What does it take to be a social media manager?

A question I get all the time is “What exactly does a Social Media Manager do?”

For starters, this is a legit job on its own! I’m serious, google it - 😉 As a Social Media Manager, I help support businesses stay consistent on Social Media. Now, that is the 3-second version of it. What does that actually mean?

A Social Media Manager (SMM) falls into two categories for me.

• General Social Manager: This style of Manger knows most of the platforms out there from Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest, and more. They do a little of everything on most platforms. From content creation, copywriting, graphic design, and more.

• Specialized Social Manager: This manager is concentrating on a specific platform like Pinterest or Instagram. Or they concentrate on a specific task such as IG growth or Facebook Ad Spending.

However, not all managers are equal. Some Managers work for larger corporations in the 9-5 world working with only one company. You have smaller companies just like BVA 😉 who wear all the hats working with multiple accounts and then there is are agencies who have a full team working on several accounts at once.

Whichever you work with, they are all working towards one goal!

Keeping you consistent and generate new leads!

So what are some of the tasks I do every day to help get you on social and performing well?

Creating A Social Media Roadmap

The first step when working with a new client is to create a social media strategy. A strategy is like a plan. The Roadmap is created after talking to the client and knowing their exact marketing goals. 

If you are looking to grow and grow fast, we may consider some paid ads, If you are looking to educate your potential clientele, we’ll start with creating a schedule with fun and educational content.

The roadmap also includes a lot of research. I’ll dive deep into your ideal clients and get an understanding of who they are and how to market to them. Hashtag research and appropriate times to post are also very important to the strategy as a whole.

Content Planning

Now that we have all the ideas, it is time to create a schedule and plan when, where, and how to post that content. I like to use Trello. It is a great way to visually see what your feeds will look like, you can use it to have clients approve your work, and it is so easy to use.

Content Creation & Curation

Once the Roadmap and content planner is set and approved by the client, it is time to create the content.  Depending on the clients’ requirements, this is where we get to become creative. While the client should continue to take the photos, of creating small videos, as a social media manager, my goal is to advise you on the types of content that is needed to match the strategy you’ve created for their business. So for example, if you have a Restaurant as a client you would advise the client that you need pictures of the different dishes on the menu but also behind the scenes videos from the kitchen to create Instagram stories and make the content more alive. You want to be able to tell a story with those photos and videos.

 However, there are times that my clients don’t have enough pictures or they do not have time to create fun videos, It’s my job as the social media manager to check online for free stock images to use (content curation) and/or create graphics and quotes.

Content Scheduling

Once all the content is created, I use tools and systems to schedule the content to each platform such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. along with captions, hashtags, and more.

Engagement

I currently spend about 30 minutes to 1 hour a day per client on engagement alone. This means that I log in to my client’s Instagram and Facebook accounts and check if there are any comments on the posts that went online and reply to them. I’ll also answer direct messages and if I can’t answer the question I’ll forward it off to the client. The goal is to answer as many comments and direct messages as to help with the algorithms. This is because the number one reason why people hire a social media manager is that they don’t have time to do it themselves. The engagement part is a crucial task for any social media manager – that’s where relationships are built.

Learning & Market Research

Social Media changes on a daily basis. This is why I block out time in my calendar to do some market research and grow my knowledge every week.  From new platforms, trends, do’s, and don’ts, it is very important to always be on top of what is working and what is not.

In conclusion, being a social media manager means wearing many many hats, and you as an entrepreneur do not need to do it all on your own!

If you are looking to get a little assistance, click here, and you can have a FREE one-on-one with me and we can start planning today!