So, You Think You Can Be A Social Media Manager?

The position of a Content Marketer or Social Media Manager is something that everyone under the age of 30 seems to think they can do. Gen Z has grown up with social media and it is a huge part of their lives. They socialize with all their friends, connect with their favorite brands, get all of their news, and consume all of their media and entertainment through social sites. Although they use social media on a daily basis, this by no means, creates a Social Media Manager.

Social media advertising spending is projected by 2023 to double the advertising spend in television ads and be more than 8x’s the projected advertising spends of radio, out of home, newspaper, and magazine. (Source: Statista) Because of this huge increase in media spending and advertising budgets, social media positions in the workforce need to be filled with people whose qualifications are more than just growing up with the medium.

There are six key areas of focus that anyone who is applying for a Social Media Manager or Content Marketer should have.

1. Content Creation/The Ability to Write

A great Social Media Manager understands how content and social media go hand in hand, but also understands that running successful marketing campaigns is much more than just randomly posting content on social profiles. This position requires a person who will know what works best on each social platform and creates content that will speak to those specific audiences.

2. Creativity/Graphic Design

Graphics are very persuasive tools. Having the skills for the right visuals and the ability to draw people into posts is an important social media skill to master. The right visual can create a big difference in boosting the engagement for your content.

3. Research and Data Analytics Skills

Social media research is a key resource for gaining insights for both the planning and execution of any social media campaign. A highly skilled Social Media Manager will have the ability to implement social listening and audience intelligence to uncover trends and insights as a guide for future social media campaigns.

4. Knowledge of Paid Social Ads

Paid advertising in the social media landscape is constantly evolving. Understanding what works best in paid social media advertising requires constant learning, a refinement of skills and the ability to adapt. A great Social Media Manager will learn and practice new techniques to stay on top of any changes to existing platforms and discover new ones.

5. Consistency/ Monitoring/ Optimization

Skilled Social Media Managers know how to use the native analytics within the social media platforms to assess and refine the performance of advertising campaigns. They will look at KPIs such as clicks, comments, and profile visits to determine if your ads are creating an impact. They’ll know how the target audience is interacting with ads and which ad types are most popular. It’s essential that social media managers be able to understand and utilize results to make more data-driven choices about posts and campaigns moving forward.

6. Time Management

When it comes to social media, there is always more to do. This medium moves at an astronomically fast pace, and it can be difficult to keep up. The best option for any Social Media Manager will be to understand which tactics have the biggest impact on your company or organization and know how to optimize for productivity. The really smart ones will know to use a social media management platform to schedule updates in advance to help them accomplish more with less time.

The job of a Social Media Manager takes more than Hash-tagging, posting, and tweeting. There are select skills and certifications that are required to understand and navigate advertising on social platforms. While many of us know how to drive a car, it doesn’t make us a professional race car driver or a mechanic!

Like a mechanic, Social Media Specialists need to have a wide range of skills to do the job properly. They basically need to be a person within an agency who knows about everything from copywriting and graphic design to customer service, research, and analytics.