Imagine you launched a brand and within two weeks you were able to garner over 5000 audience as ‘loyal fans’. It is actually in this era of social media that such can become very possible, owing to the fact it the networks have become ubiquitous. Yes, from Facebook to Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, the convergence they bring makes it possible that any brand can easily be noticed. Oh, but it is not quite easy to achieve. It takes a ‘special hand’ to bring your brand to the ‘flash spot’ on the social media space. As Celestine Achi, the founder of DigitalPR-Wire would say, “We are in the era of engagement economy where the digital natives will enjoy the competition whereas the laggards will be digitally punished, because they will continue to lose customers”. This is very true, and in this article, GrassRoots.ng want to show you the skill sets to look out for while searching for a Social Media Manager
- Writing Skill
It may not be necessarily advanced writing skills, however, a social media manager should have a good command of the language and the ability to express him or herself in writing. While your social media manager may not be writing blog posts, he or she will be communicating with customers on a daily basis – and 99% of this communication will be in writing.
Can he/she clearly convey your brand’s idea in writing? Is he/she able to maintain a consistent voice when writing on behalf of the company? Can he/she convey passion and excitement for the business or products(s) through his/her writing? Can he/she maintain top-notch professionalism and avoid embarrassing grammatical or spelling errors? These are questions you must ask yourself.
- Graphics production
When he/she has finished penning down the article, can this person translate the piece to work of graphics that can ‘sell’ or ‘tell’ the brand’s message?
According to Jeff Bullas, articles with images receive 94% more views than those without. Buffer says tweets with images receive 18% more clicks than those without, and research from Wishpond shows photo posts on Facebook get 120% more engagement than other types of posts.
So, the choice is yours because for businesses targeting women, millennials or teens, images are even more important. Visual-centric platforms targeting these demographics – like Pinterest and Instagram – require a near-constant influx of high-quality, original images.
- Near perfect understanding of SEO and content marketing
Yes, we say near perfect understanding of search engine optimisation (SEO), because it is difficult to get someone with 100% skills set in that area in Nigeria. But as a person involved in the day-to-day management, promotion and distribution of blog content, an understanding of SEO and content marketing is a must have skill for your social media manager. He or she should have a big picture understanding of how blog and social media content fit into search rankings, and how all content operates within the business’s marketing funnel.
- A customer-service orientation
Please, take this very seriously, because lack of customer service acumen is actually one of the reasons customers fall out with brands these days. With more customers than ever using social media to get assistance from brands, your social media manager must be customer-service minded. Posting pithy or clever sayings, captivating images and inspirational content will only get you so far if you’re not responding appropriately to customer-service queries.
Your social media manager should understands what a quick response to questions and complaints, and “customer first” mindset really are! The SMM’s ability to move difficult questions offline are all important aspects of social customer service. A successful social media manager knows that your social media presence is your brand’s face online; that everything they say or do on social media is a representation of the brand – for good or for bad.
- Social advertising experience
Now, focusing directly to the SMM: According to the Salesforce 2015 State of Marketing report, social media advertising is one of the top two priorities for marketers this year. In fact, 70% of marketers say they plan to increase spending in this area in 2015.
Social ads may look like traditional ads, but come with their own unique challenges and opportunities. You need to understand this. Unlike traditional magazine, TV or newspaper ads, social ads are competing directly with content created specifically for the user – from friends and family members. Despite this challenge, social ads also offer the ability for unprecedented targeting and the ability to take advantage of online word-of-mouth marketing. A social media manager must understand how to utilize social ads to take advantage of these opportunities and to scale their organic social media effects.
(You can consult GrassRoots.ng for your SMM concerns).