We live in an era of digitalization, where social media has become integral to our lives. From small decisions, such as online shopping, to bigger ones, such as picking the correct educational institution, each decision is affected by social media channels.
According to Sprout Social, the estimated total number of social media users globally in 2024 is 5.17 billion. This statistic reveals a promising future for social media managers to make an impact and bring visibility to their organization.
As brands vie for consumers’ attention amidst a plethora of content, those equipped with the skills to craft impactful campaigns can bolt through the noise. Thus, social media managers must develop a robust skill set to survive and succeed in the digital landscape.
Thus, if you are a social media manager or planning to become one, here is a detailed list of the skills you need to master this field.Â
Soft Skills
Soft skills include managing human relations, communication, content creation, teamwork, creativity, etc. They allow you to converse and collaborate with various people effectively. They are often called “people skills” and are essential for social media managers.Â
Let us have a look at them in detail!
Interpersonal Skills: To Foster Meaningful Communication
Communicating properly, interpreting signals and responses from others, and interacting well are crucial. Thus, interpersonal or social skills refer to your ability to engage and create meaningful relationships with others. It involves being empathetic, approachable, and responsive.
Importance
These skills are imperative for social media managers as they are the glue that holds together the organization and the online community. Effective communication enables managers to enhance brand loyalty and foster connections by conveying their message with excellence and in an understandable way.
Crisis Management Skills: To Manage Reputation Efficiently
Have you ever come across a situation where an unhappy customer may have negatively reviewed your brand? Or when a collaboration may have gone incredibly wrong? Well, in such situations, crisis management skills come in handy.Â
They involve taking swift and prompt action, allowing managers to navigate situations that could hamper the brand image. It includes identifying and assessing emerging crises and developing proactive strategies to address them.Â
Importance
These skills are crucial for managers as information on social media spreads quickly and spirals into misinformation in the blink of an eye. It leads to tarnished reputations; thus, managers must remain vigilant to handle such situations promptly.
Whether it is a negative customer review, a campaign, or a PR disaster, responding swiftly, transparently, and empathetically is paramount. Managers can mitigate the impact of crises by having a strong crisis management strategy.
Customer Service Skills: To Win Over Clients
Social media has evolved from a mere marketing platform to a channel for customer care and support. Customer service skills refer to an orientation towards understanding what the customer needs and how you can fulfill them.Â
Therefore, they require dedication and perseverance towards excellent client satisfaction.
Importance
Managers with these skills can resolve issues without turning a tiny acorn into a big oak tree. They can engage with customers in a polite and helpful manner and create great customer relations. Leveraging these skills, managers can turn their customers into brand advocates and get user-generated content, which they can post on the organization’s social media platforms to increase credibility and authenticity.
Public Relations Skills: To Gain Endorsements
Your brand’s reputation is critical; thus, having top-notch public relations skills is paramount. These skills entail the ability to communicate and manage relationships with clients, stakeholders, brand ambassadors, etc.
Importance
Every manager is required to converse, collaborate, and negotiate with media outlets and industry partners. They need to close deals with influencers for collaborations and celebrities for brand endorsement. Thus, PR skills allow them to do so with ease and authenticity.
Managers can create strategic communication plans, coordinate press releases, and generate buzz with partnerships. They can also leverage media opportunities and maximize brand reach with good public relations.
Collaboration Skills: To Create Inter-Departmental Synergy
Every organization has various levels of management, and social media managers often coordinate with each one. Thus, collaboration skills involve working with inter-departmental teams such as marketing, creative, finance, etc.Â
Importance
Strong collaboration skills allow social media managers to communicate and think innovatively, taking into account diverse perspectives. The synergy created from collaboration ensures well-executed and timely delivered campaigns. These skills also allow for harmony and peaceful co-existence in the organization.
Content Creation Skills: To Create Visual Supremacy
Visual content is supreme and attracts more followers. Thus, social media managers must have a great sense of design to make their brand visuals unique. The content creation and editing process involves creating posts and graphics, editing visuals, shooting videos, etc.
Importance
Good content creation allows managers to create content that resonates well with the audience. It ensures the graphics and visuals align with the brand identity and delivers the intended message.
Managers must also curate specific content for every platform to increase the reach and drive desired actions.
Flexibility: To Adapt to Changing Situations
Flexibility is one of the most essential skills. It entails adapting to changing circumstances quickly and creating strategies. Being flexible involves having an open mind and a never-give-up attitude.
Importance
Social media platforms constantly change. They are updated regularly with new features, algorithms, and trends. Thus, flexible managers can modify strategies and leverage new opportunities. They can optimize content quickly and stay ahead of the competition.
Copywriting Skills: To Compel With Written Content
Copywriting refers to writing content, especially for social media platforms. This includes jotting down captions, tweets, posts, and advertisements.Â
Copywriting requires understanding the platform’s unique features, such as character limits, formatting options, and audience type. A good copywriter can evoke emotions and convey messages persuasively.
Importance
The importance of copywriting for social media managers cannot be overstated, as it is essential for impacting digital users.
Well-written copy ignites interest, generates interactivity, and encourages users to act. They can be inspired to share your content, comment, and engage more with a compelling copy.
