A social media manager is responsible for managing and planning the social media presence of the company. As a social media manager, you will strategize and execute digital marketing campaigns. You will be responsible for developing and managing social media content designed to engage users, create brand awareness and increase sales. Now, if you love spending time on social media, why not use it as a profession. This guide will help you understand the basic requirements for this job profile. Let’s start by having a look at the different resume formats you can try.
See What People are Saying About Us
Job Duties of a Social Media Manager
In today’s digital world, social media is a must for all businesses so is the social media manager. A social media manager performs an array of duties like designing and implementing social media strategies. Here is a list of responsibilities social media managers perform:
Researching the current benchmarks and customer preferences.
Developing and implementing social media strategies.
Generating, editing, and sharing social media content.
Monitoring SEO and web traffic.
Building social media presence by maintaining impactful online content and presence.
Responding to queries, comments and monitoring customer reviews.
Overseeing the employer’s website and social media accounts like Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn.
Staying up-to-date with technologies and trends on social media accounts.
Working with copywriters and designers to check the content and ensure the content is informative and appealing.
Collaborating with other teams like marketing, sales, and customer service to ensure brand consistency.
Analyzing the data to determine whether the social media campaigns have achieved the goals.
- Coaching employees on content creation.
Social Media Manager Median Salaries
The median salary of a social media manager by PayScale is $52,000 as of April 2021.
Top Skills for Social Media Managers
Managing social media requires a person to be up to date on the latest trends in the digital world. Through your analysis of these trends, you must also cultivate brand awareness for your employer.
Here are a few other skills which will help you become a successful social media manager.
- Communication skills: Communication is the core skill behind any social media. You should have strong communication skills, which works for any platform where you communicate with customers, managers, content creators, and other people.
- Writing skills: Social media is an excellent platform for witticisms and brand development, so that writing skills will be indispensable. You should be able to express clear ideas creatively. Furthermore, your call-to-actions should not sound like a product advertisement but more like a conversation with your followers, which is why choosing the correct terms is crucial.
- Community management: Approx 34% of any company’s customers will use social media for customer support, and as a social media manager, you should be ready to answer all of them. You must be responsible when addressing any queries and comments while also being empathetic. Companies tend to have a policy when handling their customers. It is your job to translate that policy into written language on social media every time you answer consumer questions. Always remember the age-old internet adage: Do not feed the trolls.
- Analytic skills: Managing social media is all about establishing a strategy that might constantly be evolving. Your analytical skills will help you excel in it. You should measure what works and what does not and adapt to any situation to maintain your numbers. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis will aid you in understanding the value of a product in the eye of the people and how to mold yourself to it.
- Copywriting skills: Your posts on social media will define a company’s brand, and you must determine what kind of tone, vocabulary and message you want to go for on different platforms. Sometimes what works for Facebook will not work for Twitter, so it is your job as a social media manager to tailor your posts through copywriting skills to make them sound positive.
- Open to change: You must learn to adapt to changes. Social media is forever evolving, and the landscape changes very quickly. You should be able to use new features such as stories to continue leaving your digital mark.
- SEO knowledge: Search engines influence social media content on a vast scale, so it becomes important for a social media manager to learn how to manipulate them in their favor. Search engine optimization dramatically impacts your social media reach, and as a manager, you should always write content aiming for a top spot when searched through Google.
- Technical tools: Like any profession, you must use the perfect tools for the job when working with social mediaYou should know what type of content works best for each platform and how to optimize it.
Educational Requirements for Social Media Managers
Degree
There are no degrees that can directly teach you how to manage social media; however, most employers seek candidates who have graduated from a bachelor’s degree in a communication field such as marketing, journalism, advertising, among others. Various institutions offer degrees in communications. Northwood University offers a degree in Marketing Communications, the University of Northern Iowa offers a Bachelor’s in Advertising and Digital media, and Pace University offers a degree in Marketing-Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communication.
Social Media Managers sometimes also go for a master’s degree to further their chances of achieving a job in the field. For a Master’s degree, the University of Florida offers an online degree in Social Media Management and Marketing.Certifications
Your best course of action when searching for certification in social media management is to go directly to the social media of your choice. For example, LinkedIn offers a massive open online course in Social Media Marketing, leading to a certificate in the field. In contrast, Twitter offers a Marketing Leadership course that helps you master its platform. Meanwhile, Facebook provides a Blueprint Certification that attests to your skills in managing their algorithms and understanding their platform.
If you need more formal education, the School of Continuing Education from the University of Wisconsin offers a social media managers certificate which proves your understanding of the impact and understanding of social media.
The Management and Strategy Institute is another institution that offers a certification for Social Media Manager that will leave you with a solid understanding of how to manage social media accounts for large companies.
Udemy and Coursera also offer a slew of courses for those interested in anything related to social media, such as a certificate in graphic designing.
Social Media Manager Resume-Writing Tips
Though you must have got an idea about the resume you should choose but here are some tips to make your resume stand out of the crowd:
- Communicate a clear objective statement. A social media manager’s role includes many tasks, so it is advisable to write objective statements in your resume. Here you will emphasize the relevant skills and expertise for the position. This will help the recruiter to get an idea of what you bring to the table without actually reading the whole resume. The objective should be crisp and clear and should not exceed more than three to four lines.
- Highlight your communication skills. Social media is about communication. Many companies are using social media to promote their products; it is crucial to be able to use the right tone at the right time. Your resume should convey to the recruiter how you can use your communication skills differently on different platforms.
- Showcase your prior success with numbers. Showcasing your prior success is the best way to get your resume noticed. Use metrics to convey your success story to the employer using numbers like your tweet was retweeted 243 times, or you could increase the Facebook engagement by 175% for your company.
FAQ
Are social media managers in demand?
Social media manager profiles did not exist a decade ago, but as social media has become popular, so is this profile. And this job has grown a lot in recent times. You have a great growth scope in this job.
Is social media management a promising career?
Everyone spends time on social media, some more, some less and being a social media manager, you get paid for spending time on social media. This is the perception of people about this job, but it includes a lot of responsibilities. You are responsible for the company’s reputation online. If you like challenges and the deadlines excite you, this is the perfect job profile.