What does a social media manager do?

Great question!

Unfortunately, the answer can be a little varied depending on the services you are looking for and the skillset the manager has but in general:

A social media manager will handle a brand's accounts on social platforms.

Pretty vague, huh?

Using my services for example, I classify any social media management role to include:

• Creating content for a brand's page on any social platform

This can include stories, reels, short videos, still images, carousels, going live etc

• Monitoring all comments and DMs to the brand's pages

• Scheduling all content

• Creating captions for all content, including researching hashtags

• Designing a strategy designed with specific goals in mind, depending on what the client wants to do. For example, do they want to grow their audience, push traffic to a website or grow an email list? Depending on the answer, the strategy must change.

• Create reports to share with clients based on what content is working and what strategies need to be adjusted.

That would be a pretty basic role description but more often than not, social media managers absorb marketing and advertising tasks as well.

This could mean that they:

• Help build and create marketing and sales funnels

• Host and create live web events

• Create ads and ad copy, which includes creating the ad set then running the campaign with targeted audiences, budget considerations and results on all platforms

• Influencer marketing

• Reaching out to outlets with product updates or releases

• Script and design podcast episodes with all related graphics and videos

• Manage email marketing lists with numerous funnels and newsletters

• Update CRMs

• Customer enquiries

Now am I saying that a social media manager needs to wear all of these hats? Absolutely not. And if you're wearing this many hats, you need to be paid a supreme wage! But what I am saying is that many companies don't understand the original role of a social media manager so they tend to morph them into other positions.

Social media is a channel for marketing - it isn't the only one. That's why it becomes challenging when you have someone who specialises in social media now needing to work on other marketing channels that they aren't familiar with.

If you're freelancing, the job description becomes much simpler - because it's what you want it to be! I am happy to take on a variety of roles for my clients because it's where I see passion and I love learning new skills. However. I wouldn't expect, (nor should clients) that every freelance social media manager is happy to handle the platforms, advertising, marketing, website etc.

Do you think the social media manager role will evolve to naturally absorb some of these other positions?