FREELANCE SPOTLIGHT: WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER?
Do you want to earn money online and be able to work remotely? Become a Social Media Manager! All you need is a laptop, wifi connection, and knowledge of social media and you could be working remotely from anywhere in the world.
So, what is a Social Media Manager? A Social Media Manager is someone who manages a brand or individual’s social media presence, and you are responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing a social media strategy. Although it can look different for each client, in general this is what a Social Media Manager does with each client:
Conduct a Social Media Audit
Create a Social Media Strategy
Social Media Management
The Audit
Before you can make suggestions on a brand’s social media presence, you need to gather insights into what they are doing online. A social media audit is a comprehensive analysis of a brand's social media presence and is a chance for you to determine what is working and what isn’t. It is also a chance to look at what their competitors are doing to help benchmark against others in their industry. Before you conduct an audit, make sure you get all the information you need first from the client. I use this Client Briefing Form which I ask the client to complete, and then we run through it on a call to fill in any gaps.
Here are the key questions I ask myself when conducting a social media audit:
Are the social profiles optimised? Do they have SEO in titles, descriptionse etc?
Are the branding elements (logo, cover photo, bio, etc.) consistent across all digital platforms?
What type of content is being posted? And what content is performing the best and the worst?
What is the engagement like?
What is the follow growth like?
What are the demographics and interests of the current audience?
What are the key competitors doing on social?
Which platforms are most effective for reaching the target audience?
What Hashtags and Keywords are being used?
Has there been any paid advertising campaigns on social media, and if yes, how did they perform?
What tools and analytics platforms are being used for social media management?
Are the analytics being tracked and measured accurately?
Do the social media activities align with overall business goals?
Everything you learn in the audit will help you to create the Social Media Strategy.
2. THE STRATEGY
Once you have all your insights from the Audit, you can then begin creating the Strategy - which is a deck that outlines all of your ideas and suggestions. I have a Social Media Strategy Template to buy here. This tends to include the following:
Outline the Social Media Objectives & USPs, and decide on the KPIs [Key Performance Indicators].
Define the Target Audience, i.e. who you are trying to reach
The Audit results and learnings, including your key learnings from the competitor analysis
Immediate Action Points - I include these as a sort of Quick Wins section. A lot of what I suggest can be time consuming, and may require budget, so this section is supposed to give clients some ideas to make some immediate low-cost changes.
Recommended Platforms, i.e. which social platforms will give the brand the best results, and why.
Content and Content Pillars. When thinking about what content to create for brands, I usually identify key content pillars - usually around 3-4 These are essentially ‘themes’ which I can use to brainstorm content ideas. In this section I outline the pillars, and then include some content suggestions. I also include an example of how a content calendar will look for one week.
Campaign Ideas - these are the bigger one-off social media campaign ideas, and I try to include at least 2.
Social media booster ideas - these are digital ideas that support social media, i..e blogging, influencers, competitions, UGC etc.
POA - Plan Of Action! This is a roadmap to show what how, and in what order, they should action the suggestions.
I always send the deck to the client a week before the scheduled call, so that they can digest it and come to the call prepared with questions. The call is then my chance to present all my ideas to them, and answer any questions they have.
3. THE MANAGEMENT
Social Media Management involves the monthly management of the social media accounts, and includes the following: content planning, asset creation, calendar management, copywriting, community management and analytics.
Content Calendar Management: this includes creating and developing a content calendar to ensure a consistent and organized posting schedule.
Community Management: I’d recommend doing this daily, and it involves monitoring social media channels for comments and messages, and responding to audience inquiries. Organic social media is all about fostering a community!
Social Media Advertising: Enlist the help of an expert if you don’t have the qualifications or expertise to manage these yourself.
Analytics and Reporting: Track and analyze social media metrics, such as reach, engagement, and conversion, and provide regular reports on social media performance, identifying trends and areas for improvement. Use analytics to refine and adjust the social media strategy.
So there you have it, the breakdown of what is entailed as a Social Media Manager. I have worked with many different brands on their social meida strategies, from running small biz accounts to huge global accounts! If you are a creative person who loves coming up with ideas for content, as well as an anlytical person who can apply learnings and data to ensure objectives are met, you could be a successful SSM. I ended up in this role through many years of working in the marketing industry, but it is fairly easy to get into this position. Learn the basics of social media, get set up with your templates and processes, and start gathering experiene running accounts. Stay up-to-date with changes in algorithms, features, and policies on various social media platforms, and you are good to go!