Lately I have been asked to talk about the Social Media Manager skills list. In other words what does a Social Media Manager need to know how to do or understand.
To begin with the title of “Social Media Manager “ is quite interesting, as a few years ago it didn’t really exists in that form, or name. The CIO the person that was given the task as it was Information which needs to be passed to the masses. in some form or fashion. But most CIOs had no real clue what Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest was. They knew YouTube from watching videos, many they would never admit to, and LinkedIN as that’s how a number got their current position. So a new title arouse, starting with Community Manager, Evangelist (an oldie) and a few more.
In my opinion the best Social Media Manager Title was one that John Sculley gave himself at Apple. While the paperwork showed him as CEO, he gave himself the title “Chief Listener” which is the tile I most often list. Someone in the company needs to listen to what its customers are saying , its employees are both suggesting as well as complaining about and what the media and others are saying. And in today’s world its the social networks along with blogs and news media (TV, radio, print and web) that this person needs to understand. Mostly how to get to it and then sift through all the is put forth.
The main element of any response is to have proper content to send out. Often this content should have already been put into all the important channels to that business. Its an old phrase now but is true, “Content is King”. This is why talking am extra dozen angles of your product, taking a photo from every corner, of every room in a real estate sale is important. Add a variety of angles to both of the previous. Its then cross posting those photos, along with details of that the user is looking at. Repeating keywords so that SEO kicks in is yet another element. By the way you have a shortage of photos I wrote a [short article](http://www.paulvalach.org/new-spectacular-collection-of-free-images/#.WLJdKBIrIUE)on where to get FREE images, and they update so fresh content is a click away.
I’ve included an article that goes into some more details on other aspects that need inclusion, buts its no coincidence that “content” effects at least there of the mentioned things needed. [The article is here](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289363) .
The role of Social Media Manager is not easy, today there are more social networks than ever. Response to questions, positive and especially negative comments need to be almost immediate. That’s where sites like IFTTT come in handy. There are numerous others to help with cross posting and scheduling. I do my best to at least list them for you in the sidebar.
If you have questions on any please send me an email and ask, please be specific as I cannot easily answer the open ended question “which is best?”. Its is a great time and when that social media campaign start hitting and sales happen its a magnificent feeling that you want to replicate over and over.