Are You Cut Out To Be A Social Media Manager?

Social media is not going anywhere. At least not for quite some time, which means that it’s the perfect place for you to be right now, but being a social media manager isn’t just about sitting on the internet all day trawling through different online social networks (although a big part of it is). So what are the qualities that make a good social media marketing manager? What are the tools of the trade you need to get that campaign off the ground and viral? Here are a couple of key areas to be clued up on in order to be successful in the position.

Live the Brand

Sometimes this is easier said than done. If you are running a social media manager campaign for a dog food brand and you don’t even have a pet it might be a bit tricky, but this shouldn’t preclude you from learning as much as possible about the industry and the buyer’s market. This is vital as you need to be in tune with the current state of the industry and be reliable in the content you put out there.

Be their Voice

All of us have a natural tone of voice that we use in our writing. An important feature of a social media manager’s job description is that they should be able to adapt their style to suit that of the brand. This can only be achieved by reading through a lot of concrete, brand-oriented content. Once you have assimilated the information you can begin to produce content using the voice of a brand-centric persona.

A Day in the Life

Most of your working day as a social media manager will involve trawling through emails. Facebook pages provide a platform for people to complain – incessantly – and generally a social media manager does not have the authority to just hand out vouchers and freebies to everyone who lays a complaint. These days it’s much easier typing a “hate” post than posting a letter of dissatisfaction to the customer relations department. As social media manager you’ll most likely be dealing with PR and customer relations management and there will no doubt be a lot of back and forth throughout the day.

The Write Stuff

Writing forms a major part of being a social media manager and it is essential that you have a good grasp of the language as well as being able to respond to customer queries and complaints delicately on various platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube etc.

Citations:
  • CC: Flickr
Attached Images:
  •  License: Creative Commons image source

Dave Peterson has always had a keen interest in writing on his experiences of business travel and whether he’s in the UK tasked with finding office space Liverpool, or in Australia reporting on a conference, his travels are always well documented.