Social Media Manager is a professional able to represent the brand, he is working for, in an attractive manner on the Social Media Platforms. The main responsibility of a Social Media Manager is to establish a strong contact between the client and customer so that the client is able to influence his customers whenever they come in contact with each other through social media network.
Whenever a brand is promoted through social media it has both positive and negative impacts, in these circumstances, a promoter will desire only positive impact of his social media campaign to make a brand value of his product. To achieve this goal of minimizing the negative impact of the social media campaign and maximize the positive one, an experienced Social Media Manager will be required.
Today every company want to promote its smallest product on Social Media Platform thereby increasing the demand for Social Media Managers many folds. To grab this opportunity the aspiring candidates, need to be properly qualified in the relevant fields.
Social Media Manager Eligibility
Although no formal qualification is required to become a Social Media Manager yet some reputed companies may expect at least a Bachelor’s Degree in any relevant filed that may include Bachelor’s degree or Diploma in Mass Communication, Journalism, Media, Advertising, Public Relations or Digital Marketing to name a few.
Social Media Manager Required Skills
A Social Media Manager is the professional who handles the company’s online presence. To handle this responsibility in an effective manner an aspiring Social Media Manager must be equipped with the following given skills.
- Managerial and Leadership Skills: As the Social Media Manager is to handle the company’s overall presence on the Social Media thus the foremost required quality in a Social Media Manager is the Managerial and Leadership skill that will help him to Keep the company management updated, the team motivated and customers interested and engaged.
- Communication Skills: Good Communication skills both verbal and written enable a Social Media Manager to communicate in an effective manger with his client and customer equally. Thus a Social Media Manager must be an expert in the art of communication.
- Time Management Skill: A good social media manager must have time Management Skills. He needs to be task- and goal-oriented to accomplish all the items on the checklist in time.
- Good Strategist and Planner: A Social Media Manager must be a Good Strategist and Planner as he needs to understand the overall structure of the company he is working for. He should be able to know how to search, content and social media all work together. He must be able to outline goals, define the target audience and know what platforms will help to achieve maximum benefit.
- Community Management Skills: Community Management Skills are another trait required to become a good Social Media Managers as he has to Monitor tweets, respond to Facebook posts and engaging with brand advocates and even handling and responding trolls and negative feedback.
- Understanding of Content Management on a social Web: As good content is known as the largest crowd puller thus a social media manager needs to know what content works and what doesn’t on social networks. It also means understanding which different media formats such as text, video, and images resonate with your brand's niche. A social media manager must know how to make content go viral across various social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and the other social networks.
- Creativity Skills: Social media Manager must be creative and understand the creative process that provides creative content that engages with the prospective customer and touches their soul.
- Adaptive Skills: Being adaptive in nature is an important skill for an effective social media manager. As the posts and social media landscapes move so quickly, a social media manager should also be able to and willing to try out change his posts and new features to fit with what’s being discussed in the timeline.
- Ability to Learn and Adapt Latest digital marketing trends: Social media Manager must be able to learn and adapt to the latest digital marketing trends so as to implement the new techniques just at the right time.
- Analytical Skills: Analytical skills are must to measure the output of the efforts put by you and your team. Analytical skills help to measure the impact of your campaigns and marketing initiatives on social media. With these skills, it is possible to gauge what works and what doesn’t works in real time.
- Decisive: As a Social Media Manager has to take decisions that too in quick time thus he should have quick decision-making abilities and powers. As in certain cases, a Social Media Manager has to make the decision is a real-time he should be really equipped with this ability of decisiveness.
With some or all of these skills, a Social Media Manager can make an impact and do justice to the faith shown to him by his client.
Some of the Institutes offering Courses for Social Media Manager
- Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi
- Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication - AIMC
- Brevity International Institute of Management and Technology – IIMT
How to become a Social Media Manager?
As an aspiring Social Media Manager has to follow below-given steps for becoming a Social Media Manager.
Step 1
After completing +2 in any stream the aspiring candidates can join any of the related Bachelor’s Degree course like Bachelors in Media Studies, Bachelors of Mass Communication etc. in some of the reputed Mass communication institutes. However, one can do a Bachelor’s degree in any stream to become a Social Media Managers.
Step 2
After getting a Bachelor’s degree in the related field the aspiring candidates can look for a job as a Social Media Manager or can work independently with multiple companies as their clients. Those who have taken a general Bachelor’s degree can go for PG courses like PG Diploma in Social Media and Web Journalism to hone their skill and know the ABC of real Social Media field before taking up professional assignments.
Some of the related Courses required to become a Social Media Manager are:
- Post Graduate Diploma in Social Media and Web Journalism.
- Bachelor of Media Studies
- Bachelor of Mass Communication
Social Media Manager Job Description
- The job description of a Social Media Manager is to present a brand on Social Media platform in the most attractive way and make a strong bond between his client and the prospective customer through social media.
- As a Social Media Manager is responsible to administer the company’s social media marketing and advertising. His job includes deliberate planning and goal setting for his team and himself.
- His job description also includes the development of brand awareness and online reputation of the company he is working with.
- As content is the boss in Social Media, A Social Media Manager has also to Manage the Content that is being displayed on Social Media Platforms.
- A Social Media Managers job also include generation of inbound traffic by adopting various techniques like search engine optimization and cultivation of leads and sales.
Social Media Manager Career Prospects
There is no dearth of career opportunities for professional related to Social Media especially Social Media Manager in today’s scenario where everything is available on the Web.
The demand for Social Media Manager is increasing with the speed of the usage of Social Media. Virtually every organization whether it is an e-commerce company or an educational institute needs a presence on Social Media thus the requirement of a Social Media Manager to handle their presence and make an impact on Social Media.
We can say that an efficient Social Media Manager can get job opportunities in the industry of his own choice be it an e-commerce website like flip kart or an educational institute like Amity University or a web development company like Targetstudy.com
Social Media Manager Salary
A fresher Social Media Manager can expect anything between Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000 per month to start with. However, with some experience in the field and association with bigger brands, one can hope to get over and above Rs.50,000 per month. Experience, Expertise, and organization one is working with plays an important role in deciding the pay scale of a Social Media Manager.
