Social Media Manager

What Is A Social Media Manager?
As a social media manager, you are responsible for managing the social media presence of a individual, business or brand. You are the one responsible of monitoring, executing, filtering and contributing to the social media presence of a business, product or brand. As a social media managers your goal is to ensure the growth of engagement and following of your client with the ultimate aim being to execute the social media strategy that will support your clients business goals.

As a social media manager, you will be put in charge of your clients social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and/or YouTube. You often work within an organisation's communications, marketing or public relations department. You will be expected to measure engagement data and help better the clients return on investment (ROI).

Managing all of these various responsibilities requires social media managers to cultivate and develop a number of crucial social media marketing skills. This job will require you to posses skills like data analysis and copywriting. Communication. Organization. Creative skills. Attention. Budgeting. The more you focus on cultivating these skills, the more you’ll be able to show results that your clients will value and appreciate.

A Social Media Managers Role

As a social media manager you have understand the mechanics of how most businesses see social media as a way to drive traffic to their website to buy products or services. Hence turning traffic to revenue. Businesses and brands are willing to pay a lot of money for this. As long as the revenue is higher that the money invested, business will most likely continue pimping money into this method.

Businesses and brands run digital marketing strategies that are focused on building relationships with their target audiences. Hence, you need a clear understanding of your clients target audience. Then you can create and share engaging content to that exact audience. For this you need a detailed strategy. There will be times where you might work with a team. Other times you will be required to create marketing strategies by your self. Remember, that you are the company’s voice on social media. The role includes a lot of copy writing. Hence, your grammar should be in place. You will be responding to their audience comments, dm’s and managing partnerships with influencers.

Your job is not only to gain new following, but also to maintain their current followers. Here are a few tips and tricks to include in your social media strategy for a brand or business:

• Create a editorial schedule
• Share content across all social media channels
• Respond to comments
• Reply DM’s
• Create campaigns
• Keep the brand voice active
• Track all activity through engagement ratings and analytics
• Present findings to upper management
• Recommend improvements to increase performance

Social Media Manager Services

As a social media manager, the need or requirements of your clients may vary. Here are the most common elements that you should be prepared to offer:

• Social Media Account Setup
• Social Media Content Creation
• Social Media Scheduling
• Social Media Strategy
• Social Media Analytics
• Social Media Consulting
• Social Media Graphic Design
• Social Media Videography
• Social Media Customer Care

Skills Of A Social Media Manager

As a professional social media manager, you need to posses and cultivate a few skills to help you complete your job. Here are some of the essential skills required for you to do you fulfil your duty as a social media manager:

• Writing skills. Cultivate your copywriting skills. You need to write content for social media posts and descriptions across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram YouTube and TikTok.

• Communication skills. You will be required to communicate both with team members, followers, customers and influencers.

• Time management skills. You need to be able to prioritise your assignments and tasks.

• Tech skills. You need to master you preferred graphic design software or application. This will be your tool to present unique results.

• Creative skills. Your creativity will help you create unique and valuable content. Strong creativity skills lead to greater engagement and happier clients.

• Marketing skills. As a marketing manager, you should understand the basics of social media marketing, running campaigns, and targeting different audiences.

• Social media skills. Luckily most people have grown up using social media and have basic knowledge of how one sets up and runs a social media profile.

• Legal skills. Understand and stay updated on the terms and conditions on the various platforms to ensure that your clients profiles are always in good standing.

• Video creation and editing skills. Some clients may required that you create videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok and/or YouTube Shorts.

• Analytical skills. As a social media manager, it's important to have strong analytical skills. This involves monitoring analytics and data. This skill will help you better create insightful reports for your clients.

• Visual skills. You need some level of visual skills to create digital content to share on social media pages. Content that will draw attention.

• Team-player skills. Some clients may require that you team up with other content creators such as videographers or graphic designers to produce some content.

• Community building skills. Many brands and businesses are looking for social media managers who can build a community on platforms such as Facebook or discords.

Educational Requirements

There are really no educational requirements within this industry. Marketing degrees are a relatively new trend. As more and more online courses are emerging, you will likely be able to find an affordable one that you can finish in a few days or weeks. However, in marketing, your portfolio and work experience are what clients will be looking at. Your degree will not help you win clients if you no work experience or a well arranged portfolio to showcase. Hence, do your prime effort in building your portfolio and gaining experience.

In case you prefer starting with a course and getting a degree, I recommend you get a free one with one of the following platforms: 

• Google Analytics Academy

• Twitter Flight School

• HubSpot Academy

Multiple Niches

As more and more brands and businesses are building a social media presence, do not narrow down to a niche. Let your potential clients know that you are willing to work with any niche. Here are few of the most popular niches that companies are seeking social media managers for:

• Fashion
• Media
• Education
• Consumer goods
• Finance
• Technology
• Healthcare
• Lifestyle

Setting Your Rate
The average social media marketing manager salary is somewhere between $50,000 and  $120.000. The salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, experience, skills, your portfolio and the number of years you have spent in the industry. Social media manager salaries also vary depending on the country where you work.

So, what’s the proper way to rate your service? Well, my advice is as always to start low and build your prices up as you grow your experience and portfolio. So keep these three elements in mind as you set your rate:

• Education
• Experience
• Location

Keep Up With Trends 

As you know by now, social media managers have numerous duties and roles. Social media marketing is a wide concept. They are required to developing social strategies that strengthen overall business plans and goals of brands and companies. There are specific techniques such as email lead generation that you’ll have to get acquainted with. Only by having a clear understanding of all popular marketing strategies will you be able to help your clients connect with their followers and customers with a high ROI.

In this fast evolving internet world, a successful social media manager needs to stay ever updated with the latest trends. Even if they are the unseen face behind a brand or business, they are the voice being heard. They are the ones ensuring that a brand or business remains relevant to their customers. So, keeping up with the latest trends and presenting new ideas and methods will ensure a long and satisfying relation between the social media manager and their clients.