Career Advice

What Does a Social Media Manager Do?

Understand the responsibilities and day-to-day tasks you should expect to cover when applying for a role as a Social Media Manager.

Interested in training as a Social Media Manager, or keen to see whether you have the transferable skills to apply for a vacancy? We explain all you need to know about this digital marketing career path.

Social media is a huge aspect of digital marketing. With over 77% of businesses engaged in social media as a key part of their promotions and customer engagement, the demand for social media professionals has never been higher.

However, regardless of how proficient you are at using socials for your personal accounts, business social media management is a multi-faceted position that blends marketing know-how, customer service, consumer and competitor research, and creativity.

In this guide Digital Marketing Jobs Board summarizes the ins and outs of working as a Social Media Manager, including the most common skills and experience businesses include on their social media job posts.

The Role of a Social Media Manager Within Social Media Marketing

There are a growing number of social media channels that are important places for businesses and brands to establish a presence, whether using online promotions to drive sales, organic growth to generate greater market visibility and awareness, or engaging with loyal customers and creating a sense of community.

Businesses use social media dashboards for a variety of purposes, from replying to inquiries and messages to reviewing feedback ratings, using paid ads for new product launches, or as part of a wider digital marketing strategy.

A Social Media Manager coordinates and controls all these activities, either as one sub-section of a marketing department or as a senior manager in a dedicated social media team for larger companies with a separate division focused on social media.

Working in this management position means a Social Media Manager needs to:

  • Create and update social media strategies for all social channels.
  • Implement or manage the implementation of strategic posting schedules.
  • Monitor performance and returns on advertising spend, and report back to other managers or department executives.

Depending on the size of the team, they may also be responsible for managing their workforce, delegating tasks, and recruiting new social media assistants, content creators, and customer service representatives.

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Manager

The duties linked with a Social Media Manager’s role will vary with the size of the company they work for and the stage at which they join the team. For example, an established social media team with an ongoing strategy will be a different type of role from a business with no current social media usage, where the manager effectively needs to start from scratch.

SMEs and start-ups might hire a Social Media Manager as a standalone person responsible for setting up social media pages, handling every aspect of content creation and marketing, and working independently.

Here is a summary of some of the most common inclusions in Social Media Manager vacancies we see at Digital Marketing Jobs Board.

Strategic Planning

Brands need a tone of voice and style they use across their socials, which dictates how they interact with customers. Some companies may recruit a Social Media Manager to help refine that voice and adapt their shared content to generate a consistent, engaging tone and brand personality.

Social Media Managers will more directly deal with social media strategy, which involves a detailed look at the types of content they should post, coordinating campaigns, organic reach, and paid advertising with other digital marketing events and activities.

The manager will typically be involved in designing a strategy and ensuring it is implemented correctly and according to the agreed schedules. However, they may also be tasked with implementation if they do not have a team to delegate to.

Campaign Management

Social Media Managers will either create the visual content – think videos, GIFs, product photographs, and graphics – they use on the social channels, manage content creation elsewhere in the marketing team, or outsource to a freelancer or third party.

The Social Media Manager should create briefs and specifications, approve all content prior to posting, and monitor click-throughs and engagements to identify the content that performs the best.

Handling Paid Promotions

Paid advertising is only one part of using social media to improve brand visibility. Still, it can also be impactful and costly depending on the skill of the Social Media Manager. The role involves setting or adhering to budgets, deciding how to optimize ads and spending to maximize returns, and reporting on achievements made or how social media channels are performing in comparison to KPIs.

social media manager working on their laptop

Skills and Experience Necessary to Apply for a Job as a Social Media Manager

As we’ve explained, the specific job requirements will vary between companies and sectors, although there are several abilities that are fairly universal across Social Media Manager vacancies. This job involves a blend of analytics, management, strategy, and creativity, meaning that many digital marketers will be a good fit, provided they have sufficient knowledge of how social media platforms work.

