Social Media Managers: What they are; what they do {4-Minute Read}

The job market has a new addition: social media managers. If you have a company or are looking to start one then you need to read on.

By now you probably already know the role of social media presence to your business. You also know how to manage the time you have so you use social media to the maximum. All was going on, or so you thought, until you heard there’s a new job in town. Whether you think it’s just another fad or you have seriously been thinking about hiring one, you might use the information you read here. I have split the original article into two parts. One is this, where I’m going to tell you what or who a social media manager is and what they do. This way you know what questions to ask before you hand your company information to your brother who’s just from high school and promising to work for free.

The other part-which I’ll post in the course of the week-will take you through the decision making process. After reading it and maybe some alone time, you will be able to tell how bad you need a social media manager (if at all you do).

What they are

We all love simple. So, simply put, a social media manager is an agent of the company. He is that person who represents your company on social media. As the term says, he is the manager. He manages that realm of the business.

He is the face of your business on Facebook. Twitter knows so much about your business because the manager did so much to put it out there. You are getting so many clients from Google+ and LinkedIn because your social media manager is working.

He speaks on behalf of your business. He posts and answers questions on behalf of your company. He is also charged with developing strategies regarding the success of your business on social media and also campaigns that he sees fit.

Therefore, the social media manager is as important as any other manager on your company. And given the importance of social media to the 21st century business owner, he is in charge of a very important wing of your business. Most importantly, he is irreplaceable.

What they do

So you already know about half of how important the social media manager is to your company. But what exactly do they do that makes them that important? Their role could vary, though slightly, depending on the type of company one works for. However, in general, this is what a social media manager does:

• Customizing strategies for every prospective client. They are therefore supposed to consider factors like the purpose of the client for being on social media, the client’s demographics and their brand.
• Creating the company’s Facebook page and posting content on that page. This way they are able to interact with fans and prospects to give more awareness of your business to these people. Businesses can also post ads on Facebook. The social media manager’s responsibilities include creating the ads the company is supposed to use.
• If your company uses visual representation in form of videos to communicate, the social media manager creates a YouTube account for you and responds to viewers’ comments.
• On Twitter, the social media manager follows key leaders in your industry. They should be aware of any mentions your company gets. They also respond to reviews posted elsewhere and get published on Twitter. This is very important in managing the company’s reputation on social media.
• Your company’s social media manager should also understand the importance of Google+ when it comes to SEO. The content they post here should be similar to what they post on Facebook. The social media manager should “circle” accounts of people in the same industry as you and make sure they interact with the content they post.
• The manager should also be aware of the current trends on social media. They should be up to date with what’s trending on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media platforms.

Another very important role of a smart social media manager should be to manage the company’s reputation. They should respond positively to negative reviews (including not commenting) and not get overwhelmed by the positive ones.

It would be difficult to overstate the role a social media manager plays in the success of your business. I will be back with whether or not your company needs one. But before then, I hope this post helps you understand why opting for an unpaid intern who ‘doesn’t ask for much’ is the worst decision yet for your business.

Sources: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140521132220-29692676-what-s-a-social-media-manager-and-does-your-company-need-one