3 years ago when I took my first social media client, I knew a little about Facebook and Twitter, how to post to social media, and not much more.
All I knew was that I knew a little more about social media than my client.
The past few years have been a learning experience (please read: butt-kicking) as I discovered an entire world of online marketing, changes in algorithms, and more social media platforms than the pairs of shoes I own.
Seriously though, what does a Social Media Manager do?
I have found varying answers to this question. My role as a Social Media Manager has changed over the past three years. In fact, my role changes from client to client.
Things look a little (or a lot) different from when I took my first client. I have a full clientele, and I call myself a Social Media Strategist and Manager.
Sometimes I find myself wearing the hat of Twitter champion, and other days I’m all dressed up creating fun Boomerang videos to share on client Instagram accounts. Often I can be found studying up on the latest social media trends – or as my husband calls it, “checking Facebook”.
While the role changes day to day, here are a Social Media Manager’s core responsibilities:
- A Social Media Manager creates a strategic plan that revolves around the goals of the client. This means that every single post, tweet, image, hashtag, blog, or any piece of content that is curated or created must support the efforts of the overarching strategy to achieve their client’s goals. This (nearly) goes without saying, but most companies have a goal of producing sales, increasing revenues, and ultimately seeing an ROI. But what is the monetary ROI in social media? Don’t get me started; that is a topic for another blog post – or series of blog posts!There are many strategies on social media that can support the monetary goals for any company. This includes branding, establishing authority, increasing awareness with specific target markets, driving traffic to a website, growing specific followings, or driving leads for an email list. By no means is this list comprehensive.
- A Social Media Manager helps to attract an audience to their client
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
The answer is – not really!
If a company launches an amazing product or service, but no one knows about it, does it make a difference?
A Social Media Manager attracts an audience to multiple social media platforms, entices potential customers to subscribe to an email list, and keeps the conversation going between product launches or major events.
By the time the company launches, the audience has already experienced engagement and interaction with the company.
This falls in line with Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. You must keep your audience entertained, educated, and engaged before trying to sell them anything.
But business owners are busy – that’s where the Social Media Manager comes into play.
Have you worked with or as a Social Media Manager? Drop a note in the comments!
