NigCareers

Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a social media manager. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a social media manager.

 

Who is a Social Media Manager? 

Social media marketing involves the use and adoption of different social media websites and platforms to promote a product or service. Digital marketing and e-marketing might still be dominant in academia, but social media marketing is gaining ground and becoming more popular for researchers and practitioners alike. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools which enable companies and organizations to track the success, engagement, and progress of ad companies. Firms address a range of investors through social media marketing including present and prospective customers or clients, bloggers, general public journalists, and current and potential employees. Strategically, social media marketing involves the systematic management of governance, a marketing campaign, establishing a firm’s desired social media culture, and setting the scope. Firms and businesses across the globe have embraced social media as a means to acquire and maintain clients and customers. Hence, having an expert to manage your social media handle is important.

Have you conjectured how businesses and firms manage to get their services and products online? Well, that’s where a social media manager comes in. Social media marketing will not be complete and effective without a social media manager; this is an individual(s) who handles the online modules Operandi of enterprises and firms. He/she allows customers, clients, and internet users to post user-generated content and reviews on goods, services, and other related materials.

A social media manager is an individual in a company trusted with monitoring, contributing to, filtering, measuring, and guiding the social media presence of a brand, product, individual, or corporation. Relatively, a social media manager represents an organization in all social media channels serving as the sole voice. They respond and react to comments, compile and initiate campaigns, and build content. These experts and professionals assist businesses and firms to increase their online presence by providing tact and guidance. They grow your business through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly, the position of a social media manager wasn’t invoked some decades ago; technological breakthroughs and man’s desire to meet end needs led to the creation of the role. Nowadays, firms and companies have embraced the role of social media managers to boost their online presence and enhance customer acquisition.

Aside from boosting the social media presence of firms and individuals, the position of a social media manager has evolved and become more important because public figures and even the government use social media to interact with their audience. While social media may appear to be easy on the eye, it is not necessarily so. Posting images and accompanying commentary behind it might seem easy; however, there is a lot of data analytics and strategy that goes into it.

 

What Does a Social Media Manager Do?

A social media manager mainly develops and implements a marketing plan for the firm; while plans vary, they often begin by identifying target customers and establishing a content schedule. The following are some of the activities carried out by social media managers;

• Promote the development of brand identity: Social media managers convince clients and customers about your brand by showing the “why”; this enables the customers to resonate with the firm.
• Create a conversion strategy: Have you wondered why and how some critics of a product or service suddenly turn to its cheerleaders? The social media manager learns customers’ concerns and pains from reviews. This enables the social media manager to propose how to convert fans into customers.
• Crucial to social interaction: The social media manager decides how frequently an organization should post on each social platform. They also reply to fans, customers, and complaints.
• Amass your engagement strategy: An organization’s social media manager is responsible for listening to, responding to, and engaging with the audience in each of their social media channels. Also, they receive feedback, work on it, and revert; this improves and increases sales and customer relationships via engagement.
• Support promotional strategies: A social media manager provides insights into organic traffic, influencer marketing, and paid advertising.
• Engage in visual design strategies: Social media managers ensure that your images match your brand visually.

                                                           

Social Media Manager Job Description

Below are the social media manager job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a job description for your employee. The employer can use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.

Here are the job descriptions for a social media analyst;

• Use various social media outlets to increase brand awareness.
• Create and maintain the firm’s brand by using the available social media marketing tools.
• Communicate with stakeholders and clients through the firm’s social media platforms.
• Team up with marketing experts to create and develop social media marketing campaigns for the company.
• Analyze the firm’s digital marketing plan and social media strategy.
• Identify strategic weaknesses in an individual or firm’s digital marketing strategy and make suggestions for improvement.
• Research social media trends and inform executives of beneficial changes that can be implemented to promote the brand.
• Set key performance indicators for social media campaigns.
• Create editorial calendars of possible content relating to time and channel.
• Organize or participate in visual design strategies.
• Create ads or promotions that depict the brand’s voice.
• Publish content and material to distribute through several social media platforms.
• Track content and campaign success via engagement and performance metrics, ratings, and analytics.
• Respond to user-generated feedback and comments to create a positive brand experience for strong engagement.
• Contribute to the tone of the brand by being funny, serious, and responsible as the case might be.
• Present your findings to higher management to guide and assess strategy moving forward.
• Generate promotional and engagement plans and strategies like organic traffic, paid advertising, and influencer marketing.
• Recognize and reassess if a certain social media chain is not producing the acceptable and recommended rate of return of investment (ROI).
• Stay on top of it and be aware of trends. For instance, memes continue to garner more ratings and engagement even though the use of short videos is prevalent.
• Maintain the brand guidelines across all social media platforms.
• Ensure that the brand messages are consistent; work with team members to guarantee that.
• Develop and represent the organization’s brand with consistency and uniformity.
• Manage company blog and editorial calendar that aligns with social updates.
• Review the success of campaigns and develop ways to improve.
• Write effective and concise copy for multiple platforms, websites, and social networks.

