Social media today is more than just sharing vacation photos and daily thoughts. For most businesses, it is a powerful marketing tool used to reach customers and build brand awareness.
Social media managers are entrusted with managing the brand’s online presence and developing strategies to attract customers and boost engagement
If you have a knack for digital community management, content creation, and marketing, working as a social media manager can be a fulfilling career. Many clients seek these professionals and pay them handsomely.
This blog will guide you through the process of bagging a job as a social media manager.
What is a Social Media Manager?
A social media manager formulates and executes strategies to establish a brand’s social media presence. They are the "brains" behind a brand’s social media image because they determine how the brand will appear, interact, and engage across various platforms.
To ensure the effectiveness of their strategies, social media managers oversee marketing campaigns, monitor online sentiment, track performance metrics, and communicate with clients.
In small businesses and startups, social media managers create content, address inquiries, and report analytics. In larger companies, they typically act as supervisors, leading marketing strategies, approving content drafts, and providing direction to other social media marketers.
What Does a Social Media Manager Do?
The regular workflows of a social media manager include:
1. Captivating Potential Followers
Over 90% of social media users follow brands and businesses. This makes social media a powerful tool to build and strengthen brand awareness.
Social media managers are responsible for tapping into this potential by driving people to follow the brand’s accounts and eventually converting them into paying customers. To do this, the manager ideates compelling posts (both written and visual) and forges relationships with the target audience.
2. Boosting Online Engagements
Once the follower count increases, the social media manager must maintain their attention and loyalty for long-term growth. Boosting online engagement through content that follows the latest trends, news, and conversations will keep people engaged with the brand.
Most social media managers also take the responsibility to respond to comments and replies from followers as they represent the brand’s willingness to build genuine connections with them.
3. Conceptualizing a Brand’s Tone and Online Presence
The manager is responsible for establishing the digital personality and behavior of the brand to ensure it stands out in people’s minds.
For instance, a fashion brand can have a prim and elegant personality by using formal and sophisticated language in posts and comments. Meanwhile, a local shop can be quirky and funny by using emojis and slang.
4. Planning Content
A social media marketing manager prepares a content calendar to ensure consistent posting of high-quality content.
They also guide content creators to ensure that their pieces reflect the tone and personality of the brand, or provide content outlines or mockups for the creators to follow.
5. Monitoring Performance
All posts are monitored by the manager, checking their likes, engagements, and comments to understand people’s sentiments about the brand.
6. Analyzing and Reporting Data
A social media manager uses analytic tools to make data-driven decisions based on key metrics like engagement rate, follower count, post reach, and click-through rates. They also report analytics to clients and provide their impressions and suggestions about it.
7. Upkeeping Social Media Accounts
A post that violates the platform’s guidelines can harm the brand’s account reputation. A social media manager prevents this by approving posts, removing spam comments, or blocking malicious followers.
Must-Have Skills of a Social Media Manager
Here are some skills that an aspiring social media manager must possess:
Social Media Expertise and Understanding of Platforms
While there are plenty of overlaps among social media platforms, they still have striking differences in guidelines, features, trends, and user demographics. Mastery of common platforms—Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn—and understanding of the nuances of each platform is essential.
Communication Skills
Around half of your responsibilities as a social media manager involve communicating with clients and account followers. It’s important to convey your plans and strategies to the client to ensure you’re on the same page. Meanwhile, customers and followers may approach your account for requests or inquiries.
Creativity
A social media manager must consistently generate ideas for striking content. They pick up the latest trends on the platforms and put some interesting twists and “out-of-the-box” gimmicks to captivate the target audience.
Moreover, it’s helpful to have a knack for visual designs. Posts with visual elements gain 650% more engagement than those with text only.
Learning how to add the proper make the right images, videos, infographics, or GIFs can help you create engaging posts. You can even explore using meme photos if your followers are in the millennial or Gen Z demographics.
Critical Thinking
Some posts might come across as compelling or distasteful depending on the current situation. A good social media manager is mindful and knows the right time to post specific content or not. Knowing what to post and what not to post is essential.
Editing and Proofreading
Having stellar writing skills enables a social media content manager to polish posts, captions, and blogs. This ensures that your write-ups are of the highest quality.
How to Be a Social Media Manager: 5 Steps
There’s no royal road or quick hack to becoming a social media manager. It takes years of learning and experience to flourish in this field and become a go-to expert in social media marketing.
But to make your journey less daunting, here are five effective steps to follow:
1. Obtain the Necessary Skill Set and Certification
Although most clients value experience over educational background, a bachelor’s degree can still help you succeed in this field.
Pursuing a formal education can provide you with specialized knowledge applicable to social media management and marketing. Courses in marketing, business administration, communications, journalism, and psychology can give you an edge.
However, you need to go beyond college education to learn other technical skills such as:
- Mastery of the nuances of social media management platforms
- Using artificial intelligence and automation features in social media
- Understanding the latest online culture, norms, and trends
- Learning graphic designing (such as using Canva or Adobe Creative Suite)
- Basic SEO
- Understanding social media algorithms, policies, and guidelines
2. Gain Entry-Level Working Experience
Even in the digital realm, a newbie cannot handle a managerial position without some experience. You should start with entry-level positions in social media marketing to prepare yourself.
Some relevant positions are:
- Content creator: Produces written and visual content for social media platforms. You can use artificial intelligence to automatically generate drafts or enhance your work.
- Social media specialist: As with a social media manager, this role is responsible for the day-to-day execution and monitoring of strategies to grow a brand’s online presence.
- Social media intern: This can be voluntary or paid work. It involves assisting a business’s social media manager or specialist and gaining hands-on experience in the process.
3. Build a Thriving Personal Social Media Account
When clients ask, “How do you become a social media manager?”, it’s not enough to simply enumerate the skills you possess. What they need is solid proof that reflects your ability, such as a personal social media account with a huge following.
4. Prepare an Online Portfolio
You can create a personal website (using platforms like Squarespace, WordPress, or Wix) to create an online portfolio that curates your previous work outputs and experiences. Choose the best works from your freelance, volunteer, and internship experiences such as:
- Top posts and comments
- Engagement records across channels
- Content conceptualized and produced
- Personal (and business) accounts previously managed
5. Find Clients
Now that you have the necessary skills and portfolio, there’s just one piece missing—a client. Fortunately, social media managers are in demand, so there are plenty of opportunities. However, a compelling pitch is still necessary to stand out. A concise overview of your experiences and planned strategy is enough to win clients’ hearts.
So, where to find these clients?
- Social Media: Some Facebook groups seek social media managers, particularly from startups and small businesses. These groups also share tips on how to be successful in this role.
- LinkedIn: Large companies often post job openings here. Try connecting with recruiters or directly sending applications to companies.
- Meetups and Conferences: Networking in person is an excellent way to find potential clients. It’s easier to convey your plans and strategies face-to-face.
- Word of Mouth: Ask friends or colleagues to spread the word that you’re offering social media management services.
- Email: Formally offer your services to businesses via email. This can also be used to collaborate with rising influencers or personalities.
Wrap Up
With the right skills, knowledge, and experience, becoming a social media manager is achievable. Using a reliable and effective social media management platform like Highperformr can further ease your path to success by automating workflows and maximizing content reach.
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