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In order to create engaging content that converts followers into devoted consumers, a social media manager must possess a wide range of skills, much like any senior marketing position.

Social media manager positions are expected to increase by 10% by 2028, potentially creating 33,700 new opportunities over the course of the next ten years, according to data by Zippia.

The job of a social media manager has grown increasingly complicated as the industry develops, requiring knowledge of influencer marketing, platform competence, consumer involvement, and social media outreach.

Furthermore, as platforms continue to develop, experts should monitor the growing role AI is playing in digital marketing and how it is influencing social media networks.

This guide will assist you in identifying the fundamental abilities required to establish a successful career in social media management if you’re an aspiring social media manager who isn’t sure where to start.

In this blog, we will cover:

• What is a Social Media Manager?
• What Does a Social Media Manager Do?
• What are the Tasks of a Social Media Manager?
• 10 Skills You Need to Be a Social Media Manager

A brand, product, business, or individual’s social media presence must be monitored, implemented, filtered, and analyzed by a social media manager.

This position, which is frequently referred to as the “voice of the company,” is also sometimes called a “Digital and Social Media Manager” or, in certain situations, a “Community Manager”—though the latter term is a little out of date.

Social media managers are in charge of creating and managing marketing campaigns across various social media platforms, disseminating company information, and promoting brands.

They use analytics tools, know which social media metrics are most important, and interact with audiences by answering queries and comments in a way that is consistent with the company’s values and standards.

They produce new content every day, try out novel formats and concepts, and monitor results to improve tactics.

In larger companies, social media managers work closely with teams in the marketing, public relations, and creative departments and may answer to a social media director, head of content, or brand manager. Additionally, they collaborate with sales teams to promote revenue-generating lead generation initiatives.

Success in this position requires keeping up of industry news and the most recent developments in digital marketing.

The majority of Social Media Manager roles require a bachelor’s degree in marketing, public relations, or a similar discipline due to the increasing demand for qualified workers. In the United States, a social media manager typically makes over $59,000 annually, according to Glassdoor.

The position of Social Media Manager is dynamic and fast-paced, requiring the ability to multitask throughout the day. Among the principal duties are:

Essential Duties of a Social Media Coordinator
Produce Content That Is Platform-Specific Facebook-optimized content may not be appropriate for Threads or TikTok. Determine the ideal format for each platform by examining competitor activity and trending material, including blog articles, GIFs, videos, and infographics.

Track campaign effectiveness across platforms and keep an eye on social analytics to make sure the correct people are seeing your content and to maximize your budget.

Create Social Media Strategies: Organize and carry out campaigns to raise brand awareness, sales, or product launches.

Measure and Prove ROI: Use analytics tools to monitor performance and set specific, quantifiable targets. To minimize expenses and optimize outcomes, use a social media marketing calculator.

Plan Your Social Media Posts: Every platform has a best time to post (for example, Wednesday mornings are the best times for Instagram engagement). Planning posts ahead of time simplifies workloads and guarantees that material reaches audiences at the appropriate moment.

Curate Related Content: Not every post has to be unique. Distribute news from the industry, popular subjects, or audience-resonant third-party material.

Interact with Your Audience: Developing relationships is the goal of social media. Answer consumer questions, reply to comments, and use platforms as a route for customer support.

Organize a Content Calendar: It’s critical to plan ahead. To keep things structured and consistent, fill your content calendar days or even weeks in advance.

These are only some of the duties that a social media manager might perform. Online success depends on remaining proactive and successfully managing campaigns, as every day presents new difficulties.

Let’s examine the fundamental abilities that any social media manager ought to possess now that you are aware of the position.

Writing takes up a lot of time for social media managers, who may create hundreds of pieces every day. A distinct tone and style are required for every platform.

For example, Facebook permits a lighter, more conversational tone, but LinkedIn demands a more formal approach. Additionally, being how to write SEO copy can be quite beneficial. Later, more on this!

To ensure that your words are understood by your audience and evoke favorable feelings, your writing should be concise, interesting, and consistent with the voice of your brand.

Important Social Media Writing Types: Catchy headlines

Hooking readers with captivating introductions

Captions for pictures and videos that improve narrative

Structured content that is easy to read (subtitles, bullet points, and numbered lists aid in content skimming)

Resources to Help You Write Better:

27 Social Media Tools Every Content Creator Must Have These tools will improve your content, from identifying the ideal photograph to producing popular TikTok videos.
Using AI Tools for Copywriting: Discover how to incorporate AI into your copywriting and social media content.
A comprehensive manual for organizing, structuring, and optimizing content for digital audiences is available in the eBook How to Write Well Online.

Social media managers need to remain on top of the ever-changing landscape of digital and social media.

This entails staying current—sometimes even daily—with emerging analytical technologies, market trends, world events, and rival tactics.

For professional advice, watch this fantastic video with Agora Pulse founder Emeric Ernoult, who talks about social media marketing and the various networks on the DMI podcast.

