Social Media Manager Job Description: A Complete Guide

“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat and tears.” -Simon Sinek

Many companies have recognized the awesome value and benefit in social media marketing. Perhaps you’re one of those! You’ve seen how Social marketing drives quality traffic, leads & sales and boosts your online reputation. However, as a business owner, you don’t spend much time on social networks yourself, so it’s quite a challenge to figure out exactly where to focus your attention.

It’s also a challenge to determine who the best person might be to handle your company’s online presence or what that person’s job duties should be.

While social marketing and advertising are an integral part of online marketing strategy, at its heart, social media is about people, conversations and developing leads and sales from those relationships.

In a previous post here, I wrote about the questions to ask a potential hire. But once you’ve hired your best candidate, you’ll need a Social Media Manager Job Description to set goals, track progress, understand exactly where your money is spent and carry through accountability for Return on Investment (ROI).

Here’s a comprehensive guide to help determine what your social media manager should be doing, where they’re succeeding and where you may need to place more attention.

Social Media Manager Job Description

The Social Media Manager will administer the company’s social media marketing and advertising. Administration includes but is not limited to:

• Deliberate planning and goal setting
• Development of brand awareness and online reputation
• Content management
• SEO (search engine optimization) and generation of inbound traffic
• Cultivation of leads and sales

The Social Media Manager is a highly motivated, creative individual with experience and a passion for connecting with current and future customers. That passion comes through as he/she engages with customers on a daily basis, with the ultimate goal of turning fans into customers.

Community leadership and participation (both online and offline) are integral to a Social Media Manager’s success. An essential component is communicating the company’s brand in a positive, authentic way what will attract today’s modern, hyper-connected buyers.

The Social Media Manager is instrumental in managing the company’s content-related assets. Google’s #1 search ranking factor is relevant content (content that serves the searchers needs the best). It’s clear then that managing content should be part of the Social Media Manager’s Job Description.

Content management duties include:

• Administrate the creation and publishing of relevant, original, high-quality content.
• Identify and improve organizational development aspects that would improve content (ie: employee training, recognition and rewards for participation in the company’s marketing and online review building).
• Create a regular publishing schedule.
• Implement a content editorial calendar to manage content and plan specific, timely marketing campaigns.
• Promote content through social advertising.

This position is full time salaried with benefits. Specific titles and/or duties for this position may also include:

• Digital Marketing Manager
• Content Marketing Manager
• Customer Experience Manager
• Community Manager

The Social Media Manager should always be learning, as it’s a crucial component to their success. Social and digital marketing “Best Practices” shift constantly, so a budget should be allocated for training and/or attendance at applicable industry-specific conferences.

Responsibilities of the Social Media Manager

The first responsibility of a Social Media Manager is to develop and implement a social media marketing plan. The marketing plan will include the following components and should be reviewed no less than every 90 days.

1. Brand Development

“Why” is the reason customers buy. A great “why buy here” message is unique to your company, is backed up by facts (awards, numbers, in-store policies) and answers “What’s in it for me?” for the shopper.

2. Identify Target Customers

Your product cannot possibly be all things to all people. Until you accept the notion that you must keep your market focus tight, you’ll constrict your business’ ability to grow.

Explore this exercise to identify target customers:

I’m sure you’ve said this once or twice in your years in business: “You know, if we had ten more customers just like them, life would be great!” Write down the circumstances and attributes of those types of customers.

Once you know more about who you want to reach, you can use data to laser target your message. Facebook is invaluable for exploring audiences that are interested in your product or service.

3. Set Clear Objectives

All marketing plans include defined, realistic goals. It isn’t enough to say you “see” results. Your results must tie back to your goals and objectives. You’ll never know ROI without goal setting and strategy.

In setting goals, it’s important to identify what challenges the business is experiencing. These 5 are the most common:

• Insufficient website traffic and/or scant visitors
• Weak brand awareness
• Declining customer retention
• Poor online reputation
• Slow sales

4. Visual Design and Web Development Strategy

Visual content has a lasting effect on the viewer. Your visual branding must be consistent. Whether it’s your status updates, your landing pages or your Facebook ads, what the audience sees is what they’ll remember. Make sure it’s compelling and gets the point across.

Savvy web development is crucial to your content marketing success. You must retain a hub for your content where customers and prospects can visit to learn more about your products and services, and where search engines can crawl to award more authority.

5. Solid Content Strategy

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “How do I know what to post on our page?” In order to know the answer to that question, you must have a solid idea of who you are as a brand and who your target customers are.

• What is it about your company that makes it unique…makes people want to buy from you? Answer that question in detail.
• Describe your target customers. What are their interests, concerns and issues? How can you help them come to a purchase decision with the content you publish?
• Don’t forget about those fans who are not in-market. What can you offer them to make their time with you interesting?

6. Promotion Strategy

It is essential to continually grow your fan base and promote your content. Social media is now pay to play.

Social advertising is a very valuable tool to get your message heard. However, social (Facebook) ads don’t look like the ads you’re familiar with. They differ in content, placement and targeting…and when done right, they are received much more cheerfully.

