The Many Hats of a Social Media Manager
I often get asked what it is like to work in social media marketing. Many of my friends seem to have a very glamorized and slightly naive vision of what my day entails, such as me being on Facebook and Instagram all day, goofing off mostly, and since I work out of my home, the thought is that I have unlimited time to chat, go for lunches or run errands during office hours. And while it is true that working in social media from home does come with added benefits, such as being able to swap the laundry around and being home with your kids while they are doing virtual learning, it is a far cry from the luxurious notion my friends have.
Working in social media marketing is a busy job like many others, but here it is critical that you constantly keep a finger on the pulse. It is a world that is forever evolving and changing, and if you don’t keep up to speed with trends, platform and algorithmic changes, you lose out. The industry has a sharp learning curve and in order to be an expert it’s important to spend time learning every. single. day.
On any given day, a social media manager might be responsible for setting a strategy for an upcoming event or product launch, creating a video, designing catchy and relatable content, analyzing data across platforms, running paid advertisements, community and reputation management, liaising between the client and your team and much more. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for a social media manager is to prioritize what of their many tasks have the biggest impact on the brand or organization.
Typical Tasks in a Social Media Manager’s Day:
Strategizing:
Starting with the organization’s goal and voice, your task is making sure brand awareness, engagement, traffic etc. align with overall goals. And it can be a challenge, so having a solid social media strategy is key.
Creating:
The art of content creation is at the heart of every social media manager, and is what keeps your audience reading, engaged and interacting with your brand. It’s nice to have a client who produces some of their own content, but a good social media manager will be skilled in creating all sorts of content ranging from fun current memes to infographics and videos.
Curating:
Having time to find and sift through content from others while determining the fit for a brand can have a big impact on the overall social media results. Developing your own ‘content library’ is a critical step!
Scheduling:
Planning ahead and scheduling content can make a big difference for your brand. Using a good scheduling tool that allows you to post even when you are not online is a game changer for any social media manager.
Engaging:
When creating and curating content for a brand it’s important to cultivate a happy and engaged audience, who in return will help spread the word about a service or product on social media.
Listening:
Having an ear to the ground and listening to conversations around brands or products that align with your own brands or products can help create opportunities to build relationships with potential customers in the community. Therefore it is also crucial to have a great listening tool.
Community Management:
Consumers no longer rely on a phone number for answers to their questions. They will turn to social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s a social media manager’s job to navigate those questions, comments, concerns or complaints. Even better, setting up automations like a Facebook chatbot can save you time and greatly improve your response time.
Measuring:
Once your posts have hit the various social media platforms, it’s time to analyze their performance. How many comments, likes, clicks and shares did they receive? And then it’s time to use those stats to make informed decisions for future posts. And most importantly, how well did you connect social media to the bottom line? One of the first questions we always get asked in a pitch is, ‘what’s the ROI on social?’ It’s not always an easy question to answer because the ROI isn’t always in dollars and cents.
Learning:
A good social media manager takes time to learn every single day in order to build the skills required to succeed in the industry and to stay on top of the game. This also includes being familiar with new platforms.
Experimenting:
Trying out different things to find out what works and what doesn’t is part of the job. The more experimenting you do, the more you learn.
Managing social media involves a multitude of tasks, which can grow exponentially depending on the scale of the strategy, and your day can easily run away from you. Time management and prioritizing are key players in being successful, and it’s a fine balance that you need to find all while you strive to create that perfect content people connect with and love. Every day brings something different to the table, and the environment is fast moving and creative. It is easy to feel overwhelmed or lost, and if you need help handling your company’s social media, remember we are only a call away.