In order to keep ahead of the curve, great social media managers use tools like Feedly, Ahrefs, and BuzzSumo to track popular content and set up Google Alerts for trending subjects.

While hashtag research aids in identifying pertinent subjects to connect with, platforms such as TikTok’s “Discover” button and the X Trends sidebar offer insightful information.

Useful Resources to Improve Your Research Capabilities
Usage of Social Media by Nation and Trends To improve your audience targeting and content strategy, find important demographics and insights.

A ready-to-use template for tracking rival performance on multiple social media platforms is the Social rival Analysis Tracker.

Is the New Search Engine TikTok? Examine how Gen Z is increasingly using TikTok to find new content and conduct informational searches.

Nearly half of customers who interact with brands on social media do so in order to contact customer service, according to research by Khoros.

This picture shows how different platforms have different levels of engagement. However, social media managers should be vigilant across all channels because social media is frequently the quickest and most convenient way for people to receive a response.

Whether they have queries, grievances, or compliments, customers usually use social media to get help—especially now that messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp make it simpler than ever to interact.

A brand runs the risk of making a bad impression on its audience if it is unresponsive, even during regular business hours.

Important Social Customer Support Data (Hootsuite)
The marketing team is responsible for social customer service in 49% of firms.

More than 50% of Facebook IQ poll participants said they are more inclined to make a purchase from a business that offers chat customer support.

Messaging channels save 60% on the cost of customer interactions.

According to 50% of customers, prompt responses influence their choice to buy.

On social media, 79% of respondents expect a response within 24 hours, compared to 40% who expect a response within an hour.

Useful Resources to Help You Develop Your Customer Service Capabilities
Social Customer Service: Five Leading Brands’ Takeaways Discover how top brands use every encounter with customers as a chance to impress, add value, and increase sales.

Pay attention to the customer experience (CX) Listen to our podcast featuring MacDigital’s marketing specialist Joe Wilde to learn how to put the customer first in both offline and online marketing tactics.

An increasingly important component of social media and content marketing strategies is search engine optimization, or SEO. A competent social media manager incorporates SEO into copywriting with ease and is aware of how it affects social media content.

You can reach a wider audience, draw in a more engaged audience, and boost prospective customer interaction by embracing SEO.

Important Things to Think About When Combining Social Media and SEO
What is the impact of social media exposure on search engine rankings?

Are you aware of how long-tail and short-tail keywords function in SEO? For more information on the five steps of keyword research, see this infographic.

How do you go about promoting blog posts on social media?

What kinds of content are most effective at boosting SEO?

How can increasing website traffic result in income?

Tools to Improve Your SEO Proficiency
Neil Patel Brands Webinar: SEO Evergreen Strategies with Matt Santos from Neil Patel Accel gives advertisers simple-to-implement SEO tips.

Five Strategies to Optimize Social Media and SEO Discover how social media and SEO interact, and get five doable suggestions to maximize both.

The Effect of AI on SEO and How to Adjust Learn how AI is changing search engine optimization, from improving content tactics to changing search algorithms.

Creative visual material is just as important on social media as textual information, particularly on sites like Instagram and TikTok.

A well-chosen image, video, GIF, or illustration has the potential to become viral and receive hundreds or thousands of shares. Social media managers need to become experts in creating content for many platforms and know what appeals to each audience in order to optimize engagement.

With 3.7 million videos produced every day on YouTube alone, it takes imagination and audience-focused narrative to stand out, particularly in short-form video marketing.

Why Brand Storytelling and Video Quality Are Important
High-quality video content is more crucial than ever as visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok continue to rule the market. A clear message and stronger audience connections are made possible by effective brand storytelling.

Pleasing, the lifestyle company that musician Harry Styles established, is a prime example. Through eye-catching images, the brand’s Instagram page promotes its partnership with Disney’s Fantasia by showing a line of apparel, bags, and cosmetics.

Great resources to boost your design and creativity

Seven Pointers for Creating an Eye-Catching Social Media Page Effective visual design is essential for success on social networking. Discover how to make a page that draws in and keeps your target audience interested.

Creativity Checklist: Learn eight straightforward yet powerful methods to generate ideas and hone them.

Content Ideation Guide: Get this all-inclusive guide to help you come up with powerful ideas for digital marketing without running out of originality.

Monitoring results is crucial if you’re devoting time and energy to increasing visibility and interaction on social media. Data analysis can help with that.

You can learn a lot about platform performance and content efficacy by examining your social media stats. Important inquiries to think about are:

Which platforms are generating the highest levels of interaction?

Which kind of content—videos, memes, pictures, etc.—perform the best?

Which kinds of posts—such as polls and how-to videos—get the greatest interaction?

When do you observe drop-offs and when is engagement at its highest?

Do you need to change the amount of activity on some channels?

Specialized tools like SparkToro, BuzzSumo, and Hootsuite assist in tracking post performance, performing competitive analysis, and keeping an eye on conversations through social listening, in addition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and the analytics tools that come with social media platforms.