The best way to grow your Facebook page is to utilize Facebook Ads. A small budget with carefully selected images and ad copy (with a clear call-to-action) will increase likes, improve engagement and generate leads.

7. Engagement Strategy

Your Social Media manager should listen, respond, ask questions and engage your audience. There should be careful consideration on how he/she responds to organic (non-paid) leads that appear in the comment section of your posts.

People will ask questions and sometimes want to engage in a sale. The Social Media Manager should have knowledge and experience of your sales process to respond correctly.

If a lead asks a question, answer it and follow it up with a question back to engage them further, eventually guiding them to a product display page, signup form or appointment.

Leverage Facebook ads to promote your content and increase your audience reach. As your page grows and your content is seen more often in Newsfeeds, you’ll find it easier to engage fans and build those relationships.

8. Conversion Strategy

With growth and engagement strategies in place, the Social Media Manager’s job is to convert fans into customers and your marketing plan should outline the steps required.

The more advanced forms of Facebook marketing utilize Facebook ads, custom audiences and compelling landing pages. Be sure to include a call to action and a lead form on your landing page to ensure your lead has a path to purchase (and your Social Media Manager has a way to follow up).

I’ve found most companies need advice and support with conversion strategy. Kruse Control does advise clients on ways to get quicker results that are more cost-effective and more aligned with business goals. I’m happy to explore options if you need guidance.

9. Measure & Analyze to Establish ROI

You’ll need to determine the KPI’s (key performance indicators) that matter most to your business. Here are the top 8 KPI’s that we use at Kruse Control to determine ROI:

• Audience Growth
• Audience Profile
• Audience Engagement
• Content Reach
• Engagement by Content Type
• Leads
• Response Rate and Quality
• Negative Feedback

Measure results on a daily basis. Your results should tie back to your objectives and provide a clear understanding of the returns you’re getting.

Essential Duties of the Social Media Manager

• Manage social media marketing campaigns and day-to-day activities including:
  • Develop relevant content topics to reach the company’s target customers.
  • Create, curate, and manage all published content (images, video and written).
  • Monitor, listen and respond to users in a “Social” way while cultivating leads and sales.
  • Conduct online advocacy and open a stream for cross-promotions.
  • Develop and expand community and/or influencer outreach efforts.
  • Oversee design (ie: Facebook Timeline cover, profile pic, thumbnails, ads, landing pages, Twitter profile, Blog, etc.).
  • Design, create and manage promotions and Social ad campaigns.
  • Manage efforts in building online reviews and reputation. Monitor online reviews and respond to each review.
  • Analyze key metrics and tweak strategy as needed.
  • Compile reports for management showing results (ROI).

• Become an advocate for the company in social media spaces, engaging in dialogues and answering questions where appropriate.
• Demonstrate ability to map out a comprehensive marketing plan. Drive strategies that are proven by testing and metrics.
• Develop organizational elements in order to implement a proactive process for capturing happy, loyal customer online reviews.
• Monitor trends in social media tools, applications, channels, design and strategy.
• Implement ongoing education to remain highly effective.
• Identify threats and opportunities in user-generated content surrounding the company. Report notable threats to appropriate management.
• Analyze campaigns and translate anecdotal or qualitative data into recommendations and plans for revising social media, content marketing, SEO and social advertising campaigns.
• Monitor effective benchmarks (Best Practices) for measuring the impact of social media campaigns. Analyze, review, and report on effectiveness of campaigns in an effort to maximize results.

Qualifications and Experience

• Possesses knowledge and experience in the tenets of traditional marketing. Marketing degree is welcomed but not required with relevant work experience.
• Demonstrates creativity and documented immersion in social media. (Give links to profiles as examples).
• Proficient in content marketing theory and application.
• Experience sourcing and managing content development and publishing.
• Exhibits the ability to jump from the creative side of marketing to analytical side, able to demonstrate why their ideas are analytically sound.
• Displays in-depth knowledge and understanding of social media platforms, their respective participants (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest etc.) and how each platform can be deployed in different scenarios.
• Maintains excellent writing and language skills.
• Enjoys a working knowledge of the blogging ecosystem relevant to the company’s field.
• Displays ability to effectively communicate information and ideas in written and video format.
• Exceeds at building and maintaining sales relationships, online and off.
• Practices superior time management.
• Is a team player with the confidence to take the lead and guide other employees when necessary. (ie: content development, creation and editing of content, and online reputation management).
• Makes evident good technical understanding and can pick up new tools quickly.
• Maintains a working knowledge of principles of SEO including keyword research and Google Analytics. Highly knowledgeable in the principles of “Search and Social.”
• Possesses functional knowledge and/or personal experience with WordPress.
• Demonstrates winning Social Customer Service techniques such as empathy, patience, advocacy and conflict resolution.
• Possesses great ability to identify potential negative or crisis situation and apply conflict resolution principles to mitigate issues.

Qualified, Savvy Social Media Managers do not just happen.

The Social Media Manager is the voice of your company and should be included in all matters which are customer-facing. With most every business needing to develop their online presence in order to participate in today’s hyper-connected consumer buying process, it’s in your best interests to hire the best and track their progress. Your online reputation and future sales depend on it!