Storytelling Skills: To Develop a Brand Narrative
Some brands spellbind you with their narrative and compel you to think about them for a long time. This is the power of storytelling skills!
It refers to weaving a compelling story around your brand, taking the audience (target customers) on a roller-coaster ride. It can be through fictional plots, anecdotes, etc.
Importance
Social media managers can use techniques such as emotional appeal and plot arcs to create authenticity and deliver memorable experiences. This approach can be utilized to reflect the brand’s values, mission, unique proposition, etc.Â
Technical Skills:Â
Technical skills are industry-specific abilities and knowledge. They are often measurable and depend on tangible results. These skills involve using various tools, techniques, and parameters to execute functions and are extremely necessary for social media managers.
Analytical Skills: To Interpret and Utilize Data
Analytical tools are used to interpret information- they derive insights from diverse social media channels and organize them meaningfully. They prepare data into metrics consisting of reach, impressions, engagement, etc.
Importance
By analyzing information, managers can understand follower composition, possibilities, and demographics. They can use this information to tailor diverse techniques and align them with the audience’s behaviors.
They can also fathom the achievement of their efforts and figure out areas that need improvement. It allows them to connect the dots, make predictions, and evaluate return on funding (ROI).
Strategic Planning: To Develop Tailored Techniques
Having a properly-defined plan is the backbone of a successful social media campaign. Thus, managers need to tailor plans to their clients’ objectives.
Importance
Every company has unique goals, target audiences, and identities. By tailoring techniques, social media managers can ensure their efforts align with those goals. It can maximize the effectiveness of social media projects.
Managers must have an understanding of how their strategic plans will work in a given scenario or for a specific project. They must have the skills to optimize and refine their approach for each social media campaign.
Project Management: To Handle Multiple Campaigns Simultaneously
Social media is not just about creating great content but also about careful planning and implementation.
As a social media manager, you constantly juggle campaigns and complex tasks. Therefore, you need to be an expert in project management to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Importance
Project management skills allow you to stay on track by creating detailed project plans and realistic timelines and tracking progress.
Social media campaigns often have tight deadlines, and tasks must be delivered on time. Effective project management skills allow social media managers to allocate resources and delegate tasks. Additionally, knowledge of project management techniques enables managers to anticipate and mitigate potential issues that may arise during the campaign.
Technological Adaptation: To Remain Ahead of the Curve
The rise of technologies and artificial intelligence has reduced the need for human intervention in social media management.Â
However, it is important to remain adaptable to understand and work alongside cutting-edge technologies to ensure that it does not replace you.
Importance
Managers who embrace new technologies can upskill themselves. They can use new strategies, develop models, and even craft stunning brand experiences. By integrating AI into their management system, they can streamline processes and analyze data flawlessly.
Social Media Advertising: To Increase Visibility and Conversions
Have you ever seen an advertisement on Instagram and instantly jumped in to purchase the product? Such is the power of social media advertising.Â
Creating, planning, and executing advertisements on various social platforms is a crucial skill. It requires a meticulous understanding of the audience as well as of budgeting.Â
Importance
Advertising skills and tools help managers drive traffic more efficiently, generate leads, and maximize conversions. This skill also helps managers increase visibility and achieve campaign objectives.Â
SEO Knowledge: To Enhance Organic Reach
SEO refers to search engine optimization. It includes optimizing profiles, captions, hashtags, and content for the correct keyword phrases. Managers who know the ins and outs of SEO are highly in demand today.
Importance
We often open the first account on our search while looking for something on social media. This is exactly what SEO does- it increases the chances of your content being seen online. As managers, it is vital to increase your social media account visibility to attract a huge crowd. Thus, SEO skills enable you to drive more engagement and conversions.
Understanding Algorithms: To Stay On Track with Trends
Social media is like a big tree- it grows new stems daily, sheds a few leaves, and changes continuously. To keep up with these new features and systems, it is vital for managers to hold up.
Learning about the changing trends and updates is a never-ending quest. Fathoming how various algorithms work on different platforms is vital.Â
Importance
When managers know what goes well with a specific platform, they can tailor their social media plans hassle-free. It helps them reuse content and derive better outcomes.
Presentation Skills: To Convey Ideas and Results
Presentation skills are the most important toolkit in a manager’s gearbox. Thus, great presentation skills include the following-
- Structuring the content properly
- Presenting plans, reports, budgets, etc.
- Crafting stunning visuals
- Using non-verbal cuesÂ
Importance
Strong presentation skills enable managers to present complex data in an effective manner. With the right set of slide decks and compelling visuals, managers can enhance the client’s confidence and increase the chances of winning new projects. In addition, they can pursue the management team of their company to provide needed tools, budget, and support to run campaigns smoothly.
Conclusion
Social media has become integral to our lives and has changed how companies do business and interact with customers. Thus, the demand for talented social media managers has increased, and those equipped with these skills can make their way to the top of the industry.
Social media managers can thrive by remaining vigilant and informed about industry trends and adopting best practices. By mastering the skills mentioned above, they can ensure their brand continues growing and soaring through the skies!