Data-Driven Social Media Strategy Resources
The Greatest Social Media Indicators to Monitor Find the most important indicators for every platform to gauge the effectiveness of your advertising.

GA4 Reporting Guide: Discover how to generate personalized reports using Google Analytics 4 that help guide your social media strategy.

10 Social Media Analytics Tools: Examine the best paid and free tools for streamlining the study of social media data.

Although it may seem apparent, any social media manager needs to have good social media abilities!

Even though these abilities can be refined via study and practical experience, it frequently takes years of experience to get a position at a big corporation.

To differentiate yourself from the competition, you’ll need to be well-versed in:

Knowing what kinds of material work best on each social media platform is known as platform-specific content.

Understanding the best days and times to post on various platforms is known as timing and scheduling.

Customizing content to optimize reach and engagement across all platforms is known as content optimization.

Analyzing data to monitor performance and improve strategy is known as social media analytics.

Using free social listening tools to engage and comprehend your audience is known as audience engagement and listening tools.

The 2023 Content Benchmarks Report’s chart below identifies the most captivating content categories that support marketers in achieving their social media objectives.

Resources to ground your social media expertise

Useful Social Media Approach Listen to Julie Atherton, the managing director and founder of the UK marketing firm Small Wonder, as she offers advice on creating a winning plan.

Choosing the Best Social Media Platforms for Your Company Without knowing which social media sites to prioritize, how can you create a solid social media strategy?

The ability to efficiently organize and distribute a budget across social networks for both paid and organic media is essential for a successful social media manager.

Important Budgetary Considerations:
Content Creation: Do you have to set aside money for an outside content generator or a freelancer?

Influencer marketing: Have you budgeted for sponsorships or collaboration fees if you’re working with influencers?

sponsored Media: Depending on your audience and degree of involvement, allocate funds for sponsored advertisements on various channels.

Software & Tools: Make an investment in tools for campaign administration, social listening, and data analysis.

Maintain flexibility in your budget by reviewing and adjusting it frequently to make sure that money is going toward initiatives that support your KPIs, such as brand awareness or lead generation.

Good Budgeting Resources: Neil Patel’s four-step strategy for economical social media marketing, Social Media Marketing on a Budget.

A tool for estimating the amount of money needed to meet your paid media objectives is the Paid Media Budget Forecasting Tool.

These days, artificial intelligence plays a major role in many marketing plans. 88% of marketers utilize AI in their jobs to create content, obtain insights, and make quicker, better decisions, per a survey by SurveyMonkey.

AI abilities are crucial for social media managers because major platforms like Meta and TikTok have used AI to improve features and grow their operations. You may enhance and optimize a number of social media duties by utilizing AI, such as:

Personalization: Provide your audience with experiences and material that are specifically catered to them.

Content Generation: To boost productivity, automate the process of creating content.

Influencer marketing: Find and manage influencers with AI-driven analytics.

Customer service: Use chatbots and support systems driven by AI.

Advertising: Use AI data to improve ad performance and targeting.

Tools to Improve Your Knowledge of AI and Social Media: AI in Social Media Examine the ways AI is changing social media and draw inspiration from actual cases.

The Top 12 AI Social Media Management Tools An overview of the top AI tools for optimizing your social media marketing.

Discover how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming influencer marketing with data-driven insights and automated management tools.

Any marketing position requires flexibility, but social media management demands it much more for hybrid workers. The rapidly evolving social media ecosystem need ongoing adjustment.

Post scheduling alone is insufficient. You must respond to trends, try out new features, and modify your plan in light of continuous analytics and testing.

Remaining adaptable after analyzing performance data enables you to improve outcomes and hone your strategy.

Finding what works best for your audience may be accomplished through A/B testing, which involves experimenting with various post variations, photos, and copy.

Useful Materials to Maintain Adaptability: A/B Testing Toolkit & Video Get professional advice on how to test your content for optimization.

Nine Soft Skills That Are Crucial for Marketers Learn the essential soft skills that distinguish effective digital marketers.

CMOs: Modifying Social Media Plans for a Post-Epidemic World: Guidance on how marketing executives might modify their social media plans in light of the evolving environment.

A career as a social media manager is exciting, fast-paced, and full of chances to interact with audiences and propel company expansion.

To stay ahead in this position, though, you must always improve your abilities to use the newest platforms and technology to draw in and win over clients.

The average annual compensation for a social media manager in the United Kingdom is £35k, according to Glassdoor, while the average in the United States is $59k, according to Indeed.

Gaining proficiency in social media management can also lead to professional advancement and opportunities in C-suite and leadership positions.

The most up-to-date information and abilities are necessary to stay ahead in social media management. Everything you need to succeed is provided by our Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing, which includes:

Customer service on social media
Social business
Creation of social content
Social tactics
Comprehensive analysis of leading platforms

Enroll now to become a Certified Social Media Marketing Specialist and advance your career!