What do social media managers do?
Turns out social media managers have a VERY important role to play in your business HOWEVER there is a LARGE % who don’t deliver, that’s the honest truth.
It happens in all industries where it becomes about quantity instead of quality and what gets delivered is pretty much a copy-paste version of some generic material.
If you are wondering if you should be hiring social media manager in the 1st place, CLICK HERE…IT WILL REALLY HELP YOU.
Don’t confuse social media manager with social media marketer. Both roles do crossover with each other however there is a clear distinction between the two.
An SMM is responsible for the following:
- Create brand awareness on social media platforms
- Writing GOOD copy that speaks TO the clients target market
- Creating the visual content for the posts (however this does not mean photographer….see below)
- Create content that clearly speaks the brand and leads clients to take action (however not all posts are always action taking)
- Find targeted profiles to follow
- Interact with followers and following
- Replying to comments left on social posts
- Cleaning up social followers/following to make the organic reach more targeted
- Manage giveaways, collaborations, etc
(Please note: the above list is limited to contractual agreements between them and their clients)
Over and above that, it is also important that a social media manager does the following:
- 1 on 1 coaching set up to UNDERSTAND their clients business, target market, brand essence
- Plan a strategy on how to DELIVER brand awareness onto the selected social media platforms and monthly layout of possible giveaways, & collaborations.
- Check-ins and meetings with the client on a regular basis (pre-booked and agreed on in the contract)
As you can see, social media management is VERY time-consuming and if you think it is just about slapping a post together and loading it up, think again.
Now when it comes to Social Media Marketing, there is a distinct difference. Social media marketing is more connected to direct sales and profit margins AND they work with PAID ADVERTISING.
Whereas social media management doesn’t work with paid advertising and they are more focused on brand awareness and building a potential client following, than they are on sales & profits.
Many companies and business have a social media manager that does brand building AND marketing however they would have a very specific and detailed contract for that.
This is what social media managers DO NOT DO
- Guarantee sales. You will most probably increase sales through their effective posts, content, and interaction, but NO sales are guaranteed…..that’s paid advertising.
- Directly increase profit margins. Social media management indirectly increases profit margins by creating potential leads through the content they create.
NOTE OF WARNING:
Many Social media managers do include paid advertising as part of their “retainer” or “package”. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS!
- Social media marketing (i.e. paid advertising) is a skill on its own. You need to know what you are doing if you want to have it be successful. And let me tell you one or 2 paid ads aren’t going to generate the sales to cover the cost spent on those ads. You need someone who knows what they are doing!
- You have to share private details of your Facebook Manager Account with this person for them to be able to run ads for you…..you going to need to trust them and believe they know what they are doing. The last thing you want is a $2000 Facebook invoice coming your way for ads you didn’t approve.
CONCLUSION: What do social media managers do?
- They make sure there is a consistent, effective, and targeted delivery of content and interaction on your social media platforms to lift and build brand awareness.
- SHOULD they also be in charge of paid advertising (see the warning above), then they would be social media marketers and would deliver sales campaigns via your Facebook ads manager backend that is directly aimed at increasing sales and profit margins.
- It’s important to lay out what you and your client are expecting from each other in a contract so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding.
I hope that this has helped you answer the question “What do social media managers do?”.
Leave a comment below and let me know what are the essential tasks your require from your SMM.
