.
• Influencer Marketing Manager: Finds online creators to promote a brand and manages those partnerships. Typical pay $85k.
• Affiliate Marketing Manager: Runs programs that pay websites, bloggers, and creators a commission for every sale they send. Typical pay $85k.
• App Store Optimization Specialist: Helps apps get found and downloaded in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Typical pay $78k.
• YouTube Channel Strategist: Helps creators and brands grow on YouTube by planning videos, thumbnails, and titles. Typical pay $70k.
• Digital Ad Operations Specialist: Sets up and checks the online ads that run on websites, apps, and streaming services. Typical pay $62k.
• Retail Media Manager: Buys and manages ads that appear inside online stores like Amazon, Walmart.com and Instacart. Typical pay $90k.
• SMS & Text Message Marketing Manager: Plans the marketing texts brands send to customers, like flash sales and back-in-stock alerts, while following strict texting laws. Typical pay $80k.

Starter: fastest way in

• Social Media Coordinator: Helps create, schedule, and track social media posts for a brand or organization. Typical pay $46k.
• Social Media Influencer / Content Creator: Builds an audience online and earns money from brand deals, ads, and selling products. Typical pay $25k.
• UGC Content Creator: Makes authentic-looking product videos and photos that brands pay for and use in their own ads. Typical pay $30k.
• Livestream Shopping Host: Sells products live on video apps like TikTok Shop and Whatnot, chatting with viewers who buy in real time. Typical pay $40k.
• Digital Marketing Coordinator: Supports a marketing team by scheduling posts, building emails, updating the website and pulling reports. Typical pay $50k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.