Your dream is to work in social media. You’ve been blogging, building your brand and know your stuff. After doing all the right things you have a job offer, so now what?

As with any potential new job there are many questions & many unknowns in regard to one in social media. And to make it worse, I believe that there are many more because the space is so new.

I have been advising both employers and job seekers for quite awhile. Here’s a review of practical things to consider when you’re on that emotional high of having received a job offer:

1. job expectations? Do you know what your role will be? Has it been defined adequately? Be wary of a job that is too open-ended. Overall, make sure that the expectations are communicated from both sides.

2. a good fit? What is the culture of the company? How open are they to change? Social media requires a culture that has open communication and a focus on the customers.

3. salary? Only you know what you need, but don’t undersell yourself. I hear of too many companies expecting a lot of services for little or nothing. On the flip side I think that some investment at the beginning on your part can prove to be very fruitful. As with anything one must gain experience. This is an opportunity to show you skills. You can influence this by requesting that your status be reviewed in a shorter period of time than the usual year (which is really too long in the online world because things are changing so quickly).

4. how will you measure your efforts? This is imperative to plan for. You need to benchmark where the brand is at then you’ll be able to compare your efforts against that going forward. This will have a direct impact on salary. If you can prove that you’re efforts are having a measurable impact then you’ll be that much further ahead.

5. contract or salary? This really depends on many things. Contract work allows much more flexibility. I think that a more important question is what are your job requirements based on? hours or deliverables? My recommendation is that deliverables is much more flexible and suited to the role.

6. work remotely? More and more people are working remotely, but I don’t think that employers are trending toward this yet. I’ve worked online remotely since 2006. And before that I worked for a decade remotely because my Director was 75 miles away. I also supervised 7 library sites spanning 80 miles and it was no problem. We had phones, email, and transportation. :) Now I have IM, airports and my blackberry. It’s all the same and I believe that I’m more effective working from where I live.

7. should you relocate? This is also related to salary. What is the cost of living in the new location? Can you mediate the risks involved? Many people that ask me are considering going to work for startups. I loved working with startups so don’t get me wrong, but there are some inherent risks along with the excitement.

I hope that those provide you with some questions to ponder as you seek your ideal job. What did I miss?