Social Insider has released a package on their insights on what the role of a social media manager is in the year 2022. Obviously, we’ve gone through a lot, we’re going through a lot, and that has resulted in a lot of changes online, whether that’s solely online like user habits or changes inflicted by massive world events like war, disease, and even CEO takeovers.
If you are thinking about the idea of becoming a social media manager, Social Insider has broken down what makes the best social media managers, all the way from childhood to expectations for the future.
With the help of this Social Insider piece, plus a little know-how from our own experience, we have put together this guide for what makes the best social media manager and what you need to work on to get the role.
What is the role of a social media manager?
The role of a social media manager, as the name would suggest, is to manage social media. Usually, this is created for the purpose of managing a brand’s presence on social media, so it involved creating content, creating a social media strategy, and sticking to it, community management (replying to comments, engagement, etc.), and customer support through social media.
What makes a good social media manager?
The core personality traits that are sought in social media managers are creativity and analysis. The creative covers the content creation side of things, whilst the analysis covers the data alongside it. So, for example, you might have enjoyed literary analysis and critical thinking, like the idea of journalism, which combines research and writing, etc.
But there is an analytical side to social media management that is probably lost on those thinking about the role when they are scrolling through their Instagram feed. Social media managers are in charge of creating the marketing strategy, yes, but they also have to make sure that it is getting the desired effect. They do this by measuring content performance, analyzing social media data, analysis on competitors, influencer research, and collecting it all in reports.
Much like other aspects of marketing, there is the creative side and the number side. A good social media manager, especially for a brand with a smaller marketing team, who realistically might be doing all this on their own, would need that analytical mind to ensure that what they are throwing at the wall is sticking.
On top of that, they should have presentation skills to be able to convey and explain that their strategy is working, which you can see in the data, etc. There is a lot of reporting in this job. An ability to work for yourself without a mentor would also be a big help considering you might be working alone or in a freelance role for various clients.
When it comes to the CV, 50% of the social media managers studied in the Social Insider package had a bachelor’s degree, in a variety of subjects including marketing, journalism, communication, creative writing, and graphic design.
However, this is a young man’s game, so clients are willing to give those without a degree a shot at the role as long as they have (or sometimes in order to gain) experience. Honing your own social media account for the sake of business is a good step in that. Running an affiliate blog or blog for you or your family member’s business, for example.
What is a social media manager doing every day?
The primary goals of a social media manager are broken down into increasing brand awareness, growing the brand’s audience, connecting with the audience, promoting content, increasing web traffic, and, ultimately, driving sales.
Valuable skills are mainly copywriting skills and speaking skills, but there are a lot of skills you can gain to give yourself an edge, like learning basic graphic design, good filming techniques, fluency in editing, etc. Too many people, for example, don’t actually know how to take a picture. They don’t know their rule of thirds and how to set up a photo that doesn’t draw attention away from the subject, etc. Honing your basic content creation skills into something that could look professional will give you a big advancement in the industry.
What’s in the future for a social media manager?
Industry-wise, Social Insider foresees a social media industry run by video calls. As video times shrink with attention spans, it will become more common for video content to be the norm. Being authentic and talking to customers directly will also become more vital to the role.
And the industry is expanding. It’s likely that the one, all-encompassing role will be expanded into a team in the future, creating more job opportunities.
When it comes to your role, there are a lot of options when you think you’re done. You can be promoted to a more senior-level role or a different role in marketing, you can start your own agency and take on more clients, or you can use your marketing and social media experience to take you elsewhere.
If you’re interested in more affiliate marketing insights, take a look at our blog, or book a free call with a member of our team for a more personalized approach. Or, to really get stuck in, get your tickets to our Elevate Summit in June. There will be expert panels, talks, and workshops to enjoy for all the most cutting-edge affiliate marketing knowledge.
