Hey!

Welcome to Social Files—your no-BS guide to generating demand for your B2B product using social & content.

Hope you had a great weekend. I spent it doing absolutely nothing. Finished Andor season 2, then rewatched Rogue One and A New Hope. Also continuing to chip away at reading Howling Dark—so, so good.

Today’s essay is some honest advice about how to make yourself stand out on the job market. It’s not ‘easy,’ but it’s also not complicated.

By the way, I’m hiring at my content agency for Content Writers and Content Editors. Would love for you to apply.

Now, let’s get into today’s piece.

🔎 DEEP DIVE

How I’d land a content marketing job in content in 2025

Hot take: it’s not as complicated as you think.

The job market is a shit show right now. I’ve seen people posting on LinkedIn about how they’ve been searching for over a year. Insane.

And I’m sure you’ve seen the fear mongering about AI coming for writers everywhere. We all have.

But, and this might be a hot take, I don’t think it’s as hard to get a job in content marketing as people make it out to be.

There are some edge cases, yes. But, if I’m being 100% real with you, most of the time it’s a skill issue.

There are two root causes for the job search woes:

1. You just aren’t as good at content as you think you are.

2. You’re not as good at packaging your skillset in a way that is appealing for employers.

If you're currently dealing with problem #1, well, the solution is to just get good. Practice content in your free time. Focus on learning social content, not SEO optimization (these positions are much more relevant in 2025). Nerd out on content marketing newsletters, YouTube channels, podcasts. There are so many resources out there that will help you get good—you're reading one of them. So, good start.

For this essay, I’m going to operate off the assumption that you are a good content marketer already. We’re dealing with problem #2. You just need to package your expertise in a more relevant way.

Here are a few ways I’d do that.

(1) Position your content marketing expertise around social—specifically LinkedIn—not SEO optimization and blog writing.

LinkedIn content writing is so much more relevant these days. When I’m reviewing applications for our Content Writer and Editor positions at Compound, I’m looking for folks who have written for LinkedIn. Most startups are as well.

If you have this sort of experience, make it prominent on your portfolio.

(2) Show your work!

Most portfolios are just a list of links to finished blog articles or social posts.

This is better than nothing. But, you have an opportunity to make this even more compelling by showing your work.

An example of a profession that tends to do this well is graphic designers. They’ll often explain the thought process behind design decisions in their portfolio. They’ll expand on elements in a logo they created. Why they chose certain colors in a brand refresh. This all gives the reader an understanding not just of the end product the designer is capable of, but the thought process they used to get there.

Do the same with your writing.

Add a few notes on why you opted for a certain hook style. Give context on how you adapted the tone of voice for the specific client. Be clear about what limitations you faced during the writing process (like client preferences that you had to operate with).

When I see stuff like this communicated in a portfolio, it is clear that the person has a writer’s brain. I can trust that the writer can produce work like this consistently, since they have the thought process to do so. Make sense?

(3) Do #2, but with other people’s work!

You might be reading this thinking, “Tommy, I don’t have a whole lot of social content in my portfolio yet. What do I do?”

Simple! Just break down what you like about other companies’ work on the timeline.

If you see a piece of content you admire, try to explain what works about it. Why did the hook draw you in? What about the topic selection made the piece relevant? How did they use media? The list goes on.

Again, this shows that you have the ability to think about content in the right way.

I used this playbook early on to build a bit of an audience. And I still use it today! This essay is a perfect example. I broke down what beehiiv does well in their social content, from an outsider’s POV. This was one of my best performing essays, and quite a few leads cited it on sales calls with me.

The key with these 3rd party breakdowns is to frame it as learnings, not advice. You see a lot of these ‘green screen creators’ on Instagram running this playbook…but they do it wrong.

They use hooks like “Here’s how X generated $17M with this ONE simple strategy” then spew the most nonsensical bullshit you’ve ever heard.

I remember this one thread-boi how posted about how this brand, Represent, generated millions from TikTok shop. The founder quoted tweeted the thread saying “We’ve never used TikTok shop.” Embarrassing. Hilarious to read, but embarrassing. Don’t be this guy.

Instead of giving firm advice without context, you want to frame these types of pieces as “things you like” about the strategy. This way, you can give your hypothesis and share how you think about marketing—without looking like an idiot and torching your reputation.

(4) Build a personal brand.

Look. You don’t need a personal brand to land a job in 2025. But damn, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t help.

There’s no way I’d have landed a six-figure tech marketing job out of college—with little ‘traditional’ experience—had I not been posting online for the last three years.

Having an audience gets you options. Clout with the right people opens doors.

But you don’t need to play the ‘creator’ game to the extreme. The main purpose of personal branding for job acquisition is to make your thought process public. Similar thought process to points 2 and 3 in this essay, right?

Make it as easy as possible for an employer to read your LinkedIn profile and think, “Damn, they know their stuff.”

Speaking for myself here…if a content marketer has a strong personal brand, it pretty much guarantees them a first-round interview, at least.

How about cadence? There’s no harm in posting daily on LinkedIn. If you have the time, go for it. But again, you don’t need to for this to work well. I’d post 1-2 times per week with examples of my work and commentary on industry trends.

Also, of course, make sure your LinkedIn profile itself is set up. Clear profile pic. Header. About me section. Experience up to date. All the basics—yet, you’d be shocked by how many people don’t have these basics set up.

One more note on profile set up. This recommendation might annoy some people, but I would be hesitant about using the “Open to Work” badge on your profile. I’ve just heard from enough founders that this is a negative signal that I’d recommend against using it. To each their own.

Final thoughts

You’ll notice a common thread that ties this advice together.

Your goal: make it as easy as possible for an employer to look at your profile and understand that you know what you're doing.

Personal branding, done right, is a great way to accomplish that. Writing on the internet changed the course of my career. And I didn’t even need that big of an audience to do it.

And if you're going to start writing on the internet in 2025, do it for relevant social timelines, not blog pages collecting dust.

If this piece convinces one person to publish their first post, I’ll consider it a win. Can you do that this week?

🗃 FILE CABINET

Here’s my favorite marketing and business content I bookmarked this week.

• - This NEW strategy is taking over LinkedIn in 2025… by Tommy Clark 🎥

  - How to make viral content for ANY business by Oren John 🎥

  - How Graham Weaver Turns Recent Grads Into CEOs by Invest Like The Best 🎥

Check these out.

BEFORE YOU GO…

As always, thanks for allowing me into your email inbox every week.

More from Social Files:

• Read the rest of my essays

• Work with my agency in 2025

• Try my LinkedIn content writing SaaS

• Steal my founder-led content templates

Talk soon,

Tommy Clark