Most employers look for candidates who can prove they have:

  • Excellent content creation skills, whether within content writing, graphic design, video editing, or creating specifications for content creators to work from, understanding what will generate the most positive response from a targeted audience.
  • Flawless attention to detail – one misjudged post or negative response can be disastrous and impact brand social proof and audience perceptions. Social Media Managers need to be highly accurate and results-focused.
  • Outstanding organization and time management, where one manager might deal with multiple social media channels, pages, promotions, team members, and campaigns, all running simultaneously. They must also have good timekeeping and be able to manage a social media posting schedule and content calendar in line with other company marketing activities.
  • Strong skills in data analysis and research, monitoring the effectiveness of ongoing campaigns, keeping up to speed with search algorithms and posting guidelines, and being able to implement new tools or tracking technology to augment the accuracy of reporting metrics.
  • Superb communication skills, able to respond directly to customers and liaise with brand partners or influencer marketers, agencies, and other teams within the organization.

Great Social Media Managers need to apply all these diverse capabilities while adapting and pivoting quickly when required, such as responding to an emerging trend or tweaking posting schedules when a hot topic or meme crops up that slots in well with their customer demographic.

Managers responsible for a team should have previous experience managing colleagues and be able to lead with confidence and resilience, handling problems head-on, juggling deadlines with a systematic approach, and responding appropriately when issues such as a negative comment or poor review arise.

For real-life job descriptions and criteria, please visit our Social Media Jobs listings and filter by location, specialism, and workplace.

You can also review our Social Media Manager Job Description for a preview of what a prospective employer may expect.

Average Pay Rates for Social Media Managers

The range of Social Media Manager roles means that pay rates are also necessarily different and will depend on the location of the business, the number of social media platforms it uses, the size of the social media or digital marketing team, and the level of responsibility the appointed applicant needs to take on.

You will also find that offered salaries might adjust according to the following:

  • Whether the job is on-site, remote, or hybrid, with some hours worked at home and some at the business premise.
  • The hours worked – full-time, part-time, and project work will carry different pay rates.
  • Minimum experience requirements, with higher salaries offered to Social Media Managers working at the executive level.

As an indication, the current average across the US is roughly $57,000, or $18 to $19 per hour for part-time or ad hoc work.

Experience and Education Requirements for Social Media Management Jobs

Few employers will include a degree on their list of essential requirements for candidates applying for a Social Media Manager role but prioritize experience and current knowledge of social media as a modern digital marketing tool.

If you don’t yet have that experience, there are lots of ways to improve your resume, learn some of the core abilities recruiters will look for, and build a portfolio to evidence your knowledge and skill using any number of social media platforms.

The easiest way to stand out from the other applicants is to have real-world experience, whether running your own social media pages, working for a local business or charitable organization, or working in an internship or junior-level post to learn on the job.

Aspiring Social Media Managers can also use free or paid online courses to add formal certifications to their list of relevant educational experience or spend their time researching the industry and reading up on trends, emerging platforms, posting guidelines, and best practice use of social media – these are great areas to be able to talk about intelligently during an interview!

Finding the Perfect Social Media Manager Role

Social media is fast-moving, and digital marketers who love the world of socials and are prepared to immerse themselves in continued professional development can achieve amazing results for their employers, leveraging new trends, platforms, and customer engagement tools to grow the brand.

Marketing professionals ready to apply for jobs in social media management and marketing can browse the Digital Marketing Jobs Board to find exciting opportunities, or you can upload your resume and create job alerts so you’re the first to know when a new vacancy becomes available.

Current jobs open to applicants include posts across the US, UK, Australia, and Singapore, fully remote positions, and specialist roles in PPC, content marketing, and social media analytics. We encourage all interested candidates to apply for jobs they are interested in straight away since applications can be competitive!

Lauren Edwards-Fowle

Lauren Edwards-Fowle

Lauren is a copywriter and content writer at Digital Marketing Jobs Board, specialising in digital marketing for business and all things finance, having been a logistics MD and practice accountant before moving into digital! She loves to break down complex topics to make information accessible and produce content that is fun, entertaining, and genuinely useful, capturing data, stats, and trends and translating them into real-world terminology. As a writer, parent and crossfitter, Lauren's most treasured asset is free time, where you'll find her on the beach or walking her dogs to make the most of the fresh air.

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