Ten years ago, a social media manager wasn’t among the careers everyone dreamed to have because it didn’t really exist in its actual form. When businesses started realizing that they cannot survive without a good social media strategy, this position became the big prize for many people.
However, during this past years the market has evolved and many business owners learned for themselves how to tackle the social media and how to use it in their advantage. This made social media managers redundant and their knowledge in the domain was no longer enough. That is why some voices argue that social media managers are dead and that they should rethink their position.
All is not lost, because even though knowing the basic stuff, like scheduling tweets and coming up with the best hashtags is no longer enough, there are many qualities and assets that a social media manager can acquire in order to become the most wanted employee.
Qualities that scream success
Obvious or not, the name of this position speaks for itself. How should a social media manager be? Of course: social. This translates in strong communication skills and the ability to constantly interact with the right people. Having good relations with experts from the same domain will help develop and increase his or her power.
Since mastering social media is just a part of the online strategy, you might think to invest in getting some marketing knowledge. The two are now linked and if you are one of those who can’t understand how online marketing works, some marketing specialists will come up and they will also tackle your social media tasks.
As already mentioned, scheduling posts in advance is not enough. What you choose to post is also very important and since a social media manager handles various accounts he should also differentiate what is relevant for each and one of them. Nevertheless, this differentiation should also be considered depending on the channel. What is relevant and successful on Facebook may not be so brilliant when posted on Twitter. To put it in simple words, this means having editorial abilities that will help increase the value of the content. Of course that this is not easy for everyone, but having a talent like story telling can definitely contribute to that content. After all, almost everything can be learned so why not story telling as well?
Closely linked to this journalistic skills is the ability to be well anchored in reality. Outside the online world there is a real world that sometimes may be a bit different than what you see all day long on social media channels. This means not only to keep up to date with the latest news, trends and tendencies but also to adjust your content to fit reality. Another facet of this reality is addressing your audience using a suitable language depending on the business you have.
Don’t forget the basics
Besides all the multitasking that should be done by a social media manager, there are also those basic traits that one should have before even thinking of embarking on this journey.
Without an organized mind you will be lost. Dealing with different channels, content, reports and clients can become hectic if you don’t know how to prioritize tasks and keep everything in order. Paying attention to details and making sure everything runs smoothly can definitely improve the overall performance.
Going hand in hand with the organizational skills is an analytical mindset. The ability to visualize, analyze and solve both difficult and complex problems is relevant for this job.
Drawing a line and summing up the desired nature of a social media manager it is clear that these are skills that can be acquired and perfected over the time. The good news is that this is not a dead career to pursue, but it definitely takes some perseverance to be successful.