Understand what a Social Media Manager does, what skills are required, and how to stand out in the role
The role of Social Media Manager has gained increasing prominence in companies as it is essential to guarantee the best results in digital marketing channels.
From planning actions to analyzing results, he must promote the brand on social media, apply the best techniques, and know how to apply investments in an ideal way.
In this article, we tell you everything a Social Media Manager does, their most relevant skills, and the differences between professional Community Managers. Follow along!
What is a Social Media Manager?
The Social Media Manager (SMM) is the professional responsible for planning and coordinating the execution of strategies for a company’s social media, such as the website, blog, social networks, advertising management platforms, and much more.
Therefore, among the main functions he must perform are the following:
- study of the market and the public, to understand the persona’s needs, their challenges, and how the company can help;
- planning the brand’s presence on social networks, which must be defined based on the client’s objectives and the channels in which their audience is inserted;
- manage everything related to digital marketing actions, such as content production, SEO techniques, and the development of advertising campaigns ;
- manage marketing investments, especially Ads budgets;
- monitoring trends related to social media, to always stay up to date and ahead in your actions;
- monitoring results based on the main metrics and KPIs, which need to be aligned with the project objective and goals;
- plan the actions that will be carried out by the Community Manager (CM), supervise how the strategies are being applied, and what return is obtained from this.
Many people confuse the roles of Social Media Manager and Community Manager. It is important to emphasize that these two professionals are different, despite working together.
The SMM is the direct leader of the CM. While the first is responsible for planning and strategy, the second is in charge of administration and execution of what is planned. Therefore, one complements the other.
5 fundamental skills for the Social Media Manager
A Social Media Manager must have a global perspective on the strategies developed in digital, this means that he or she also needs to have different skills to manage the team and deliver the best results. Below, we list the five most important ones!
1. Know the main strategies for social media
We know that the world of digital marketing changes very quickly and what may be a good strategy one day will not always be the main focus the next. Therefore, the SMM must always remain up to date and study what can guarantee the best results for the company.
After all, each type of business will require a different way of working with content. The same goes for the objectives to be achieved and the channels used to promote the brand.
Therefore, the more the Social Media Manager is attentive to market changes, consumer needs, and the evolution of social media for the sector he serves, the greater the chances of achieving success with his strategies.
2. Understand project management
As the SMM has the role of managing the actions and work of the Community Manager, it needs to understand project management to keep all deliveries within the correct deadlines.
A good manager therefore ensures that the team is aligned with the company’s objectives and carries out activities correctly, helping to generate the best results in each social media work.
Furthermore, it is important to use the correct tools to keep track of the entire strategy, executions, and progress toward goals.
3. Master content production for social media
We have already said here that the CM is responsible for carrying out digital marketing actions, but this does not mean that the Social Media Manager does not need to understand content production and other related tasks.
In reality, it is the notion of copywriting and design that will allow the SMM to make the best plans for each medium, even if they are not the ones who will develop the final content.
At the same time, having writing skills and knowing how to use image/video editing tools also helps in times when demands are high and the team needs a helping hand.
4. know about SEO and Ad Campaigns
Technical knowledge to improve organic results and those coming from paid campaigns is essential to plan the best strategies and ensure good positioning in search engines.
This will make your website receive more visitors and increase the possibility of success at each stage of the funnel, from the top to generating business opportunities.
In the case of advertising campaigns, the Social Media Manager must know which channels to invest in, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, and define the ideal budget for each of them. In addition to, of course, making the necessary optimizations to obtain the best performance.
5. Master data analysis
Finally, one of the most important skills for the Social Media Manager is analyzing the results of adopted strategies and extracting insights for plans.
Monitoring metrics must be carried out across all channels, individually, and also with a global view, to understand how these media integrate and create opportunities for the business.
It may seem like a lot of work at first glance, but today some tools help you automatically generate social media reports so you can focus solely on the strategy.
With these tools, for example, you can create reports and dashboards for different channels in seconds.
Furthermore, there is complete freedom to customize them according to what is most relevant to your objectives and add analyses in text, images, and videos to complement the information.
In other words, the Social Media Manager spends less time on manual tasks and dedicates more time to in-depth analysis, which makes the entire project more efficient.
