Social Media Management In 4 Missions. And How It Links With Branding
Social media management is a new job that has emerged in the last 5 years; a job that is getting updated every few months, expanded with new missions, has a greater impact on business branding and is in high demand. It’s an essential role in every brand’s social media presence. But what is social media management? And can it be mixed with other positions? The answer is in 3 main responsibilities:
1. Cooperating with the marketing team and carrying out the marketing plan
Social media management handles a single part of the branding strategy, and that is why cooperating with the marketing manager of the company is one of its main missions, and it is an essential mission for collecting the puzzle pieces of the company’s marketing plan.
Most brands need to be present on all the main social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube; and it’s the responsibility of social media management to run all of them, but who will choose which channels serve the company’s aim more?
If launching and running them is basically the responsibility of social media management, then choosing these channels is basically a marketer’s responsibility. However, if the social media manager has a good marketing background and he/she’s responsible for marketing and branding, then by doing some searching, they’ll figure out what channels fit better for their business category, and there are some tools that help managers run all these social media channels from one place or one phone app, such as Hootsuite.
2. Leading a social media team:
A social media manager is a leader of a small/big team of:
Designers,
To direct them in creating designs that capture the attention of followers, themes for the brand’s frequent designs, and writing catchy captions on posts.
Content creators, direct them to write about topics that answer followers’ questions, and to create interactive social media content on the channel to keep them alive.
The customer service team is a team trained in replying to messages and comments, giving the audience satisfying answers that achieve the company’s aim, and according to its policy.
A media buyer,
Is the one specializes in advertising and targeting. Could be someone working independently, so the social media manager is only coordinating with, and could be one of the company’s branding team.
An SEO specialist,
One who’s specialized in Search Engine Optimization, defining the search keywords that should be in the brand content, so audiences that search for the same words can easily find the company’s channels, and analyzing the return on each advertising campaign, to give recommendations for the content creators and the media buyer.
Can a social media manager be all that in one?!
A person can work as a designer, and social media content creator, respond to messages and comments, create ad campaigns, and even analyze them at times. Of course, it’s a great headache, but it can be done if we’re talking about one company or one brand, but to do all that for more than one brand is almost impossible.
Also, two heads are better than one, and three heads are better than two. Teamwork makes a great difference, especially when everyone in the team is studying enough in their fields, completing the mission, and cooperating with others to fulfill the branding strategy.
3. Directing a bundle of social media channels
Choosing the channels for the brand’s social media presence could be more of a marketing manager’s task, but directing the work of these channels is the responsibility of a social media manager.
These are the common channels most brands have for their social media presence: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. And all are under the responsibility of social media management at the same time.
So, social media management needs tools to run and instantly respond to all followers on all channels. These tools are sometimes available for free with limited features but offer a good presence for the company on all channels, and sometimes are paid, with a budget that social media management takes out of the branding budget for better performance and a better follow-up with customers.
Wait, but what if the same audience were on all these channels, wouldn’t they be disturbed by seeing the same content repetitively?!
Well, social media content shouldn’t be typical; each channel can have a different fingerprint on the same content with a different added value for its followers. So, it might be the same content, yes, but with simple different touches.
Supervising social media advertising campaigns
A social media manager should have an advertising background, even if slightly, to understand how to make a brand awareness of his brand, what the role that media buyer is playing, be able to direct him during campaigns, and have a B plan if the running campaign didn’t receive a good return; create and repeat brand awareness every once in a while. He/she is also responsible for coordinating between the media buyer and the marketing team and between the media buyer and the social media team.
What social media management is, and what social media management isn’t
Here are other roles that people usually mix up with social media management
The difference between social media management and social media moderation
A moderator runs one social media channel, maybe a Facebook page with a Facebook group for the same brand. Responding to comments and messages, giving feedback to the manager for the concern of content creators to answer FAQs through content, and for the concern of the company to enhance services and products. A moderator can also receive product requests and make sales if he’s trained enough. But a social media manager is directing a bundle of channels and leading moderators on each and every one of them. He’s also responsible for directing moderators to have two types of attitudes: well-presenting and educating; interacting with the audience with a good social media presence for the brand; and educating the audience, giving them proper brand awareness.
The difference between social media management and social media MARKETING management
They can be one in most cases. As a social media manager, you get to have enough experience from continuously exposing yourself to audience responses every day. That can make you an expert in how to represent your company on social media and is enough to make you a good social media marketer with some reading and with a lot of learning from your mistakes; also can be adding to your experience the other brands’ success stories. However, it might be missing the advertising technical part and how to target a specific category of people through advertising tools.
A social media marketing manager should have a strong marketing background, mixed with social media specialization, know how to brand a company, what messages to deliver to the audience, and what channels can achieve his/her target and what channels can’t.
A social media marketing manager gets to choose the color palette for the company, create a visual identity on social media, and furthermore, recognize a good logo from a not-so-good one.
A social media manager is more about technical skills, leading, and directing.
But a social media marketing manager is more about branding, tactics, and marketing strategy.
The difference between being a social media manager and a social media specialist
A social media specialist moderates channels, respond to customers, schedules content, reports to the manager with feedback, and coordinates with the marketing team. Can have basic design skills, choose a post caption, and recognize which rush hour to post during. No leadership skills are needed, and no marketing background is needed.
It’s only a matter of the company structure.
- A marketing manager, with many social media specialists to cover all channels.
- Or, a social media manager leads and coordinates with a team of social media content writers, designers, sales and customer service specialists, a media buyer, and an SEO specialist. Teaming up with the marketing manager of the company.
- Or, a social media marketing manager creates a marketing plan for the brand’s social media, creates the visual identity of the company, leads and coordinates with a team of moderators, social media content writers, designers, sales and customer service specialists, a media buyer, and an SEO specialist.
Each corporation could build a structure that fits its resources and fulfills its purpose.
Last but not least, here are 8 essential skills a social media manager should have
- Leadership
- Problem-solving
- Teamwork
- Able to work on different social media channels
- Marketing basics
- Content creating basics
- Customer care basics
- Analyzing basics
And remember: Practice makes perfect.
References:
What’s a Social Media Manager? And How to Become One, Coursera.
