Businesses are trying to make an impression in a world where 4.7 billion social media users spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes daily on these platforms. This challenge often falls to social media managers responsible for crafting strategies, generating content, engaging data analysis, offering customer support, and handling both organic and paid campaigns. Social media manager must possess various skills and interpret social media analytics. Soft skills such as excellent service to the customers, effective management of time, and creative problem-solving are equally essential for success in this role. Securing a social media manager role is highly competitive, so they need to stand out.
This article provides you with the most effective skills to help you become a great social media manager.
Social Media Manager Skills
Communication
Practical communication skills are most important among the essential abilities of social media managers. They should convey ideas to diverse stakeholders, from internal departments like legal and creative teams to external audiences, including followers and platform partners.
The two vital considerations about communication that you should remember are:
- Maintaining consistency in brand voice across social media interactions is crucial in external communication. Standardization is critical in posting planned content, engaging with trending topics, or addressing customer concerns.
- Internally, articulating strategies, content plans, and anticipated revenue impacts to decision-makers and cross-functional collaborators is vital. Resources, such as presentation templates and TED Talks on communication, can enhance these critical skills.
Writing
Social media managers should excel in copywriting and enhancing their brand voice. They craft concise, engaging copy that resonates with their audience, whether clever ad copy or timely commentary. Effective writers adapt their writing to different platforms and audiences, such as using shorter Instagram captions for better engagement. Writing proficiency is not only crucial for content creation but also for advancing one’s social media career. Clear expression in reports, emails, and presentations is vital for making a lasting impact. You should Leverage content tools based on AI and other apps that are helpful for inspiration is encouraged. However, editing skills are essential when using AI-generated content to ensure alignment with your brand voice and expectations.
Research
Social media managers are tasked with a deep understanding of their audience. They envelop web and social analytics to understand audience demographics and conduct thorough market research to gain insights into their desires and motivations. Social media managers examine the company’s values, vision, and mission to represent their brand through research and stakeholder interviews effectively. Staying updated with changing social media trends is essential for social media managers. This includes periodic research into the activities of competitors on social media platforms. By monitoring competitors, they can determine effective strategies and approaches in the ever-evolving social media landscape.
The role of a social media manager is multifaceted, requiring a deep understanding of the audience, alignment with the brand’s core principles, and an alert eye on both market trends and competitive strategies. This comprehensive approach is fundamental in crafting successful social media strategies and campaigns.
Community Engagement
Social media is the primary platform for customer care, and only 21 percent of businesses uses it for customer support. This can show a substantial opportunity to deliver exceptional service experiences to the customer. Social media managers, who often act as the face of a company on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, play a pivotal role in this field. They must possess conversational skills and empathy to engage with and assist customers on social media effectively.
Community engagement shares similarities, where talented social media community managers excel by utilizing relevant questions that foster interaction. They also address queries related to the product, company, or industry. To bolster these essential skills, resources such as the Support Ops podcast, Brené Brown’s video on vulnerability, the Customer Support Academy blog, and Social Media Examiner’s insights can prove invaluable for social media professionals. These resources empower them to strap the power of social media as a customer support and engagement platform.
Analytics skill
Analytics means referring to the metrics on social media and business. A social media manager is great for assessing performance across diverse social channels. So, mastering social media metrics and determining their relevance to the industry becomes crucial. For example, if the objective is to drive website traffic and boost sales via social media, the ability to attribute traffic and conversions to specific channels and even individual posts is invaluable for understanding the impact of content. In today’s landscape, determining and leveraging data has become vital for social media managers. Here are some recommended resources for developing these skills: a free Social Media Analytics Course by Quintly, Google Analytics Academy by Google, a video on Startup Marketing Metrics for Pirates by Dave McClure, and HubSpot’s informative blog.
Conclusion
The world of social media is a lifelong learning journey, whether you’re stepping into your first role as a social media manager or already an experienced professional. Continuously refining your social media skills provides you with advantages throughout your career. If you excel in organization and efficiency, you can dedicate time to cultivating other abilities, such as building your brand or preparing to transition into people management. If you want to become a master in a specific aspect of social media, you should unlock new career opportunities for it. You should also excel as a social strategist if you possess exceptional data analysis skills. You can also succeed as a community manager if your strengths lie in audience research and connection. Regardless of your social media skills, there is always room for growth and development.
