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Social Media Management: Is It Really For Everyone?

May 13, 2013
Social media has proven to be very effective in helping businesses get more loyal and relevant customers, as well as much needed income. Compared to traditional tools and processes, social media platforms and techniques are more convenient and can specifically target the right clients. The growth of social media networks has spurred the demand for a reliable social media manager who can oversee everything and deal with problems as they come out. Almost any type of business can benefit from social media marketing. Social media managers and marketers should also be aware of the policies and stay updated with the latest trends and strategies that will lead to consistent progress.

What Does It Take?

1. Not anyone can be a social media manager.

Millions of people around the globe are part of social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many more. However, businesses should not be misled into believing that just because an account has a huge following, it immediately means that he is an expert in social media marketing. Companies should learn more about the qualities and background of the potential social media leader by determining his particular strategies and methods in spreading relevant content. Some people can easily get attention online by posting interesting topics and photos. Others will simply exchange ?likes? and ?follows? with others to improve the figures. Ultimately, these will not provide the company with a truly effective leader and expectations may not be met.

2. The necessary skills.

An effective social media manager is different to the average social media user, regardless of their influence and reach. Some people are able to garner a lot of responses and followers because of the content they put as well as their popularity off the internet. Celebrities and athletes can easily acquire thousands of followers and responses without having to follow the guidelines and strategies of successful social media marketing. The best social media leader possesses the specific skills and traits that will match his activities in social media network. For example, social media experts can evaluate the success of their social media campaign based on the return of investment or ROI, sales and new followers acquired right after the program. The regular social media user will not delve into figures much and cannot make a scale or graph to determine growth or failure. Great social media marketers also know how to relate well to customers and immediately act on customer feedback and comments. They integrate their own social media activities and techniques based on the information they acquire using their specific skills and knowledge.

What Social Media Managers Should Have

1. Planning skills

Excellent managers will plan campaigns first and establish goals and objectives. It would be risky to the company to venture out and try new approaches without analyzing the results of previous campaigns. Good managers will also compare the planned activities with the current and future techniques that competitors are using. The leader will delegate tasks and create a schedule so that clients always have something new to expect every month, quarter or year.

2. People skills

Social media managers constantly deal with other experts in the industry, educators, clients and competitors so that they understand the current needs and demands and can adequately provide for these. A good manager knows how to communicate with customers and provide solutions to problems instead of giving the same old information. Give the impression of caring about the customer instead of seeming to be only interested in making a quick sale.

3. Time-management skills

The social media marketer should value time and never delay customers and partners. Learn how to make a sound plan and schedule then follow these accordingly. When promising to deliver to a customer at a certain time, it?s best to be on time or earlier than expected.

4. Tools and apps integration

Social media managers are also updated and learned in various programs, apps and online tools that will provide good content to customers. They have good communication and writing skills, they can make custom graphics and know how to analyze data and graphs.  

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