What Does a Social Media Manager Do?

Everything You Need to Know About Social Media Management

In this blog, Word Nerd details the job of a social media manager. Specifically, we discuss:

• What a social media manager is
  • Common responsibilities for social media managers
  • Benefits of having a social media manager
• What social media managers typically do not do
• How much social media management costs

The impact of social media on the consumer-brand relationship is well-documented, with many consumers choosing to make direct purchases through social platforms. Consumers don’t just want to interact with brands online — research shows that they actually prefer to learn about products and services through a brands’ social media presence.

With so much importance placed on online reputation, it’s easy to understand why many business owners choose to hire a social media manager to help align their strategy with their overarching goals. But what exactly does a social media manager do, and is it worth hiring one for your business? We dive deeper into the role of a social media manager in the blog below!

What Is a Social Media Manager?

A social media manager’s main responsibility is to manage the online presence of a given organization. This includes maintaining and optimizing all of the social profiles where they have a presence. Social media managers will have full access to all accounts for the businesses they serve so that they are able to post on their behalf. However, a social media manager’s job is about much more than ensuring posts are published. There are many additional responsibilities that these individuals have to ensure the success of the overall marketing strategy.

Common Responsibilities for Social Media Managers

Once given access to the social media profiles for an organization, a social media manager will leverage this access to:

• Optimize: Each social media platform has its own algorithm, and a social media manager should be able to optimize each profile according to these algorithms to ensure users are able to find the business as easily as possible.
• Calendarize: Your social media manager should take the lead on determining the cadence for social posting, developing a content calendar based on your target audience’s online activity.
• Design: Many social media management teams provide custom graphic design services, giving businesses a professional, unified online appearance that strengthens awareness and increases brand recognition.
• Write: Social media teams will also be responsible for crafting the captions for each post, developing the brand voice while strengthening SEO efforts by targeting specific keywords and phrases.
• Research: From determining the best times to post to finding the top-performing hashtags to monitoring competitor behaviors, your social media team should always have their finger on the pulse of the ever-changing digital landscape.
• Report: A good social media manager will provide a quarterly report on organic social media performance, as well as monthly reporting on any paid social media activity to help guide the strategy and determine what’s working best.
• Schedule: Social media managers are equipped with specialized tools that allow them to schedule content in bulk, ensuring that businesses never miss a moment to connect with their target audience.

Benefits of Having a Social Media Management Team

With 4.65 active social media users worldwide, just about everyone is familiar with how to publish a post. So, why should business owners consider hiring a social media management team?

It turns out there are plenty of benefits that business owners stand to gain by choosing a professional social media management team to assist with their online presence, including:

• Time & Money Savings: Just like you’re the expert in your industry, social media managers are the experts in the online world. These professionals offer proven strategies that take the guesswork and risk out of the equation, saving you valuable time and money on wasted efforts.
• Increased Brand Awareness: Social media managers are adept at crafting individual brand voices and eye-catching graphics that increase brand recognition and awareness. They ensure that your brand’s digital footprint is perfectly aligned across all profiles for a seamless user experience.
• Custom Content Creation: A social media manager has the skills necessary to effortlessly craft custom content. When you pay for their services, you’re paying for their graphics skills, scheduling tools, creativity, and copywriting capabilities as well.
• Increased Site Traffic: Social media profiles are often the gateway for consumers to come to your website. A social media management team uses proven methodology to help drive increased site traffic to the most important pages on your website.
• More Engaging Content: Because a social media manager is always analyzing content performance, they are better able to tailor the content strategy to drive increased engagement. This is one of the most important metrics for achieving social media success.

What Social Media Managers Do Not Do

While a social media manager is responsible for many things, there are limitations to their capabilities. Social media managers often serve multiple clients across a broad variety of industries. As such, they should not and cannot be expected to answer all questions specific to your business operations or service offerings. While your social media manager should be able to answer simple questions quickly (i.e. hours of operation, general product/service offerings, etc.), they should also alert you to more detailed inquiries that come in through social media.

At Word Nerd, we make this process easy by relying on Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox feature, which compiles all social media comments across all profiles into one, easy-to-access location. From here, we’ll email any time-sensitive or detail-oriented customer comments to the business owner for immediate response.

With 76% of consumers expecting a response from brands within 24 hours on social media, taking time to answer their questions is critical to the success of the overall strategy. While it is the job of your social media team to drive increased engagement, it’s up to you to provide the detailed answers your customers need to make informed decisions and build lasting relationships with your brand.

How Much Does Social Media Management Cost?

The cost of social media services can vary significantly based on a number of different factors. According to 2021 research, most businesses pay between $400 – $650 a month for social media management services. However, costs can be higher or lower depending on the following:

• Hours: Most social media agencies will provide a cost estimate based on the number of hours they predict their team will spend on a project. The more hours they anticipate, the higher the cost will be.
• Profiles: If your business has many different social media profiles, that’s more work for your social media manager, which translates into a higher cost for services.
• Advertising: In addition to the cost of all the work your social media manager is doing, you will need to set aside additional budget for any paid advertising you plan to do as part of a social media ads campaign.

Find a Social Media Manager for Your Business!

Our social media management experts have years of experience serving business owners across the United States. Through our proven strategies and results-driven methodology, we help businesses make the biggest impact on their target audiences so they can enjoy increased awareness, site traffic, and conversions. Request a free, no-obligation social media management quote from our team by emailing info@wordnerdservices.com today!