In the beginning, it was just a person who made posts for social networks, an activity that any nephew of the family could do – that’s what you hear a lot out there. Over time, the results started to impress and social networks won a captive seat in the marketing strategies of many brands. Today, companies already understand the importance of this area and need someone to manage it all. You already know who we’re talking about, don’t you? From social media marketing, one of the most sought after professionals on the market!

It is this professional who coordinates various marketing and relationship actions associated with social networks.

Why is this professional in evidence in recent years?

Because social networks have invaded people’s lives. Many people spend more time on them than on TV, for example.

Among the most “social” countries (where the inhabitants spend more time browsing social media) Brazil is in second place: it is almost 4 hours a day on social networks! How can they not influence the habits and behaviors of consumers? The brands connected to this, and when they realized that social networks became strategic to influence the behavior of users and get closer to the consumer, they started to invest in Social Ads and specialized teams.

Then, the social media manager started to stand out in the market, for its potential to exploit the resources of social networks for brands. See, in this post, everything about who this professional is, what he does, and how is the market for this profession.

It’s time to learn how to become the social media manager that brands want. Follow!

What does a social media manager do?

If you think that the social media manager is only having fun with memes on the Internet, you don’t know all the work behind a post. The role of this professional goes far beyond what you see on the profiles and pages of the brands – which is just the tip of the iceberg. The social media manager is responsible for creating marketing strategies for social networks and generating results that increase the digital community around the brand.

These results vary according to the objectives of the brand, such as increased visibility, improved reputation, growth in the conversion of leads or customers, among others.

See some daily activities:

• Definition of strategies and campaigns for social networks;
• Content and calendar planning for social networks;
• Management of paid campaigns on social networks;
• Monitoring of metrics and indicators;
• Creation and presentation of performance reports.

Depending on the size and maturity of the area in the company, this professional can work alone or have a team. With a team, these activities are distributed, and it is the manager who coordinates the work.

Therefore, in addition to the above activities, the manager often also needs to lead the team, delegate tasks, and manage projects.

Skills that a social media manager needs to have

Are you there breaking your brain to find out if you are good at being a manager or a social media manager? Check now some essential characteristics and skills for this profession.

See if you identify yourself!

1. Have experience in multiplatform

The main social networks that this professional works with are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. There is a basic platform package that you need to know and master. In addition to them, it is necessary to know other digital marketing channels, such as websites, blogs, and search engines to integrate the strategies and keep an eye on new platforms that may emerge.

Realize, then, that the social media manager is not someone starting out in the field. To assume this management position, the professional must already have experience as Social Media and in other areas of Digital Marketing.

 

2. Master content production

Social networks involve a lot of content production, in the most diverse formats: photos, images, texts, videos, graphics, etc. The social media manager, therefore, needs to know how to produce these contents, with good writing and aesthetic sense. Often, the manager works with professionals specialized or outsourced in writing, design, and media. Even in these cases, it is necessary to have mastery of content production to review and ensure that everything goes as planned.

But, especially in small companies, he is the one who gets his hands dirty and does everything from scratch, from the idea and creation of the post to scheduling the interaction and extracting the results.

3. Being a heavy user of social media

Those who work with social networks need to like social networks. So, you don’t need to be ashamed of being the person who loves to respond with GIFs, participate in all Facebook groups, publish thousands of Stories on Instagram or spend hours looking for images on Pinterest. This is a good sign that social media is in your veins!

4. Have digital marketing analytical skills

Anyone who thinks that being a social media manager is just a matter of creativity. Behind the creative posts, there is a lot of metrics measurement and data analysis.

You need to know how to look at the graphs and performance indicators, evaluate the return on investments, and identify bottlenecks and opportunities for the strategy. This is what supports all managerial decisions.

5. Have a strategic view of the business

Social media is not an isolated island. They need to be integrated with other marketing strategies and, more than that, contribute to the business meeting its strategic objectives.

To draw attention to social media, it is necessary to do branding work by integrating the main channels of the brand in a very different way from the competition, expressing the brand values ​​, and generating identification with the target audience.

6. Know how to lead and work as a team

The social media manager works with people. If he has a team, he needs to know how to lead, share tasks, organize activities, and lead everyone involved in achieving goals.

Even if he does not have a team, this professional always relates to other areas of marketing and the company. Therefore, social skills are also necessary.

7.Social media monitoring tools

To know what people are saying about your brand, you need a social media monitoring tool, such as Scup and OpenSocial. Its main function is to capture the mentions of the brand and the feeling involved in them to know what the public is thinking.

8.Data analysis tools

Social media management tools provide reports on social networks, but they need to be integrated with digital marketing data as a whole.

This is where data analysis tools like Google Analytics, which is the most used, come in. There you can understand the performance of the digital strategy and how social networks contribute. In addition to Google Analytics, the social networks themselves provide native tools to perform these analyzes, such as Instagram Analytics, Facebook Analytics, Twitter Analytics, among others.

It is also very important to analyze the competition, and for that, some tools like SEMrush, Alexa, Google Advanced Search Operators, Keyword Competitor are fundamental.

9.Project management tools

The manager also has the responsibility to manage the activities of the area and lead the team. Therefore, project management tools help a lot, as they allow you to organize and visualize the progress of the work. Trello and Asana are some examples.

10.File sharing tools

Another very useful feature for the social media manager is sharing in the cloud, which serves to send files quickly, collaborate on the same document, or work in real-time on the same spreadsheet. Tools like Google Drive and Dropbox make these tasks easier.

Remembering that the best way to choose which tools you will use is to test each one (most have test versions). It is also important to analyze cost-benefit, understand if they really meet your needs, evaluate the service and SAC of each tool, and make a rational choice.

How to become a social media manager?

Although the market has many opportunities, do not think that you are guaranteed a job for anyone, you need to have a lot of study, knowledge, and experience for companies to trust your work!

See now the credentials you must have to be a social media manager!

Academic education

Academic training is your passport to the job market. The higher education course provides a theoretical and technical basis for your duties and conveys confidence to whoever is hiring you.

Those who work with social media usually have degrees in Advertising or Marketing, but they can also come from areas such as Journalism, Public Relations, or other Communication Faculties. Those who want to specialize can also invest in postgraduate courses in Social Media or Digital Marketing.

Specific courses

Having a college degree is not enough. Digital marketing is a very dynamic area, so you always need to improve and update yourself. For this, it is important to develop the necessary skills for the position.

There are several courses (online and in-person, paid and free) to learn about:

• Digital marketing;
• Social Network Marketing;
• Content Marketing;
• Inbound Marketing;
• Paid media (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.);
• Google Analytics.

Want a tip? Take a look at the Exponential Social Media course,. This course offers complete training for the social media manager with certification in the area. There are 8 classes with the following contents:

1. Introduction and Fundamentals;
2. Content for Social Networks;
3. Publication for Social Networks;
4. Reach and Engagement;
5. Monitoring and Analysis;
6. Crisis Management;
7. Social Network Insights;
8. Review and Conclusion.

The classes are online and live, with theoretical and practical content and if you don’t like the quality of the course offered, it’s okay you have 15 days to ask for the money back.

Now, if you are already working with social networks and have not yet professionalized your work, get a taste of what it is like to be a social media manager in practice. Our platform organizes and simplifies the management of social networks, from the creation of content to the analysis of results, all of this to help increase your productivity and make you reach your goals and targets. Let’s know how it works?