I have been dying to write this piece as I happen to be a Social Media Manager myself and I happen to believe that I have the ultimate dream job. I LOVE my job! I love everything about it! I get to work for hundreds of different companies at once. Companies ranging from medical offices and law offices to sport fan pages and apparel companies. It is great! No matter how old you are now a days chances are you are on social media. The fact is people spend way too much time on these sites, lol. Well why not get paid for it! A Social Media Manager spends all their time on Social Media. When we are not scheduling posts for the week, we are writing tag lines, and researching links to post. We also stalk other pages and keep up to date on what others are doing.

Skills you need as a Social Media Manager

So now that I’ve sold you on the job! Let’s see if you have what it takes. Here are several different traits and skills you need in order to be a successful Social Media Manager.

Copywriting

Copywriting is a fundamental skill for life! Definitely fundamental for Social Media and marketing in general. Good writing is required in many areas of a social media manager’s role. I use my writing skills every day. I actually never realized how good of a writer I was until I started doing this job. I use writing from creating my client’s social media pages and writing their bio and company’s description to crafting Facebook posts taglines, and Tweets. One of the biggest and main objectives of this role is to drive engagement and gain likes. Captivating and creative writing will help immensely. I strongly suggest sharpening your writing skills before applying for a social media manager position as I guaranteed that you will be asked to show off your writing skills.

Design

Images are huge for Social Media! Not only cool images, but custom, organic, one of a kind type of images go a long way in the world of social media. Social media has greatly evolved in the recent years and we have moved away from just plain text to visual content. People love to see things, engaging things, unique things, attractive things, interesting things, you name it. Visual is key! Designing and creating visual content is a huge PLUS for this job. I have to admit that I have no design skills what so ever and I still perform this job real well. I do often wish I had the skills though, because I have the vision and the creative mind for it. I work real close with my design team and I am still able to manage my social medias very well. My company does have separate departments and a full design team in house. For some companies, you will be required as a Social Media manager to design and create visual content as well, so do your homework a little before you apply.

Behavioral Psychology

Now a days data and analytics rule the world, and social media of course! But you are able to tell very easily what social media posts do well and what is causing more engagement from your social media efforts. With behavioral psychology you are able to understand why that is. Why are people liking certain posts as opposed to others and why do they share them instead of sharing other content. Knowing the why is very important and allows you to spot different trends and repeat past successes. You definitely do not need a Psychology degree, but having that common sense and that eye for things and understanding of trends really helps in this job.

Math Skills and Budgeting

As a social media manager, you will be given a social media advertising budget for each client. You will be in charge of allocating that budget at yours and your client’s discretion. This means you will be required to keep track of the money and where it goes and how well it did in your social media efforts. Creating an excel spreadsheet really helps. Staying organized and always documenting everything that you do and every cent that is spent is the key.

Customer Service and Client Relations

Yes you will be in a computer all day, but this doesn’t mean that you won’t talk to customers on a daily basis. You are a Social Media Manager and this means you manage social media accounts. Whether it is for a number of companies like me or just the one company that you work for, You will be talking and communicating with people. Having great customer service is excellent for this position. I love talking to my clients every day and getting as much feedback as I can on the job that I am doing. I love answering their questions. Even when I write emails, there is customer service involved.

If you are considering a social media manager job, go for it! The key skills and traits I mentioned above are the skills that I know, by personal experience, are key skills for this role. I wish you good luck in your next interview!