8 Skills You Need To Succeed In A Social Media Role

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14 July 2015

Social Media jobs are becoming more and more popular with the fast growth of social media marketing. Many people claim themselves to be specialists in this area but are they really? This is the skill set we look for in a Social Media Manager.

If you like to concentrate on one thing at a time and work on it till it’s perfect, working in social media probably is not for you. Usually you are not responsible for managing just one social channel but few and very often for different clients so multitasking is essential. In other words, you need to be able to work on a few things at the same time - switching between tasks.

Working on a social media campaign requires a lot of creativity – creating engaging content requires knowledge and creativity. The key is to bounce ideas around – brainstorm with your fellow creative colleagues – Maya Angelou was right like everything, practise makes the process easier.

This is something you can’t really learn, you need to have it in you. Working with different brands you need to understand what values the brand is standing for and what content is and isn’t appropriate for it. Understanding the brand’s identity and tone of voice is crucial. With this under your belt you are already a step ahead - this insight will enable you to create a strategy that compels your audience to engage.

Managing a social media profile together with social media customer service is not for hot headed people. You need to keep your calm, especially in times when there is social media crisis. While you cannot plan for every scenario it is important to try and forecast the types of responses a campaign might provoke and ensure that you know how you you want to respond. This is not always a threat, but when handled properly, an opportunity to convert nay-sayers into brand ambassadors.

It is important to keep a close eye on all the profiles you manage – ensuring you respond in a timely manner. Mark Zuckerberg himself is highlighting this as an important skill through his introduction of a new badge to Facebook Pages – this shows how fast brand respond to messages sent to their pages.

Social media is not just Facebook. And it’s not just Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest either. It’s important to stay abreast of trends and how audiences are using platforms.

Every social platforms requires special treatment. It is important to know that the same content shouldn’t be shared across all platforms in the same form. You need to learn what form of content is most engaging for each platform.

Knowing how to find things is a big part of a Social Media Manager’s job. You should have a natural curiosity and the ability to seek out answers to questions under your own volition from competitor profiles, to trending blogs and topics and any new tech and digital gadget announcements.

Once you have mastered all these skills you’re ready to rock as a social media ninja. Sound like your cup of tea?

Get in touch, we’re always looking for new talent!