How to Social media manager
How to Social media manager
How to Social media manager - social media manager jobs.
Creating Your Digital Destiny: How to Become a Social Media Manager.
Hey tell me you'll never work a day in your life if you do what you love. So, if you love spending time on social media, why not make it your career? Before you laugh about the potential of social media as an actual career, consider these statistics.
According to
Sprout is social, 90% of leaders agree that their company's success will depend on how effectively they can use social media data and insights to inform business strategy.
More than 2 in 5 (44%) business leaders estimate that their social media budgets will grow by more than 50% over the next three years.
In 2012, there were approximately 12,000 active social media managers in the workforce. In 2024, there were more than 90,000.
Suffice it to say that social media as a profession continues to grow, and there is room for more social media managers in the industry as social media strategies take over traditional forms of marketing and advertising, especially to reach younger consumer audiences.
In the digital age, social media is more important than ever, especially when trying to capture the attention of millennial-aged consumers and younger adults. Hence, the demand for skilled social media managers will remain constant in the coming years.
If you're ready to jump into this exciting career, this guide will help you learn how to become a social media manager, what makes a good social media manager, and more.
Contents:
- The journey to becoming a social media manager
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Training and education
- Develop the necessary skills
- Marketing and Brand Management in Social Media
- Career development and professionalism
- Entry-level positions and opportunities
- Creating effective social media strategies and campaigns
- Social media marketing skills
The journey to becoming a social media manager
A social media manager is responsible for leading a brand's social media presence strategy, content creation and community management. Social media managers are usually members of a company's marketing or advertising team, although they can work independently.
In today's business landscape, where brand awareness and online sales are top business goals, social media is the perfect place for people to see and engage with brands. If a brand wants to reach the most people where they spend the most time, it's social media.
According to
Global Web Index
, over 62% of the world's population uses social media for an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes per day.
If you're ready to learn how to become a social media manager, consider these steps your starting point.
Earn a bachelor's degree in marketing, communications or advertising.
Demonstrate an understanding of all social media platforms and best practices
Gain social media experience through an internship, club or job.
Create a portfolio of your work and experience.
Apply for marketing-related jobs in social media as an entry-level social media professional.
As you gain experience in your career, you can work your way up from social media coordinator to social media manager to social media director and beyond.
Roles and Responsibilities
How to Social media manager, Before you decide to become a social media manager, consider all the roles and responsibilities related to social media as a job. Roles include a variety of workplace opportunities including large corporations, small businesses, government agencies and officials, freelance work and education.
These different industries may require different responsibilities, but the most common responsibilities of a social media manager include:
Planning and developing social media campaigns
Creating social media content including videos, images and graphics
Social media performance analysis
Researching potential collaborations and partnerships
Publish content on social media platforms
Social media advertising management
Respond to community comments, questions and private messages
To accomplish these tasks successfully, becoming a social media manager requires certain skills and qualities. Apart from the general passion and interest in social media marketing, other required skills include communication, analysis and creativity. Strategic thinking is helpful when creating campaigns and engaging content, and changing strategies when efforts may not be working. Understanding target audiences, storytelling, and an eye for photography, videography, or graphic design distinguish great social media managers.
Training and education
Training and education are essential to becoming a social media manager. Audience insights, platform best practices and digital analytics don't come naturally to most. So education is essential to understand entry-level knowledge. Likewise, social media is constantly changing, and continuing education through seminars and online courses will ensure that your knowledge remains relevant and up-to-date.
While positions don't always require a college degree, prior knowledge of social media platforms and how they work is recommended. Those who wish to become social media managers can get free courses and training on e-learning platforms
The Meta Blueprint
or
Skillshare
. Some companies may require a bachelor's degree
business
marketing,
communication
, advertising or public relations.
Although some colleges offer degrees specifically in social media, it is still a relatively new field of study. Common areas such as marketing, communications, and public relations will still cover the basics of social media and other related knowledge that will prepare you for your role as a social media manager. This knowledge includes advertising best practices, communications, business law and more.
Develop the necessary skills
Social media managers constantly develop their skills because social media (and technology) changes quickly and frequently. Important skills needed to be a successful social media manager include:
Communication Skills: Social media managers must communicate well through writing, graphic design, and video. Not only do they need to be comfortable writing captions, but they also need copywriting, messaging and storytelling skills through design.
Social Media Platform Best Practices: You must understand the ins and outs of each active social media platform, who uses them, the types of media allowed, how and when to publish posts, and when to use one platform over another. The primary social media platforms are Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat and X.
Creativity and design skills: Social media is a very visual marketing platform. Creating engaging graphics, photos and videos requires creativity and an eye for design.
Ability to move quickly: Social media moves quickly, and trends are significant, though sometimes fleeting. Adjusting content to stay on top of pop culture trends, world events and breaking news is essential to avoid being irrelevant or offensive.
Analytics skills: To avoid stagnant growth, social media managers must understand specific social media analytics, what's essential to driving success and how to pivot if messaging or targeting isn't driving results.
