Social Media Manager Job Description: A Complete Guide

Note from the author: I created this Social Media Manager Job Description post over 9 years ago and it’s still the most visited page on my website. As social media has evolved, I have updated it over the years to include all aspects of a social media manager’s duties. I hope you find it useful and if so, please subscribe to my blog in the box on the right. – Kathi Kruse, founder, Kruse Control Inc.

Nearly every company has recognized the awesome value and benefit in social media marketing.

Since you’re reading this, you’re likely one of those! You’ve seen how Social marketing engages users, helps them get interested in your products, drives quality leads and boosts your online reputation. However, as a business owner, there’s a good chance you don’t spend much time on social networks yourself, which means it’s a challenge to figure out exactly where to focus your resources for the best results.

With the coronavirus pandemic, it’s even more important to make sure the company’s message is clear. Social media has a unique advantage in letting your customers and prospects know what you’re doing to mitigate spread of the virus, both internally with employees and externally with the public and vendors.

Finding the right person(s) to handle your company’s online presence is a challenge. It’s even more challenging when have to determine 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.

Asking the right questions.

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 to proving Return on Investment (ROI).

The following is a comprehensive Social Media Manager Job Description guide to help determine what your social media manager (or your social marketing team) should be doing, where they’re succeeding and where you should place the most 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, strategy and goal setting
Development of brand identity, awareness and online reputation
Content management (including website)
SEO (search engine optimization) and generation of inbound traffic
Cultivation of leads and sales
Reputation management
Social outreach and information on pandemic as it relates to your business/industry

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 she/he engages with customers on a daily basis, with the ultimate goal of:

Turning fans into customers.
Turning customers into advocates.

Community participation.

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 that will attract today’s modern, discerning, hyper-connected buyers.

The Social Media Manager is instrumental in managing the company’s content-related assets. Relevant content (content that serves searchers’ needs the best) is a top Google search ranking factor, which is uber-important for a company’s online authority. 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 (for all channels and ads)
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 and promote content through social advertising.
Leverage the right tools to manage your content. I recommend PostPlanner and Buffer, however there are many tools that can/will fit your needs.
Implement a content editorial calendar to manage content and plan specific, timely marketing campaigns.
Integrate all channels of marketing (social media, SEO, content marketing, email, print and digital marketing)
Manage or oversee all social advertising campaigns.

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

ABL: Always Be Learning

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 and various proven-effective online courses.

Responsibilities of the Social Media Manager

The first responsibility of a Social Media Manager (or a social media management team) 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.

Sufficient time should be spent to get your message right and crafting it so that it will endure through the life of your company. The CEO’s vision should clearly permeate through messages and the offline company culture will play a big role.

2. Identify Target Customers

Your product or service cannot possibly be all things to all people. There is so much noise online today and that makes it even more crucial to identify who your ideal target audience is. 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:

You’ve likely 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 customers and focus on attracting them with your strategies.

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 (Return on Investment) 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 social media posts, 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.

Your website’s UI (User Interface or Experience) determines whether visitors stay or leave.

Successful websites convert. There’s a simple website secret that so many seem to miss: If you make your website more customer friendly, your conversions will improve.

Savvy web development is also 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? What makes people want to buy from you? Answer these questions 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 and promote your brand, its content and products.

FACT: Social media is now pay to play, which means there is a financial investment required for promotions.

Social advertising (typically Facebook Ads) is a very valuable tool to get your message heard. However, 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 good promotion strategy includes a budget with carefully selected images, placement, and ad copy (with a clear call-to-action) that will improve engagement and generate leads.

7. Engagement Strategy

Your Social Media Manager will also wear the hat of a Community Manager – which means they must monitor, listen, respond, ask questions and engage your audience.

There should be careful consideration on how she/he 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. When appropriate, ask them to continue the conversation privately via Facebook Messenger, eventually guiding them to a product display page, signup form or appointment.

Don’t overlook the fact that your Facebook ads will have engagement as well. Responding to comments on ads is also one of a Social Media Manager’s daily duties. I’ve too often seen where potential buyers ask questions on ads and no one is present to answer. Please avoid this at all costs – it makes it look like you don’t care.

8. Conversion Strategy

With growth and engagement strategies in place, the Social Media Manager’s job is to help facilitate the conversion of fans into customers. Your marketing plan should outline the steps required for your specific operation.

The more advanced components of Facebook ads include custom audiences, compelling landing pages, Messenger bots, and lots of testing!

Pro Tip: Be sure to include a call to action and a lead form on your landing pages 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. Get in touch with me >>here<<.

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

Digital marketing allows you to 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, written and audio/podcast).
- 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,
  - Social media graphics for all profiles: Facebook cover, profile pic, thumbnails, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
  - Ad design
  - Landing pages
  - Website design
- Design, create and manage promotions and social ad campaigns, being sure to integrate with company’s overall marketing campaign plan and channels. This can equate to the Social Media Manager coordinating with various vendors when outsourcing Facebook Ads (for example).
- Create and manage an online review funnel for building online reviews and reputation. Monitor online reviews and respond to each review timely and with care.
- 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.

Social Media Manager 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, audio 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.
Is proficient in and/or certified in Google Analytics.
Possesses functional knowledge and/or personal experience with WordPress CMS (self-hosted).
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.

This Social Media Manager Job Description is a comprehensive guide. However, this guide will only get you so far without the right person at the helm.

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!

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