The past ten years have brought us incredible developments in the field of social media – developments which have irrevocably changed the DNA of digital marketing; provided content marketers with a limitless landscape in which to showcase their efforts; and created a new profession of individuals who pretty much live and breathe social.
The beauty of social is that you don’t need to be a big name brand with an astronomical marketing budget in order to harness its power – even a modest-sized business can reap the benefits of connecting with and engaging consumers. In fact, it can even be argued that the smaller-sized business lends itself even better to social media as it tends to operate via informal, open communication – just the sort of style that works exceptionally well in the social sphere.
Brands have had to sit up and take notice of the fact that properly handling the social side of their business is becoming more important than ever. The role of social media management is no longer simply seen as an add-on duty i.e. the aptly named Joe Bloggs penning the odd, whimsical post to publish to Facebook as and when he thinks of it before hurrying back to his ‘real’ job.
However, hiring the right social media manager can be something of a minefield. In the dynamic and constantly evolving landscape of social media, it can be hard to figure out what the key skills are that you should be looking out for. So, to help you make the right call, we’ve compiled a little list…
1. Passion for social media
Bit of a no-brainer you might think, but just having a top-notch personal Facebook page doesn’t necessarily put your candidate above the rest. A great social media manager will be able to not only demonstrate expertise across a range of social channels but also show an understanding of what type of content best suits each platform and a passion for interacting within these online communities.
2. Customer service skills
An ability to communicate with customers and prospects from all demographics as well the organisational skills to provide timely and appropriate responses to queries or issues are essential attributes in order to gain and secure customer loyalty.
3. SEO expertise
SEO, content and social media all go hand-in-hand. Forbes once described a social media manager as “the gatekeeper and promoter” of content. This content needs to be properly optimised to grow your audience, drive traffic to your website and hopefully attract a fair few sales as a result.
4. Drive to learn
This is a landscape that is ever-evolving and consequently, your social media manager needs to be evolving along with it. To stay on top of the game in this fast-paced world, the ideal candidate needs to be reading as much as possible about social media and technological advancements and be able to discuss trends, tools and potential opportunities for the future.
5. Persistence
It takes patience, dedication and drive to achieve social media success. Growing an audience, building trust and establishing your brand as an authority in your industry takes time and the best social media managers maintain realistic expectations along with their big dreams – they are not afraid to experiment, make mistakes and come back stronger than before.
6. A top-notch toolkit
There is a vast array of useful social media tools at your disposable – do you really have the time to learn about them all as well as run your business? A social media manager should be able to show you their favourite features for tasks such as: monitoring mentions on social media activity; keeping track of and interpreting analytics; collaborating with a team on social projects; and scheduling activity.
7. An eye for words and pictures
As the majority of communications will be in writing, it goes without saying that a social media manager should have clear, concise and on-brand writing skills. However, in the digital world, particularly as the age of video dawns, a picture can be worth a thousand words – the right candidate will have an eye for great images and video when they see it and know when it is worth sharing.
Of course, a far easier option might be to hand over your social media management to the experts, and let us take care of the nitty-gritty for you. Contact us today at bespoke@m2.com or on 01225 720 099 to find out what we can do for your business.