How To Be a Social Media Manager

Social media managers are responsible for the representation of a company on social media channels. This may sound like a straightforward mission but is very important. If done right, a social media manager can help boost a company’s brand most impressively. 

The role of a social media manager includes, but is not limited to, compiling campaigns, responding to comments and creating content. Social media managers give companies and organisations guidance on how to enhance their online presence. The importance of social media isn’t always realised by companies, but up to millions of people make use of social media to communicate with brands and organisations.

If you are interested in how to become a social media manager, stay tuned – we’ll be discussing that in-depth here.

The following steps are a gentle push in the right direction and are the best ways to become a social media manager that is an asset to their employer. It will also teach you about how you can make yourself more desirable as a social media manager.

Think About Getting Formally Educated

It’s a good idea to get a degree in communications or marketing. This isn’t a requirement for all companies who hire social media managers but looks good on a CV.

However, you must know the fundamentals of marketing and writing. You should learn as much as you can and then put that into practice. You can start by working for free or for a low fee. Build experience that will help you become a social media manager who is well-versed in what they do.

You don’t ever stop learning – not for any job –  and to be a good social media manager you should try to always be aware of the latest research and knowledge available. Sharpen and hone your writing and design skills. Having a degree in communications isn’t a strict requirement but is a great idea. You will learn a lot about the industry of social media marketing.

The most valuable skills a social media manager should have are:

• Ability to understand analytics and reacting accordingly
• Good content creation
• Impressive storytelling
• Knowledge on how to engage with communities

Maintain Your Knowledge

Once you have obtained knowledge, you have to keep building on it. The social media world is ever-shifting and ever-changing and you cannot afford to be left behind. You have to stay informed, and if possible ahead, of analytics and social media-related trends.

As a social media marketer, you have to stay informed about the tricks and tools of the trade or you risk being left behind. This will affect not only the quality of your work but also the success of the company (or organisation) that you are working for.

The best way to become a social media marketer that is worth their weight in gold is to be informed. The most efficient way to do this is to stay up to date with the most popular and best social media marketing and managing software. Many products offer free trials so you can learn about them with no cost to you.

You should constantly read up on market-related matters such as graphic design, website design and SEO. Even if you don’t think you’ll use it, read about it and make it part of your arsenal.

How To Be a Social Media Manager 101: Focus On SEO Knowledge

As mentioned above, knowing SEO should be a priority. The value of knowing how to optimise your brand’s online presence with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is almost unmeasurable. It is vitally important for a social media manager to be aware of how to use it to the company or brand’s advantage. It plays a big role in social media and content related to building a brand’s public image.

As a social media manager, you must always work hard to make the most of SEO to improve your social media strategy. It will be possible to attract a larger audience – which leads to more customers – with a plan that makes use of SEO knowledge.

Make sure that you stay informed of the best ways to use SEO for your clients so you can truly be the backbone of your employer’s online presence. There is a strong link between social media activity and a company’s rankings. Always keep this in mind when building your strategy.

Search For Social Media Opportunities

A good social media manager can find new and creative ways to create awareness and interact with customers. Every industry has a community and it is your job to find it and make contact. 

These communities create opportunities to promote products and marketing campaigns extensively. You could even use your personal life to search for inspiration. Many people know about online places where there could be a goldmine when it comes to social media marketing – you may just know that person.

Knowing about these places will help you become a more intuitive social media manager but don’t worry if you don’t manage this as first. With ‘field experience’ you will learn more about how to dig up these opportunities.

Keep In Mind That You’re Always Being Watched

As a social media manager, you are in charge of what the public sees of your brand on the internet. You must always demonstrate a strong and trusted voice for the company or organisation that you represent.

Any bad judgement displayed when you’re representing your client will be held against you, so always think twice before you act. To be a great social media manager calls for very high levels of emotional intelligence. You must always handle matters by thinking about how it will make people act and feel. This is an important lesson to learn on your journey to become a social media manager.

A good social media manager is also aware of the brand/company’s customer service, organisational politics and the internal and external PR.

Even popular and famous brands have suffered because of blunders by social media managers, so always think before posting or interacting. Your actions could essentially make or break the brand’s public image.

Keep Adapting 

This is just as important as maintaining your knowledge. You have to stay flexible and informed. Assuming that the social media strategy that worked last week will be effective next week is not a good idea. The social media world is fickle and you need to change with it to get the best results for your client(s).

