by If you are wondering how to become a social media marketing manager, it is important to first understand what this position entails. While marketing managers typically focus on traditional marketing methods like print, television, and radio, they also often handle aspects of online marketing, especially social media management. This is the field that has become increasingly popular with businesses since social media has taken off. If you are interested in becoming a social media marketing manager, here are the five steps you need to take to get there.
#1 What Is Social Media Management?
Social media marketing is all about taking control of your brand’s presence across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. Essentially, social media managers leverage these networks to create an online presence for their brand, engage consumers and ultimately generate sales. Actually, this is not just fun and games, it requires serious strategy. Mainly managing social media requires four steps;
- Identify influences in your industry
- Build relationship with them through social exchanges
- Share valuable content relevant to them on their channels
- Track metrics for success
In fact, without implementing these steps strategically and professionally, you will no be a successful social media manager.
Today, social media marketing and management is so much more than just monitoring your accounts and responding to comments. Social media has become a vital tool for building relationships, connecting with influences and driving traffic. Therefore, it is very much essential to follow about mentioned steps carefully to become a manager in this field.
#2 What Skills Do I Need To Become A Social Media Manager?
One of the first thing you need to do when looking for a job as social media manager is determined what skills and experience you need. This is important because you want to make sure that your skills are aligned with your goals, so it is good to take an honest look at yourself and really think about what kind of experience will help to get you there.
Basically, to become a social media marketing manager, you need experience in online marketing, content creation and knowing about social media platforms. Hiring managers typically look for candidates with degrees in business administration or marketing. Students who take advertising and public relations courses may be an advantage when applying for jobs as well. Social media skills are increasingly important; therefore, it is a good idea to get involved with social networking sites during school and continue using them while in your position to stay current with trends and other changes. With time and experience, you can move up entry level positions into more managerial roles within your company or another one that attracts you.
Therefore, you need to start by taking an honest look at yourself about your skills and making an honest assessment of what makes sense given where you are in your career right now. Are you someone who has had direct management or lead generation responsibilities before? If so, then it might be the time for you to push yourself into a leadership role in this field.
#3 How Can I Get There?
As social media marketing managers, you have one of most engaging jobs around. They get to help their clients find success through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The problem is that finding success requires much more than setting up pages, posting content and clicking like. When it comes to social media marketing management, there is definitely an art involved. If you want to become an accomplished social media manager, it will take time and perseverance. Follow these five steps for how can I get there?
- Figure out if you are passionate about online marketing- While social marketing is incredibly interesting and exciting from a tactical perspective, you still need to interested in digital marketing as a whole.
- Learn how to make money online- Many people jump into social media without ever realizing what its place in business truly is, or why they should care at all. This lack of knowledge leads them down a lot of rabbit holes because they are trying to market Facebook when they do not know anything about e-commerce or lead generation strategies.
- Find entry level job in your field- Assuming that you have followed step number two, it is time to begin building experience. Fortunately, some very large websites have created internship programs designed just for inexperienced workers looking to gain some hands-on skills.
- Prepare yourself for an entry level position- If you are fortunate enough to land a social media intern gig, please remember that no matter how talented you are or skilled in a particular area, employers will not rush to give you big responsibility until they feel 100% certain that your foundation is solid. Therefore, be prepared for grunt work and newbie status. You will have ups and downs, but just continue plugging away until luck smiles upon you.
- Practice makes perfect- Use every opportunity available to practice your craft, but remember one thing. Never let inexperience define who you are. So, get going. Get active forums, social networks, blogs and start helping others whenever possible.
#4 Where Do I Start?
Before you decide that becoming a social media marketing manager is for you, it is important to think about whether or not social media is even your thing. Social media managers who truly enjoy and excel at their work, are as hard to find as they are in demand, so if you want to succeed at social media marketing, you better be passionate about what you do. For those who are not sure how they feel about social, but like all things digital and web-based, consider taking on an entry level role in online marketing or marketing communications. This can be a good way of getting your feet wet and seeing how much interest you have in pursuing a career in social.
If you are planning on pursuing an entry level position as a social media marketing manager, it is critical that you have experience in digital marketing. If you have little or no background in digital marketing, look for entry level jobs such as market research or account management. Once you have established your foundation and garnered some experience, shift your focus towards social media platforms.
#5 So What Next?
Now that you have got an idea of what it takes to become a social media marketing manager, how do you make it happen? Before you can decide on your career path, figure out why you want to be in social media marketing. Are you looking for job stability? Did you want more personal connections with coworkers? Or do you just love spreading information and engaging with others? Once you know what is driving your decision, then it becomes easier to find ways to achieve those goals. Network like crazy, social media managers need to be great networkers and connectors, learning who is good at what will help build relationships and reputation.
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