Today’s most flourishing industry is indeed the social media industry. People associated with it reportedly enjoy numerous perks. But all of these bounties come with a lot of responsibilities. Thus, it is crucial to channel a roadmap in developing one’s career in this industry.

Social media managers are responsible for looking after social media networks within corporate communications. They work in an emerging segment of digital marketing as sought-after specialists. The Social Media Manager is a specialist in managing the brand image of a company, organization, or institution on all digital media, including Social Media.

DISCOVER WHAT A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER DO

As a social media manager, you are responsible for corporate communication in social networks. You publish news, respond to inquiries, and initiate discussions. You use various tools to monitor the success of your campaigns and measures. The activities of the social media manager often fall within the remit of press officers or PR managers. Social media managers get mostly employed in PR agencies or the communication departments of larger companies.

EXPLORE THE TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Social media managers are responsible for their company’s communication processes on the social web. They respond to questions or criticism on platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. Through publications and campaigns, social media managers try to increase awareness of their company or product and develop new customer groups. They monitor the success of these measures with special software and create analyzes and reports. Other professionals that remain in close contact with the manager are copywriters, department heads, and directors. Your day-to-day work as a social media manager is very diverse, and new challenges arise every day. Let’s learn from the first-hand experience of a successful social media manager:

“My daily work starts every day with a look at the smartphone. Whether it is a weekday, Sunday, or a public holiday, the first-hand movement is completely remote. I read the tweets of the night and get in touch with my social media copywriter. The rest of the day, I take care of social media offers. In addition to maintaining our accounts, I develop concepts to link TV programs with social media. I advise colleagues on how to deal with program offers, and I am often on the road as a “persuader.”

The profession of social media manager usually involves the communications department. That’s why you often work with PR managers and press officers. Since your work significantly influences the company’s external perception, you will coordinate closely with the company management and other departments. For many measures, you also need the help of graphic designers or programmers. In summary, the following activities are possible for you:

• Write posts
• Communicate with users and customers
• Research by topic
• Plan posts and campaigns
• Develop guidelines
• Perform analyzes
• Create reports

LEARN SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE TO MASTER SOCIAL MEDIA

Strong communication skills are essential for an excellent social media manager. Empathy and a high level of social skills are also important. Soft skills are necessary for the profession of social media manager. However, you also use programs and create statistics to analyze reach and feedback. Therefore, you need high technical affinity and analytical thinking skills. By knowing the legal regulations, you can avoid copyright or data protection violations in your postings. Finally, a nose for interesting topics and the right choice of words are essential in this profession.

FIND SECTORS THAT RECRUIT SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALISTS

Social media managers at companies have their own communications department. There they work in public relations or customer support. Therefore, all branches of the economy come into consideration as a place of work. More notably, the food industry, retail trade, or media companies extensively use these managers. Social media managers can also find jobs in PR and communication agencies.

Social media managers are versatile and work in a wide variety of industries. Sectors with closer contact with customers or communities notably often employ social media experts. It mainly includes the telecommunications and information industry. These industries come into question as places of work:

• Associations and organizations
• Food manufacturer
• Information
• Insurance
• Media economy
• Technology and multimedia
• Telecommunications

START YOUR OWN BUSINESS AS A SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

With knowledge of social media marketing, you can work in an advisory capacity and set up your agency. There you will develop concepts and strategies for the social media activities of other companies. However, a large number of new agencies emerged in recent years. Therefore, you need a unique concept to stand out from the competition.

You look after communities and work conceptually and editorially. The position mainly aims at business economists. As a social media manager, you will monitor the success of campaigns and set guidelines.

CONSIDER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER TRAINING

To become a social media manager, you may complete a social media manager training course or a social media manager training course. It could build on your previous professional experience. These are available to you as part of degree programs, distance learning courses, further training courses, or seminars. Institutes like St Catherine University offer e-media programs that can help you get hands-on training and state-of-the-art learning opportunities.

EXPLORE CAREER PROSPECTS AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

More and more companies are recognizing the opportunities and importance of the social web. Therefore, they are hiring staff in social media management. However, it is no longer enough only to have social media managed on the side. A professional social media presence instead requires the use of conceptual thinking communication specialists. With further training as a social media manager, you qualify for this challenge and move up to management positions. The social web is becoming increasingly important as a communication channel for companies. The companies react to this by creating new posts for Internet communication.

Numerous vacancies include the social media work area. Knowledge of social media is often a desirable plus for marketing or PR professionals. Positions specifically for social media managers, get advertised a little less often. However, the trend here is increasing, as the importance of social media is steadily improving.

HOW CAN I SPECIALIZE?

Since you are your company’s voice who will face customer problems, you should have the respective skills. Depending on the industry, a content specialization in technology, video games, the insurance industry, or media is optional. You can also specialize in a particular platform. For example, a Twitter account requires an entirely different communication strategy than the newsletter.

In the social media manager profession, a degree with subsequent further qualification is the usual training path. For career changers or those with professional qualifications, a degree program will be available after additional training. With an academic degree, higher positions are often possible. For example, you can study communication studies or media studies. There are also degree programs specifically for social media.

GOOD REASONS TO GET THE JOB IN SOCIAL MEDIA

• You work in an emerging industry.
• The job description is young and dynamic.
• You can also live out your affinity for the social web professionally.
• As a social media manager, you use your communication skills for dialog with customers.
• As a representative of your company, you have a responsible position.
• You coordinate your strategies closely with the management level and influence trend-setting decisions.

CONCLUSION

A Social Media Manager must master the entire digital ecosystem. You deal with customer acquisition, content strategies, marketing, creativity, distribution strategies, business issues, and much more. For all that, you need general digital training. As a social media manager, you will be responsible for the social media presence, e-reputation, community development, and content strategies. An SMM is a strategist and a decision-maker in connection with company management. He is an expert in digital ecosystems, creative approaches dedicated to these media, marketing strategies, and specificities such as Facebook Ads.