It is dangerous for a social media marketer to focus on one way of doing things and not being able to adjust his or her way of thinking and planning. Use what is currently working to your advantage but be willing to move on to the next strategy when times move along. Think about MySpace for instance. It was a big deal 10 years ago, but today it doesn’t even get mentioned anymore. 

Being a good social media manager means being good at adapting and continuously learning. Making scheduled posts and staying aware of developments is not enough – you have to try out new things as they happen. You have to be constantly testing new and fresh ideas to find the best ways to keep ahead of the game. Being adaptive is one of the most important skills that a social media manager needs to have.

How To Be a Social Media Manager Pro Tip: Learn To Work On Your Own

Social media managers have to work with marketers, salespeople, bloggers and more. As the job title suggests, they should be social people. But essentially, they should be able to work on their own.

It is very ironic, but a social media manager’s work-life can be a rather solitary one because of how digital communication and socializing works. In most cases, a social media manager needs to be comfortable with working in a ‘team of one’.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to this kind of working environment. It can be lonely and the pressure is placed on one person, making it more intense. But it also gives you the freedom to do as you think well. Also, you won’t have to run every single idea past someone else before executing it.

You should also consider attending seminars and similar events during your time as a social media manager. You may have to do this alone as well, but you’ll likely get to interact with like-minded souls.

Search For Brands To Follow

Part of making your company part of a community is being active in this community. To do that, you should find brands that you admire and who represent the company’s point of view and follow them.

This is something you can do in your personal life as well. If you haven’t been hired yet, you can find brands that you look up to and would love to work for. If you follow them and build a relationship, you may just land a job with them eventually.

Build An Online Portfolio

This is advice for a social media manager who has not yet found their perfect or dream job. Create a portfolio that shows off your different skills and abilities.

A simple but effective way of doing this is by creating a sample blog that highlights everything you can do. You can show this to the company that you hope to work for and give them an idea of what they can expect from you.

Make sure that this blog is not just about your skills, but also your interests and enthusiasm about becoming a social media manager. This way, prospective clients get to know you and see what you’re passionate about. Companies need to see that you are an interesting and qualified person who will be an asset to their company.

Do Volunteer Work

Another great idea for an aspiring social media manager is to do some non-paying work, just for the experience that can be gained. Offer your services to the social media accounts of small organisations that you admire, schools or non-profit companies and organisations. 

You will be able to get yourself a wealth of information and experience and feel good about growing the online presence of brands that may otherwise not afford social media managers. It could be a wonderful stepping stone in your aspiration to becoming a social media manager of note.

Show Off Good Time Management Skills

Social media is all about grabbing people’s attention and distracting them. But this could become like a rabbit hole for social media managers who don’t have good time management skills. It is far too easy to be distracted by all the channels that you have to monitor and stay informed about.

Learn how to multitask and get good at. You have to be able to have 10 different tabs open in different windows without getting too distracted by any of them. Of course, it won’t always be that intense, but you should be prepared for the ‘worst-case scenario’. Having a helping hand is a good idea too. Make use of a social media calendar and scheduling tool like SocialPlanner. It is a fantastic way to take and maintain control of your content marketing strategy and achieve optimum results.

How To Be a Social Media Manager – Skills That Are Important 

Here’s a quick look at the different skills that good social media managers have. If you focus on these, you’ll be able to become much better at what you do.

Copywriting

As a social media manager, you will be doing a lot of writing. Although every client you work with will require a different style, you will need to know how to write well. Whether you need to be professional or light and fun, you need to have a grasp of how to create immersive and interesting content. You can find many online classes to work on this skill.

Research

You should be able to know what’s happening as it’s happening in the world of social media and digital communication. The best way to do this is to constantly research what is going on and keeping yourself updated on the latest news. Research is a skill that you can learn with time and practice.

Social Media Skills

This may seem like something that should go without saying, but having good social media skills is a must. This is something that is learnt over time with research and experimentation. But you can also learn much by completing courses and studying as much as possible. These skills include knowing what kind of content is appropriate on the different social media platforms and knowing how to optimize this content.

Combine these skills with all the knowledge and guidance shared here, and you will see that knowing how to be a social media manager isn’t that difficult. It takes time and passion, but that applies to all dream jobs out there.

Conclusion

What it comes down to is connecting with and adding value to the community that your brand is focused on. Become part of the community and create awareness for your company/organisation/service. Be involved and interesting and you’re halfway to becoming a brilliant social media manager.