For some companies, social media is everything. It's the lifeblood of their company culture, and how a company recruits both users and talent. If you’re looking for your first role as a social media manager you’re looking at the right time since these roles are in high demand with the massive shift towards brands realizing the power of building their brand on a number of social platforms. From small startups to even Fortune 500 companies there are dedicated teams designed to manage their social media presence. Here’s everything you need to know about being and becoming a social media manager.
Let’s first take a look at some common stats that you can expect from current social media managers.
A social media manager is someone who manages a team of people and the strategy for how their various social media platforms are used by the business. Their job is to ensure that the company's social media efforts are being done in a responsible and ethical manner. They are also responsible for managing the content and strategy for social media across a large number of platforms for the company. The role of a social media manager varies from company to company and industry to industry. In some cases, the role of a social media manager is very hands-on, while in others, it is more administrative. The nature of the job also varies depending on whether the social media manager is responsible for managing one or many teams.
Let’s be more specific now. If you’re a social media manager at a small business or a startup you’ll likely have a direct report of a Head of Growth, Marketing Manager, or CMO in some cases. They will outline the strategy for the paid advertising side, and your role will be centered around pairing that strategy with the organic content. You’ll likely manage a team of content creators which can range from video content creators in house or contractors. For the content you’ll create you’ll likely use Canva to create still images, side note if you’re not using Canva is it a life saver for creating great branded content with ease. You’ll likely create content calendars and build out the “voice” your brand will have on social. Some companies will want to be playful and will use memes in their content creations while others will like to be hyper focused on their product which will lead you to almost always mainting your precense on social as if it were a landing page for the brand. When you begin your role as a social media manager try to understand the brand they look up to in regards to design style, messaging, and content to begin guiding you in the direction they’ve gone and more importantly want to go. Also just a tip, don’t start making posts for National Hamburger Day, this will likely show the inexperience of your management of content. Rather find unique ways to teach your users what the brand does in an engaging way, and more importantly showing the problem that a users has and how the brand can solve it. An example of this can be pulled from the fintech industry. If you app or platform is helping users save money, you can craft content around the issues that occur when an unexpected expense pops up. Memes work well here, quotes, infographics, etc. Social media management is largely a creative endevour, and not easy. To make your life a bit easier try to come up with recurring weekly series of content such as every Monday we make a product post, Tuesday is for tips, Wednesday we post a video, Thursday we post an infographic, etc. This will help you full up a content calendar while being able to test content your followers will like. Once you have your heros, double down on those and cut recurring posts that no one engages with.
The job of a social media manager is not an easy one. In fact, it can often feel like a never-ending series of deadlines, tasks and expectations. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to make your job a little easier. Plan ahead - Most social media managers have more than one job, and it’s important to make time for both work and family. If you have a social media manager’s day that doesn’t seem to be coming to an end, then there’s a chance you’re doing things wrong. Challenge the conventional wisdom - We’re all taught to believe that the only kind of social media is Facebook. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. There are plenty of other social media platforms out there, and having a clear strategy for using them all is what makes a social media manager successful.
Most mature brands will likely be posting across Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Snap on a daily basis. This is impossible to manage when looking to post at effective times and the weekends when you should have off. Once beginning your journey as a social media manager consider utilizing a tool like Buffer which lets you schedule out over hundreds of posts across all social platforms for the entire month. In other words by the time the first of the month hits you can have the entire months content already scheduled in and auto-posting throughout the month. So you can focus on the learnings of the content throughout the month which you’ll bring into the following month. Another key component of social media management is responding to comments from users. Via Buffer you’ll be able to respond to all comments from a number of social platforms from one place which makes the social listening process a whole lot easier. In a larger company, this will likely be a task for customer success, but in a smaller company, you’ll likely take this on as well! It’s largely beneficial because you’ll see the questions users have and create content in the future to address these.
In a small business and startup environment a social media manager will likely also support on newsletters, giveaways, email marketing and more. Which contributes to the need of having a scheduled content calendar to free up room for additional projects.
One of the best ways to start your journey as a social media manager is to take some skills knowledge tests. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the terminology of social media. You’re going to use a lot of terms, so it’s helpful to become familiar with the different concepts so that you’re not accidentally using the wrong term. Once you’ve got the hang of it, the rest will come easier. The best way to learn the ropes as a social media manager is to work for a company that’s doing it. If you have the opportunity, work for a company that already has a strong social media presence. You’ll get a better understanding of what’s involved in social media, and you’ll have a chance to see how things are done from the ground up.
Another hack to learning more about social media management is to do so while still in college. Think of running your clubs social media, build up your personal brand, or even create a profile just for fun to use as an example for companies to see your copywriting skills, your design skills, and your ability to make a profile come together. It’s fairly easy to do this, and jumping into Canva and designing posts you’re passionate about will speed up your learning to jump into the role of a social media manager faster. It’s a great benefit to grow up with social media since a number of these platforms come so naturallly to the younger generation. You know how the platforms work, what content you like, and how other companies are addressing it. In this role, being younger is actually a strength. So go out there and apply to roles that with within the social media management umbrella. Tip: most startups will hire social media managers right out of college. Especially if you come to the interview with some experience creating content you’ll be a strong outlier when compared so someone who’s never created content for any social platform. Remember to bring a large amount of creativity to the interview since the hiring company will likely want someone to take control of the vision and strategy behind their social media organic strategy.
Becoming a social media manager is a demanding job. It can be incredibly rewarding, but it also has its share of hard tasks and responsibilities. If you’re willing to put in the hours, you may just be rewarded with increased reach and new career opportunities.
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