Have you ever wondered who is behind the scenes of your favorite brands’ social media accounts, the person creating witty twitter statuses and crafting campaigns that continue to engage you in the brand, a social media manager of course! Social media managers expand your brand’s exposure through social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with specific objectives like “increase website traffic” or “optimize brand awareness.” While this role was virtually non-existent five years ago, a social media manager is now a crucial part of any brand’s digital marketing department. As brands continue to use social media to attract customers, social media management will be more important than ever.
The sole responsibility for speaking on behalf of a brand on social media rests with a social media manager. They produce material, create and strategize campaigns, and reply to comments on your brands social media platforms. These professionals also give businesses the direction they need to improve their digital presence.
While the social media manager’s scope of responsibility will vary from brand to brand, organization is key for a social media manager to ensure that all social media tasks and initiatives are running on time and efficiently. At any given time the SMM (social media manager) has so much on their plate that their minds are going in a million different directions which makes remembering every task virtually impossible. This is where understanding and implementing SMM core competencies and keeping yourself organized with a tailored checklist for daily/weekly/monthly tasks are used to keep social media tasks and goals aligned and completed on time.
Table of Contents
Social Media Manager Core Competencies
Social media is an integral part of any brand’s marketing strategy. It’s not enough to just have a presence, however, in order to maximize the impact of your campaigns, you need a skilled and experienced social media manager to handle the day-to-day operations. But what skills should they possess? Read more to learn the core competencies required for success in this role.
Content Creation & Strategy Development
A good social media manager will be able to create content that resonates with their target audience. They should also be able to develop strategic plans for how that content should be distributed and promoted across different channels. This includes understanding which platforms are best suited for each type of post, as well as when and how often those posts should go out.
Data Analysis & Monitoring
In addition to creating content, a social media manager must also measure its effectiveness and make adjustments accordingly. They should be able to analyze data from campaigns (e.g., engagement rates, reach) and use it to inform future strategies. Monitoring conversations about the brand is also important in order to identify potential issues and customer concerns before these scenarios become more escalated.
Community Engagement & Management
It’s not enough just to post content; a social media manager must also engage with their audience on a regular basis. This means responding promptly and courteously to comments, messages, reviews, etc., while also proactively engaging with followers by liking/commenting on their posts or joining in on conversations related to the brand’s industry or niche topics. Finally, they must have experience managing communities by moderating comments/posts, enforcing guidelines/policies, etc., while still ensuring users feel respected and heard.
Social Media Managers – Must Have CheckLists
Daily Checklist
1. Respond to all private and direct communications: This is crucial to show your audience that you are interested in any interactions, questions, or concerns that they express via privately or publicity on your social media sites.
2. Review every mention and respond to it: Use your social media platforms to be social! Respond to comments on any of your brands’ posted content.
3. Plan your posts for the following day: Ensure that your upcoming post(s) are still relevant to the current trending topics, are aligned with your brands current sales/promotions, optimized with trending hashtags, and are free of grammar issues.
4. Examine all of the social media profiles: Daily Check In to make sure all your content has posted on time and review any engagement metrics.
5. Keyword Monitoring and Research: Review what keywords and hashtags are trending and adjust upcoming content to capture these keywords and trends.
Weekly Tasks
A weekly task list allows for quick reflection at the end of each week so you can effectively analyze what went well, what didn’t, and adjust accordingly for the following week. Weekly tasks include:
- Review the weekly statistics for each social media profile: A weekly check in review and your social media content is crucial to see how your content is performing and if adjustments need to be made to make your content more optimized. This check in can also provide insights to see if you need to edit future content in an effort for the content to perform better.
- Goals check-in each week: While the decision on the cadence for your brands goal check-in, is dependent on you and your team’s preferences. We recommend that your social media team reviews social media data every week. We recommend this cadence as it allows effective time for each post to develop traction on the given social media platform.
- Hold an idea-generating meeting: One of the most crucial items on your social media marketing to-do list is to hold a weekly informal brainstorming session. It keeps the ideas fresh and offers everyone an opportunity to contribute their own thoughts.
Monthly Tasks
The monthly task list is an incredibly valuable tool that can help create structure and efficiency in their day-to-day workflow. These lists provide a comprehensive view of the tasks that need to be done each month, helping to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks or gets forgotten. Additionally, monthly task lists allow social media managers to plan ahead and schedule posts at least one month in advance, allowing them further organization and ample time to set up campaigns. This kind of forward planning also ensures they are always prepped with content during busy periods such as holidays or special events.
- Perform a social media audit for all profiles: A social media audit is a process in which you examine all aspects of your social media presence to identify what’s working, what’s not, and how you can improve.
- Adjust monthly goals: Use this time to check in with your monthly goals. Do any of your goals need to be adjusted due to over or underperformance? Are your goals still aligned with future content planning? Does your content need to be refreshed or updated in an effort to perform better? Use this time to ensure you are creating achievable goals with measurable KPIs.
- Monthly check-in with the team: This is a great time to discuss any content issues, metrics, goal achievements or milestones, and social content planning for the upcoming month.
- Plan upcoming social media campaign(s) : Use this time to research current trends, upcoming holidays/ national days, and review your brand’s promotional calendar in an effort to create optimized content that will engage your current following and reach whichever content goals you have set for the month.
The Time is Now To Organize Your Social Media Tasks
Social media can be very time intensive if you don’t have a plan or system in place to keep you organized. By creating a daily, weekly, and monthly checklist, you can ensure that you’re staying on top of all your tasks and projects. This will not only save you time, but it will also help you be more productive and efficient in your work. Do you have a system or process in place to keep your social media tasks organized? If not, why not give one of these checklists a try?
