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What is the role of a social media manager?
A social media manager oversees your organization’s presence on the various social media platforms you are part of. In our digital world, success on social media is more important than ever. Many brands are specifically creating social media management roles or outsourcing this work to consultants to ensure that someone can dedicate the time, energy and care needed to oversee the company’s success online. Let’s dive into some of the qualifications you should look for in a social media manager as well as what the role could look like for your company.
What skills do you need to be a social media manager?
Some skills or traits to look for in a social media manager include: being strategic, organized, forward-thinking and personable.
Strategic: Today, strategy is critical. Many organizations operate on a regular two- to five-year cycle for strategic marketing planning, and those plans didn’t account for a pandemic. Even regularly updated plans can become habitual instead of strategic if not evaluated with a critical eye. If this describes your operations, it’s time to get your social media manager to dust off the plan.
Organized: Many social media managers utilize editorial calendars to make sure they incorporate all desired messages in their communications vehicles for the year. They will examine the calendar months in advance to determine key messages or service offerings they want to focus on each month and seek opportunities to tie your company’s messages to trending topics that month.
Forward-thinking: Social media managers are on the lookout for emerging platforms that will align with your organization’s objectives and target audience. More importantly, they keep diversity top of mind as DEI is becoming increasingly important to customers and employees alike and audiences want and expect to see this messaging from companies online. To help meet our clients’ needs in this area, AOE developed a proprietary benchmark assessment software and launched a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practice group. These resources will help organizations map out their DEI journey.
Personable: Good social media managers know listening to the audience is important to a successful presence. Why listen? To create content for your audience that resonates with them and shows up in what they’re searching. Listening can be accomplished on social media relatively easily and inexpensively simply by following hashtags that your audience is following. For example, a client recently contracted us to help them develop long-form content based on what people search for most. AOE will write blog articles that answer those important questions
What exactly does a social media manager do every day?
What does the day-to-day look like for a social media manager? A day in the life of a social media manager will vary based on the organization’s needs. Some larger accounts may need help responding to a vast number of comments, messages or other inquiries coming on from their social channels. Smaller companies may need help with content creation and knowing what to post or to help with ads and getting that content seen by their audience. Whether outsourcing the work or designating a team member, you can tailor the social media manager role based on your goals.
Here are some responsibilities that could come with the role:
Content Creation, namely creating videos: Video continues to be the most engaging form of online content, and the pandemic has overwhelmingly increased the amount of time people watch videos online. Current statistics indicate 85 percent of people in the United States watch online video content monthly on their devices. What’s more, 54 percent of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support.
Audience Engagement: During the pandemic and its associated lockdown, quarantine and social distancing, social media became the primary outlet for individuals to engage with each other. Today, engaging with others on social media is vitally important to an organization’s social media success.
Examine Metrics: With social media usage on the rise, organizations need to keep an eye on their metrics. What’s working? What’s not? Be sure to beyond “vanity” metrics. A page’s number of followers and a post’s number of likes are great. But some of the most important information can be found in metrics such as engagement rates. When a post gets comments and shares, this is the gold that marketers are looking for.
If you’re ready to take the next step and outsource the management of your social media, contact AOE to discuss your goals and let us help you reach them!
Read more about social media marketing and explore levels of social media marketing agency pricing.