Social Media Management

A social media manager oversees a brand or organization’s online presence and image on social media (SM). This includes but it’s not limited to analysis and evaluation of channels and suitability depending on mission/vision, developing a strategy, creating the content, usage analytics, and responding to feedback, on a project, campaign, or ongoing basis. Some companies prefer to have in-house SM managers, while others rely on experienced freelance professionals to take care of it.

Once you’ve set your social media goals and platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) to use, you can shortlist professional freelancers with relevant experience. Even if you don’t know where you want to be, search for professionals who have a solid background with the right mix of platforms, know how to use instruments such as Hootsuite, and have experience in a variety of campaigns and projects for the right budget.

Regardless of the industry or size of your business, nowadays you must have a well-managed social media presence. You can’t ignore the fact that almost half of the world’s population is on SM, which opens enormous opportunities to reach new audiences (potential leads, brand champions, even employees) to make your brand better recognized and to ensure your business doesn’t just survive but develops into a thriving, responsive, respected brand.

Whether in-house or freelance, a social media manager must be capable of doing many things such as copywriting, marketing, strategy, design, data analysis, and many others. But above all, he/she must have an innate curiosity and desire to learn, develop and adapt as the world of social media marketing is forever changing. Last, but not least, they should be an excellent communicator who can establish rapport with clients at all levels and their audiences.

Very often a social media manager or a business owner has to manage many accounts on different platforms and with different (even on functional or department level) profiles. To avoid confusion and exhaustion, ensure you document all your profiles, use social media productivity tools such as Buffer, and HubSpot, create a schedule and don’t forget to monitor, analyze and learn from what you do so you can improve with each new post or campaign.