What Does A Social Media Manager (Even) Do?
Over 200 billion tweets per year, 1 billion Instagram users per month, and 52 minutes per day on TikTok: It’s safe to say social media is deeply integrated into the fabric of our society. If you ever thought about starting a business in 2021, you quickly realized social media is the most affordable and accessible marketing tool you have.
There is a method to the social media madness. Thousands of freelancers have built successful careers developing strategy and content for social media campaigns.
First things first, here are the expectations & responsibilities of a Social Media Manager:
What is the role of a Social Media Manager?
Social Media Managers (SMMs) live and breathe community. It is categorized as a Marketing or Digital Marketing role. SMMs work to communicate, market, and educate through an organization’s social media platforms.
A Social Media Manager’s goal is to plan content (blogs, photo, video, and graphics) into a strategy that leads to awareness and community growth through the use of social media platforms (i.e, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn).
Social Media Manager responsibilities and skills
Responsibilities
- Develop social media strategies that align with marketing efforts
- Coordinate with writers and video editors to ensure content is produced and appealing
- Assist in writing copy for content & captions
- Manage and upload content to social media accounts
- Engage with audience including responding to direct messages, comments, story replies, etc.
- Research potential partners and influencers
- Stay up-to-date with new digital technologies, algorithm changes, and social media best practices
- Report weekly and monthly analytics and data trends
Skills (The more you have, the more qualified you are)
- 💻 Experience with the Google Drive (Docs, Excel, Slides)
- ✏️ Experience aligning content copy / text with a brand’s voice
- 🔍 Resourceful research abilities
- 🎨 Graphic design via Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Figma
- 🎥 Video editing via TikTok, Instagram Reels, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, or Final Cut Pro
How much do Social Media Managers make?
According to Glassdoor, the average base pay for a Social Media Manager is $53,711/yr. [1] Social Media Manager roles at companies like Amazon and PwC can earn well up to $80,000+/yr.
When it comes to freelancing, companies on Pangea.app pay an average of $15–28/hr for part-time SMM roles.
Who does Social Media Manager work with?
A Social Media Manager’s role falls under the marketing department. Social Media Managers typically report to a Director of Marketing, CMO, or another senior marketing team member.
Depending on the company size, Social Media Managers may also work with:
- 1) A Content Creator to help with specialized content needs like graphics or animation (i.e, graphic designer or video editor)
- 2) A Community Manager type that responds to comments, inquiries, and engagements daily
- 3) A Data Analyst that helps monitor key metrics and develop new insights.
Other types of Digital Marketing roles
- Community Manager
- Content Writer
- Creative Director
- Digital Strategist
- Email Marketing Specialist
- Graphic Designer
- SEO Specialist
- Paid Advertising Specialist
- UX / UI Designer
Ready to start your Social Media Manager career?
Click here to find hiring roles on Pangea.app now! 🥳
Still want more? Here’s Social Media Strategy 101
Let’s look at an example of a blog post to better conceptualize a day-in-the-life as a Social Media Manager.
Imagine you need to get new eyes on a recently published blog post . So far you posted the blog post on your site, but if you are only relying on organic search thanks to SEO (search engine optimization) you might be waiting for a looooong time.
Social Media Managers must always ask themselves: “What’s the most effective (and entertaining) way to get my audience to engage with our content?”
Here’s your blog link: The Art of the Corporate Instagram Feed
As a Social Media Manager, your next step is to think about always the ways you can amplify your blog post using social media platforms. Let’s call this Operation Funnel Cake. The goal being to funnel or convert as much of your social media audience to your website.
The simplest way to do this is sharing a direct link of your blog post. Think LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter. These are all great platforms where you can directly share your link as a post. Simply, copy/paste your blog link and a header image will appear. Now, users can click this post and magically land on your website. Ta-da!
But not every social media platform makes link sharing that easy. Just take Instagram. On Instagram, there is no way to directly click a link in the caption or post itself….BUT there are link-in-bio’s that help with this.
As a Social Media Manager — this is where you must ask yourself a few crucial questions:
- How do I best use Instagram to get people to our blog?
- Does Instagram have new feature or content type I should be using? (Reels, guides, IGTV, etc.)
- How is what content I post on Instagram different (or similar) to what I might use for Twitter, TikTok, or another social media platform?
- Besides content, what else do I need to do to make finding a link to our blog seamless?
One of our favorite ways to funnel users from social to web is using a carousel graphic on Instagram. At Pangea.app, once our blog writer has completed the written piece, they will send the blog to our Social Media Manager so they can start creating a graphic to share on social.
Below is an example of The Art of the Corporate Instagram Feed as a “socialized” blog post ready to be shared on Instagram. Now, when our audience scrolls past our content on Instagram, they will get a sneak peek to our new blog with a call-to-action on the last slide that says Click the link in our bio to access the blog.
[Bonus points: You will go above and beyond if you can prepare a version of your graphics that is in story format aka 9:16 ratio. Read more about social media image sizing.]
Thanks to you Operation Funnel Cake is a success! 🏆
The final step for all superstar Social Media Managers is to measure success using analytics and key metrics. Lucky for you in-app insights dashboards are becoming more helpful!
Resources to Level-Up 🚀
- Work In Social They Said - Follow on Instagram
- Pangea Academy: Social Media Bootcamp Resources - View content
- Digital Strategy Example Presentation - View content
- Digital Strategy Template Presentation - Download template
- Free Hubspot Social Media Marketing Certification - Access now
Frequently asked questions about Social Media Managers
- Do I need to have graphic design skills to be a SMM?
No, not all Social Media Manager roles require graphic design skills. If you need help with designs, Canva is your new best friend. - What is the hardest part about being a SMM?
Managing ALL content & marketing promo across ALL multiple social media channels can be daunting. Organize your schedule and plan ahead, you will thank us later. - What is the best way to showcase my SMM experience / talent on a resume?
Creating content or a mock account is one of the most effective ways to show your skills. Want to better your chances? Make content for the potential company / client you want to work with.
