Social Media Salary Report: Ladies, It's Not Pretty
If the latest figures from Forum One Networks' Online Community & Social Media Compensation Survey are to be believed, it's not good news ladies.
The company's 2009 survey found that the gender pay gap is widening in social media at least. Male respondents to the survey made just over $86,644 (£52,249) while female respondents, in comparison, averaged just $75,624 (£45,702) a difference of almost $9,000. According to the survey women make 87% of what a man in a similar role brings home every month.
This time last year Forum One's 2008 study found that 55% of community managers were women. In 2009 this figure fell to 52%. Even with a slight dip in the number of women in social media's top jobs they still out number men in the sector; something which makes the pay difference strange.
Women not only dominate social networks as leaders but their sphere of influence, as consumers, on technology and lifestyle trends are huge. Women are a major force in determining cultural trends and setting the pace for style and in Generation Y, 92% consider themselves to be trend leaders in the social media space.
A greater capacity for compromise, natural nurturing abilities, being detail-focussed and having more relationship intelligence, there's a viable argument that women make better community managers than men. A slight generalisation I know but it perhaps goes some way in explaining why there are more women in these types of roles.
The uncertain ROI and relative newness of social media positions may make for some salary uncertainties that aren't just confined to the gender pay gap. When compared to other industries the salary difference between the sexes in online is minute and the new media sector IS improving a very old inequality issue that's still in full swing in in other industries.
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Picture courtesy of Bagel Me! Some rights reserved.
12 November 2009 by Suzanne Morrow
Suzanne is a Senior Copywriter at leading UK digital agency Dog Digital. Established in 1996, Dog Digital is one of the most experienced and accomplished teams in the digital arena. Today Dog boast a star-studded
international client portfolio and a trophy cabinet full of awards. They provide bright and innovative digital solutions that work. It's that simple.
Suzanne is a Senior Copywriter at leading UK digital agency Dog Digital. Established in 1996, Dog Digital is one of the most experienced and accomplished teams in the digital arena. Today Dog boast a star-studded international client portfolio and a trophy cabinet full of awards. They provide bright and innovative digital solutions that work. It's that simple.
Comments
This disparency might be a
This disparency might be a side effect of mainly men being in the IT industry, and therefore more managing to be seen as senior when it comes to social media roles. I don't think social media is going to be of the moment though. Twitter and the opportunities it has opened up with allowing online collaborations will help push social media forward. It has had a poignant role in the iranian protests, and china wanting to get their voice heard, and only recently facebook made it possible for rage against the machine to make it to number one in the UK music charts.
Social media is only going to become a more integrated part of peoples online and offline experience in the future.
social media moving faster than babies on skates
Although not ‘up’ on the Man vs. Woman pay gap, what I like to think I am qualified to discuss, though, is the behemoth that we all call Social Media Marketing. Now, I don’t know whether we all started to take notice when Stephen Fry started to Tweet, or when the Evian babies ‘roller-skated’ into our inboxes but, what I can be sure of, is that Social Media Marketing is very OTF (of the moment, for those not in the know!).
Of course, Social Media is certainly not new; we all know it has been around for years (Facebook, anyone?), but with Word Of Mouth agencies springing up all over the place, and companies becoming more savvy about how to utilise Facebook, YouTube and the like . . . . (I mean, how many companies don’t have a Twitter account - we do, 5 to be precise!), I definitely think that Social Media Marketing is one fad that is speeding into the future faster than those babies on skates!
see this positives...
I was surprised to read that there was this kind of difference to be honest, I'm finding that many of the evangelists of the social space are infact women.
The positives to take from the blog are that we're talking about new jobs that have been generated by the social media buzz which is working its magic across the digital sector.
I must be naive
I thought this type of pay disparity had disappeared from the new media world. Guess, it's still prevalent, at least in the US where those figures are from. I suspect it's the same here though, especially as new-fangled digital roles get introduced into established businesses.
Interesting to reflect on the level of salaries though, the renumeration seems pretty generous, as an average, compared to similar UK-based roles.