 

Qualifications

Several qualifications for the role of a social media manager exist; depending on the organization, the following can suffice;

1. A bachelor’s degree in internet marketing is ideal for the position of the social media manager. Internet marketing is an area most organizations, businesses, and employers are interested in. The process of internet marketing enables the firm to put their products and advertise their services on different social media platforms. An individual with a bachelor’s degree in internet marketing will have the knowledge and skill to do so. However, some organizations and employers accept a bachelor’s degree in journalism, public relations, or other related fields as well.
2. At least 2 years of social media management experience. Work experience is essential for this position; unlike other careers, social media marketing rarely has entry-level positions. This may be because businesses and firms need someone who has had a track record of promoting services and products online. Remember, this niche is all about results and output. You want to reach as many people as possible in the short and long run respectively.
3. Preferably, the individual should have a professional certificate in Google Analytics. With the increasing competition in the social media chime, firms tend to strongly favor candidates with certification in Google analytics. The skills, knowledge, and expertise derived from the course strongly entice or appeal to employers.
4. Experience and proficiency using multi-social posting programs and tools such as Hubspot, Hootsuite, and Sprout social.
5. The individual must have adequate knowledge of Photoshop, illustrator, and other relevant tools. Social media management requires tact and creativity. Thus, the individual must be vast and can use all available resources to produce excellent images and content.
6. Strong computer skills and ability to use Microsoft office and adobe suites. To become a social media manager, you must be able to use Microsoft word, excel, PowerPoint, and outlook. Your computer acumen must be top-notch. Additionally, the individual must have adequate knowledge of the best practices of search engine optimization, as well as internet ranking for web content.
7. The candidate must have experience in creating and identifying campaigns for the target audience. Such individuals must know how to cater to unique marketing campaigns to capture the attention of the audience.
8. The ideal individual should have experience working with technologies and best practices for web production, creative design, and web design across all social media channels.
9. Ability to manage and supervise a diverse group of workers and simultaneously work toward many company initiatives at once. You must have a strong understanding of marketing strategy and how to effortlessly utilize these concepts throughout various forms of outreach.

  

Essential Skills

A social media manager should have some suitable skills for the role; some common skills necessary for social media managers are;

Social media skills: To become a successful social media manager, the individual must be able to use all social media tools to build or maintain a brand. They should post videos, create and post text, content, and images that represent the brand or firm. Also, the individual should follow conversations and trends on various social media platforms and engage with and address customer’s fear and concern.

Spelling and grammar: For a company to look polished and professional online, the social media manager must possess excellent spelling and grammar. Your posts and contents should be devoid of errors, wrong spellings, and poor grammar.

Creativity: A social media manager must be able to craft contents that will lead to engagement online. This is an important skill for a career in social media marketing. Social media managers should look out for new market trends and changes, and align their content to draw the interest and engagement of people.

Time management: As a social media manager, you will have a lot on your table; you need to be able to manage your task and time efficiently especially if you are a freelancer. Time manageable enables social media managers to post content optimally to stimulate active engagement in the space.

Technological skills: The ability to use the computer, the ability to use different social media platforms, and the ability to analyze social media platforms are all required to have a burgeoning career in social media management. Social media campaigns have goals; the social media manager must ensure that these goals are achieved and met by using all the available digital technology.

Customer service skills: This skill allows the social media manager to adequately attend to comments whether negative or positive on time and politely. Strong customer service skills enable the social media manager to best represent the brand or firm.

Research skills: They should have the ability to learn social media trends, identify new social media tools, and find real-time online conversations. Social media managers must have an understanding of the trends and techniques of social media as well as the company’s online presence to effectively handle social media marketing.

Visual eye: Lastly, a social media manager must have a visual eye; some social media managers create their content though most work with graphic designers. It is important to have a visual eye for your client or firm’s brand.

  

How to Become a Social Media Manager

Below are steps or tips to consider to become a social media manager;

Get experience in social media marketing strategy: If you are interested in becoming a social media manager, you need to reach out to a friend or family member that owns a small business to get or garner experience. Get to know them and understand why or how they would want to post to social media platforms. Learn more about business objectives and how social media can enhance businesses and even drive new customers.

Earn a degree and gain relevant work experience: Some social media manager roles may not require a degree; however, interviewers and employers prefer candidates with a bachelor’s degree when recruiting. Hence, try and enroll for a degree in internet marketing, business administration, public relations, or advertising. Also, you can look for training and courses in social media management and strategy.

Build your own social media following and post strategic and thoughtful content: You need to generate your following to show that you can manage a firm’s social media following. Grow your accounts by sharing engaging content and increasing the number of likes, comments, and shares you receive on your posts and, connecting with your followers.

Learn how to use social media and general marketing analytics: Analytics on social media help you to measure the success of what you are sharing and identify follower trends. The main analytics to review include followers, page views, clicks, likes, shares, comments, and impressions. While impressions are great, it can be helpful to understand how to translate all analytics elements into an action plan.

Undergo training: After pursuing and earning a degree, it is beneficial to undergo training through various social media management training platforms. These training courses enable the individual to develop necessary analytics, communication, and research skills and learn how to overcome challenges.

Build an online portfolio: During the interview process for social media managers; the hiring managers often ask for an online portfolio of your previous social media work. Therefore, keep a portfolio of top engagement records, posts, and other pertinent data; this will ensure that you have evidence of your qualifications to show during an interview.

Follow companies you admire on all their social media platforms: Follow the top brands in your field or sector as well as those in other industries to become used to what works and what they are doing to engage with their followers. Don’t forget to find them on all social media channels as they may have a different purpose or messages they push out on different channels.

 

Where to Work

As a social media manager, you can work in the following;

• Business and food service
• Healthcare and hospitality
• Transportation and travel
• Construction and manufacturing
• Non-governmental organizations and government agencies
• Freelance and private practice.
• Architecture and educational institutions.
• Public figures and celebrities.
• Mass media

                                     

Social Media Manager Salary Scale

An early social media manager with 1-4 years of experience earns an average salary of 785,000 NGN based on 52 salaries. This includes tips, bonuses, and overtime pay. In contrast, a mid-level social media manager with 5-9 years of experience earns 1,270,000 NGN based on 12 salaries.

Advertising, Arts, Media and Entertainment

Tags: Career advice, Career planning, Job Description, Social Media Manager, Social Media Manager Job Description, Social Media Manager Salary