Developing the skills needed to become a social media manager is not easy. It requires study, continuous learning and real-world experience. Internship and volunteer opportunities can help you perfect your skills while you earn your degree or plan to change careers.
Marketing and Brand Management in Social Media
How to Social media manager, Social media management naturally falls into the larger whole of marketing and brand management. Because social media platforms are considered personal extensions of a brand, social media managers contribute significantly to the overall brand voice and reputation. Many consumers turn to social media first for customer service assistance, personally messaging the brand for help. And they often expect a response from a real person!
Hence, an effective social media strategy plays a prominent role in contributing to business results. As with other marketing campaigns, such as print or digital advertising, social media managers can develop long-term and short-term strategies and campaigns.
Long-term versus short-term social media strategies
In the long term, social media strategies focus on building brand awareness and managing brand reputation. They often rely on reaching new customers and creating a positive impression in the market. Often, they are not designed to sell products quickly but to build goodwill with current and potential customers to ensure future success.
Short-term social media strategies produce quick business results, such as selling specific products, raising awareness for a new product line, or announcing important business news. These campaigns are specific to a product or service but may focus on something other than building general brand awareness with the audience.
As a social media manager, it is essential to understand the difference between short-term and long-term strategies. Educating other internal stakeholders about the differences is important when explaining how social media can contribute.
Career development and professionalism
Learning how to become a social media manager is the first step to building a successful career path in the industry. Many social media managers have similar paths to climb the social media career ladder with similar titles and experience levels.
Here are the most common career paths for social media professionals
(Includes National Average Salary)
Social Media Intern ($12.50/hour) - 0 years of experience required
Social Media Coordinator, Associate or Specialist ($37,182/year) – 1-3 years of experience required
Social Media Manager ($44,138/year) – 3-5 years of experience required
Social Media Community Manager ($44,232/year) – 4-6 years of experience required
Social Media Strategist ($64,198/year) – 5-7 years of experience required
Social Media Director ($107,934/year) – 7+ years of experience required
As you progress in your career as a social media manager, you will have many career development opportunities to explore. These roles can lead you to various marketing and communications departments, such as creative departments, marketing executive and director-level opportunities, and even public relations.
Entry-level positions and opportunities
Entry-level social media positions are in high demand and can offer the opportunity to advance quickly within a company. Average entry-level social media role earns
Between $42,000 and $62,000 annually.
For those looking for a part-time or entry-level social media manager role, explore local job boards, LinkedIn job postings, and your personal network. Due to the high demand for social media managers, many companies are constantly hiring more staff to add to their teams.
Creating effective social media strategies and campaigns
As a social media manager, an essential aspect of your job will be planning strategic social media campaigns and effective communication strategies. To stand out among your competitors, you must be able to develop creative, unique ways to sell your brand. It is important to avoid following the crowd in the market or copying others too closely; Standing out on social media is essential to success.
It is also essential to understand all aspects of your audience. If you don't understand your target audience, where they spend their time, how they talk, what resonates with them and what compels them to take action, your social media content efforts may not reach the intended customers. For example, if you are targeting high school and college students, TikTok may be the platform for you instead of Facebook.
Social media marketing skills
How to Social media manager, Thanks to the technological side of social media marketing, the landscape is constantly evolving and changing daily. Trends come and go, platform algorithms update, and content preferences change as audiences age. As generative AI and VR grow in popularity and technology changes to meet demand, the social media industry must adapt to new media. Social media platforms will soon integrate AI and VR for all users, and social media professionals must stay up-to-date with the latest technology.
continue
To stay ahead of the curve while developing expertise and relevance, paying attention to social media news is essential.
Today is social media
An industry favorite for all the latest platform updates and trends. Many social media professionals subscribe to marketing newsletters, eg
killing every day
and marketing conferences, eg
The social media marketing world offers continuing education and networking opportunities.
Now that you know how to become a social media manager, it's time to use this knowledge to jumpstart your career! We hope you are encouraged to get started, as there are endless opportunities and growth potential within the industry and marketing field.
Before you start your career, it's important to reflect on your skills and passions. Social media managers must have excellent communication skills, a passion for pop culture and marketing trends, and the analytical skills to drive results. Creativity, aesthetics and flexibility are must-have traits for the most successful social media professionals.
Many social media managers find the nature of this profession rewarding – and fun! While job duties can be entertaining and exciting, the ever-changing environment will keep you on your toes. People who enjoy change and a dynamic environment will love working in social media!
Explore the program
To get started as a social media manager, explore college degree programs like the Business Administration Major in Marketing track.
at Furman University. You can also explore free online courses
- meta blueprint,
- Earn certification from
- And gain experience through different mediums
- Entry-level position
- close to you
Opinions and thoughts shared on the Furman Blog are solely those of the author and may not align with official positions or policies of Furman University. All sources cited were correct as of publication date.
