What To Look For In Your Social Media Manager:
The term “social media manager” is a relatively new profession in the history of the working world, and that means that a lot of companies feel a little fuzzy on what to look for when hiring someone to help them manage their social media strategy. As social media managers ourselves, and being part of some fabulous groups for collaboration like the Social Media Managers Facebook Group and the Colorado Women In Social Media, we know A LOT of folks in the social media world. We polled some of these groups to see what traits and skills were important in a social media manager.
Mind if we share?
A Social Manager Should Be…
- Thirsty To Learn. Look for someone who loves learning new programs and ideas. Social media is constantly changing and a good social media manager needs to enjoy staying on top of it all!
- A Self-Starter. Piggy-backing off of the first point, social media managers have to learn constantly, and sometimes that means learning something that no one has ever explained before. When new programs, apps, and social medias come out, a lot of the process is just diving into it. Look for someone who isn’t afraid of learning new programs, and has done so in the past.
- Understands Design. Social media managers often need to create eye-catching graphics and posts.
- Understands Grammar. The last thing you want is someone ghostwriting your social media who has issues spelling or issues with basic grammar. Poor grammar and typos make you and your business look bad.
- Creative. Social media is a constantly changing scene and the creative ideas are the ones that stand out and go viral. Look for someone who has ideas flowing regularly!
- Understands Psychology. Understanding what types of content will work well for a certain brand is all about psychology. Your social media manager should be able to watch patterns and get into the psyche of YOUR audience.
- A Photographer. Not only do social media managers often have to create fabulous graphics, they also often need to take decent pics on the fly. Look for someone who isn’t afraid to pick up a camera and help pull others out of their shells to take good pictures.
- Outgoing. You don’t have to be an extrovert to be a good social media manager, but you do have to enjoy relationships. Your personality does shine through on some level, so you want to make sure you have someone who actually enjoys interacting with people in general!
- Tactful. Dealing with frustrating people and complaints online is just part of the territory for a social media manager. You need to find someone who can keep their cool and diffuse sticky situations on social media.
- Understands SEO, websites, ads, video, and copywriting. No, you don’t need someone who is an expert at all of these things, but you do need someone who understands the way all of these digital marketing channels interact with each other and with social media. They all work together and help each other to help build your brand’s presence online. You need to have that comprehensive understanding in anyone you bring into your company’s marketing strategy.
- A User Of Social Media. Okay, we lied. We have 11 characteristics instead of just 10. Before you hire someone to manage social media for you, go scope them out on social media first. You can tell a lot by the types of posts they put out on their profiles!
Ultimately, whoever you choose to manage your brand’s social media needs to be someone you can trust. You need to feel confident and happy about the relationship between you and your social media manager. The best part is that there are a ton of different personalities, experts, and perspectives to choose from. If you look around hard enough, you’ll find the perfect help for your social media strategies.
Need some assistance with social media for your company? Valerie Morris heads up the social media department of Tintero Creative, and would love to help you understand your options with social media and your digital marketing.