A few years ago the idea of having a social media manager was actual comedy. “You mean pay someone to tweet and post on Facebook for me? LOL!!” Look around today and that is no longer some hilarious joke. These days Social Media is where your online audience is most likely to be found. Social Media Management, that is having a designated social media manager and a coherent social media strategy are now mandatory assets for any growing business.
What Makes an Effective Social Media Manager?
There is a difference between simply being a social media manager and being an EFFECTIVE social media manager. We wanted to do break it down to some basic qualities to look for. This is criteria we use to measure the effectiveness of our reps – and are all good qualities to look for when hiring a social media manager or agency to represent your business.
A Customer Service Mindset
The first thing any good social media manager should have is a customer service mindset. What does that mean? Well they should be empathetic and responsive to customer needs. According to a recent study by Sprout Social – social media channels are the first place customers go for care. If you’re a business owner I don’t have to tell you how important customer service is. Having someone manning your social channels who is friendly and responsive will bring your business into the new millennium… if it’s not already here.
Photography & Graphic Design Skills
Studies show that social media posts with photos & video are the most widely engaged. For this reason you want to make sure your social media manager has an eye for graphics and at least some photo editing skills. Thanks to apps like Instagram and their filters just about anyone can take a decent photograph, but having that little bit of artistic flare can make all the difference sometimes. Also having a competent manager who can use graphics tools such as Photoshop to add your brand’s logo or watermark can be important. Graphic design & photography skills should definitely be in your social media manager’s arsenal. This article titled “Why Why Every Marketer in 2017 Needs to Be a (Part-Time) Designer” pretty much says it all as well as provides some pointers for people who might be lacking in this area.
Community Engagement
This one is similar to customer service, but while customer service requires simply being responsive and empathetic, community engagement requires a bit more technical expertise. A good social media manager knows how to do things like welcome newbies and reward power users. (Mashable has some great pointers for increasing community engagement.) A truly skilled social media manager knows how to ask the right questions at the right time. Someone effective in this role also knows how to facilitate engagement, answer questions about the product, company or industry.
Analytics
Any social manager should have a keen eye for analytics. Your business has a goal and social media efforts should ultimately speak to this goal. Maybe the goal is just to get people to read articles on your site so you can collect ad revenue, or maybe you’re a car dealership and you need to find a certain type of car enthusiast. Whatever the case if you are spending money you should be able to see results of that spend and the analytics are what show you the results of what you’re doing. Any social media manager worth their title will be able to show you analytics and make adjustments and optimizations to your strategy based on them.
Love of Pop Culture
Most of what trends on social media involves what’s popular in culture at any given time. “Trending” is an important term here. Trends represent a popular current and social media in the modern age can be a HUGE driver of trends… as we have seen. At this point to deny that reality would be detrimental to your bank account. Knowing this, it’s good to have a social media manager who is enthusiastic about pop culture, what’s in style or trending. Regardless of the size or scope of your business your social media messaging can be tied into these trends and used as a more effective vehicle for growing your audience or customer base.
There are several other traits and skills to seek in a person or agency who handles your social media strategy. These are some of the core areas of expertise we feel are necessary to be the most effective social media manager possible. This will change and evolve though which is another area that a keen sense of what’s trending will help you stay at the forefront of finding and engaging new business via social media channels.
Contact Apex Digital Media for a Social Media Management Quote
(sourced from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289363)