Social Media Managers : What they do and how do we hire them | Hire Quotient

Who is a social media manager?

To put it simply, a social media manager is an executive within the company who is responsible for managing a company's social media presence. They are the ones who create and implement a strategy that helps a business connect with its audience, promote its products or services and attract top talent and boost sales and revenue.

Social media has developed to the point that it has become instrumental for recruiters in their pursuit of talented applicants.Therefore social media hiring has started trending as a tool to be used by recruiters to secure skilled candidates. Social media managers are vital in this regard as they are responsible for overseeing the company’s social media engagement and generating brand awareness. With the increasing power of social media in today's business world, hiring a skilled social media manager can help a company establish and maintain a strong online presence.

“The way you ask for criticism and react when you get it goes a long way toward building trust—or destroying it.” ― Kim Malone Scott

Tasks and Responsibilities of a Social Media Manager

Establishing your brand identity

Social media executives should have the capability to understand the company's values and objectives and accordingly decide on an appropriate brand image. They are responsible for promoting it and maintaining a positive opinion in the eyes of the public. The company’s brand image is the first look that those outside the company get of the organization’s values, goals and culture. This first impression has the potential to influence their opinions of the company in a positive or negative way. Therefore social media managers need to ensure that the company leaves a good first impression on the public which increases the chance of them availing the goods and services of the organization.

In the case of securing effective candidates, companies need to ensure that their applicants see that the company has a welcoming work culture or are aware of recruitment drives that the company is conducting. This drives top talent to your organization and increases the volume of candidates for recruiting.

Identifying the appropriate channels for content or engagement

This is the most vital task following the conceptualisation of the company’s brand image. There are a multitude of social media platforms, each serving its own unique purpose and possessing its own unique algorithm. When you hire a social media manager, they are tasked with identifying which of these platforms has to be used for meeting the needs of the company. LinkedIn is a professional social media platform, whereas YouTube is a great place to share videos and other compelling media regarding the company, its products or its work culture. Similarly, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram etc. have their own niches and benefits that have to be identified and related to the company by the social media manager.

Curating content

An important responsibility of a social media manager is content creation. This includes creating, curating and scheduling posts across various social media platforms. They should have a strong understanding of the best practices for each platform, and be able to modify or change their approach to match the rules and trends of individual platforms. They should be adept at creating engaging and compelling content that resonates with your target audience. They should also be able to create visually appealing content, such as graphics and videos, to enhance the overall user experience. They should be able to schedule and manage your content calendar to put out content in a timely manner, optimized to the traffic times of the individual social media platforms.

The next stage of this endeavor is planning and managing an entire social media campaign. This requires coordinated planning and execution over multiple social media platforms over a significant period of time. This includes creating ads, targeting specific audiences, and measuring the success of campaigns. Social media managers should be skilled in running social media advertising campaigns and have the knowledge or experience to utilize social media advertising platforms, such as Facebook Ads and Google AdWords to optimize them. Since these campaigns can tend to be expensive, hiring a social media manager who is able to create them in a cost effective way is a bonus for every recruiter.

Analyzing Analytics

Social Media also provides metrics and data that a manager can utilize to further optimize their strategy and assist the company. This can be the traffic count, post engagement per platform, viewer retaining, etc. At the same time social media is also host to a rapid stream of trends and content, which themselves have a set of analytics The social media manager is tasked with acquiring and analyzing this data and providing the organization with a set of objectives or practices that it can follow to boost its social media presence. This data is also important for measuring the success of the campaigns and content that they have generated. Therefore following any of these, the social media manager has to present the company with the success of their work and their plans on improving their approach going forward.

Monitoring social media trends

Social media managers are also given the duty of tracking relevant trends and the “next big thing” on various social media platforms. This a crucial and time-sensitive task as trends on social media keep popping up at a rapid pace and drop out of relevance just as fast. A social media executive should be able to monitor social media for trends, following which they can plan and inform the company of the appropriate course of action for capitalizing on it as soon as possible. At the same time, every single trend would not work with the company’s unique brand image. Therefore a manager should be able to identify which trends are appropriate for the company to pursue.

Interacting with an audience

Social media managers are tasked with handling the company’s engagement with its followers. They build an audience for the company and have to maintain a healthy relationship with them. Therefore they should be able to interact with others in a way that guarantees a positive opinion and repeat engagement. They have the responsibilities of answering questions or doubts raised by concerned individuals, addressing the public while representing the company and responding to applicants from social media platforms.

So how can you assess and hire social media managers?

When it comes to hiring a social media manager, there are a few key qualifications and skills that you should look for.

First and foremost, a strong candidate should have a deep understanding of the various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others. They should be familiar with the latest features, trends, and best practices for each platform and be able to create engaging and effective content that resonates with your target audience.They should be able to understand the overall goals of the company and align their social media strategy for each platform accordingly. This should be reflected in their personal social media accounts or through the pages of their former clients.

In addition to the technical skills and knowledge necessary for managing content over multiple social media platforms, a good social media manager will also have strong communication and writing skills. They should be able to craft compelling and persuasive messages that will encourage people to engage with your brand online. They should be able to spearhead innovative campaigns and communicate the company’s brand image to their followers effectively. They should also be able to interact with customers and followers in a professional and friendly manner, addressing any concerns or complaints that may arise. Therefore when you are looking to hire social media managers, you need to ensure that they possess strong PR and communication skills and can demonstrate the same when tested.

Another important consideration when hiring a social media manager is their ability to work well in a team. Social media management is not a one-person job, and a good candidate will be able to collaborate effectively with other members of your organization, such as marketing, sales, legal and customer service teams. Successful social media management also requires the combined efforts of these various departments when addressing specific issues that arise in the process of engaging with the public online. An ideal candidate would be open to working with a team and should display leadership for the same. Since any social media operation is ultimately their brainchild, they should be able to effectively communicate their ideas to others so that different departments can follow their lead and work towards a unified goal. The soft skills of a candidate become relevant at this juncture.

In addition to these qualifications, you should also look for a candidate who is highly organized, detail-oriented and able to multitask. Social media management is a fast-paced and ever-changing field, and a good candidate will be able to stay on top of the latest developments and adapt their strategy as needed. Social media management can be a highly stressful job and these qualities are vital for a manager if they wish to keep up with the demands and whimsies of social media without overburdening themselves.

For an ideal hire look for a candidate who has a proven track record of success in social media management. Find someone who has experience managing social media accounts for other companies, and ask for examples of campaigns or initiatives that they have led and the results they achieved.

This is why hiring social media managers is credible.The past clientele of a candidate gives you a look into the methods they used and their success. Since this is recorded online for all to view, companies have a transparent view of the candidate's experience. This transparency means that the candidates you do end up hiring have been hired entirely on the basis of their merit.

Finally, when it comes to hiring a social media manager, don't be afraid to think outside the box. While traditional marketing or communications degrees may be a plus, they aren't necessarily a must. Look for candidates who have a passion for social media and a deep understanding of its potential. Social media favors those who can put a unique spin on popular trends and topics and candidates who display that innovation or possess the quirks that would make the company’s account stand out are more valuable candidates than those who do not.