An individual who manages a company’s or person’s social media presence is known as a social media manager. Because many organizations and prominent people utilize social media to communicate with their audiences, this job has grown increasingly crucial. To succeed in this field, you’ll need great communication skills, an appropriate degree, and experience with social media.
According to LinkedIn, as of March 2021, the social media manager position is one of the top ten in-demand jobs. However, before you start looking for this career, make sure you understand what it entails and if it aligns with your expectations and talents.
Because of its capacity to contact and capture customers while learning more about their needs, desires, and frustrations, social media has become a crucial marketing area. And because it’s used by companies, organizations, non-profits, government officials, celebrities, and others to engage directly with their followers, working as a social media manager can lead to a number of careers.
What is the role of a Social Media Manager?
Social media managers are typically in charge of establishing and overseeing social campaigns, producing content, reviewing analytics, and communicating with important stakeholders in a firm.
Because social media platforms are fast-paced and are often referred to as “real-time marketing,” social media managers must be able to respond quickly and distribute information as it becomes available.
A combination of education and experience is frequently required to become a social media manager, however the specifics vary per organization.
1. Understand the fundamentals of social media marketing
Being a good social media manager necessitates continuous education.
You must understand the ins and outs of the many social media platforms in addition to gaining the abilities required to perform the duties of a social media manager.
This necessitates acquiring the capacity to manage both paid and organic social media outreach. Paid advertising offers businesses a significant opportunity to contact their target demographic and expand their client base while receiving a high return on investment.
Learn more about business goals and how social media may help them achieve them, as well as attract new customers. The usefulness of social media is multi-layered—user-generated material, geographically relevant information, and the capacity to target marketing—but no company should post anything without a plan.
There are some genuine factors in how each company handles social media, and to be fair, they may modify their strategy over time if one channel isn’t performing well.
2. Improve your skills
Writing, social media expertise, and design are all skills that can be learnt and perfected with experience. Putting such talents to use is the best way to practice. Do you want to improve your writing abilities? Create a blog! Do you wish you had a better design sense? Design visuals for your blog and social media to practice, and solicit feedback from your readers. You might also explore making videos for your social media accounts or launching a YouTube channel.
Another important step is to familiarize yourself with the best social media management tools, as these will assist you in better managing your workflow and completing your tasks.
3. Establish a Social Media Presence
Your own profiles are the finest approach to hone your skills as a social media manager. Your own profiles are also a good approach to find new customers.
You can utilize your own accounts to demonstrate your abilities and social media prowess to potential clients by developing a strong online presence.
Whether you plan to operate as a freelancer or for a company, you should build profiles on all of the major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn, to list your social media services.
You can also utilize your personal accounts to test new strategies before applying them to your clients’ profiles.
4. Create a digital portfolio
You may be asked to exhibit your portfolio of prior social media work during an interview for a social media management role. Keeping a portfolio of top posts, engagement statistics, and other essential data will ensure you have proof of your qualifications to display during interviews, whether you’re picking up freelance customers, managing your personal accounts, or volunteering to establish a page for a non-profit organization.
5. Obtain an entry-level position (or internship)
Finally, you’re ready for your first real job after learning industry lingo, improving your talents, establishing your portfolio, and listening in on group discussions. Examine job openings in your social circles, on LinkedIn, and on other job-search sites.
There’s no substitute for on-the-job training, so take advantage of the chance to expand your network and learn new skills. Make sure you’re ready to answer the most common social media manager interview questions when you get to the interview stage.
6. Define the Services you provide
After you’ve honed your social media and management skills, you’ll need to figure out what services you’ll offer and how much you’ll charge for them.
To begin, it’s a good idea to concentrate on just a few services. This will allow you to grasp particular areas more quickly, as well as make it easier for you to gain new clients, as having a specialty can boost your credibility.
7. Follow companies you admire on all of their social media platforms
Follow the top companies in your field, as well as those in other industries, to learn what works and what they’re doing right when it comes to engaging with their fans. Remember to look for them on all social media networks, as they may have different purposes or messages on each platform.
Bottom Line
Planning and posting content, communicating with influencers and customers, and monitoring what people are saying about the business throughout the web are all tasks of social media specialists and managers.
To carry out these responsibilities, social media managers must learn copywriting, graphic design, research, time management, and communication.
You’ll need to study the ins and outs of each social media site, as well as the different types of audiences who use them.
Starting out as a new freelance social media manager is usually daunting. Which is why at TERAWORK, we’ve made it easy for freelancers and employers to get things done right. We have a system that automatically connects freelancers with the employers who need their services. If you’re a freelancer who’s looking for more freelance job opportunities, check out TERAWORK today.
