It’s an undisputed fact that every business needs to be
active in social media. The ever-changing demands of the
modern day consumer requires brands to think fast and
adapt quickly in order to stay one step ahead.
The role of a social media manager has appealed to the
mass generation of socially-active internet users. It’s hard
not to. Especially when some might think that you can earn
big bucks from posting Facebook updates. Hardly.
Being a social media manager is kind of like being a stand-
up comedian. You have to quickly understand your audience
and your engagement with them is vital. In order to
accomplish this, you need to know if the audience is
laughing at your jokes and you need to know this in real-
time. If you can do this, then you have already won the
crowd.
Being a social media manager brings with it some key
benefits within a freelance setting. The most recognisable
being the fact that you are your own boss. You make the
decisions and answer to no one. You send the invoices and
you set the policies. Heck, you could sit in your underpants
all day on the computer if you wanted to.
The other is money.
Social media is an in-demand role, but one that companies
are still struggling to come to terms with. Some companies
realise and understand the value social media could bring to
their enterprise and are willing to invest heavily in robust
social media campaigns . Being your own boss, you can
decide how to set your costs and price accordingly.

Skills Of A Social Media Manager

Fundamental Skills:

Marketing Knowledge

You should have a good grasp of the basic marketing
principles. Some education in marketing would be beneficial,
but otherwise you can find many quality resources online.

Experience

Your experience doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to
life experiences. Have you managed your own social media
profiles for a while? Do you know how to effectively
maintain your own social accounts and understand what
clients expect?

Sociable

I touched on this at the beginning of the article. If you are
not a sociable person – someone who doesn’t like
communicating much and isn’t very outgoing, then
becoming a social media manager just isn’t for you. Sure,
you can hide behind a keyword and monitor for a while, but
clients will usually want to meet, speak on the phone, or
have Skype sessions at some point.

Project Management

You don’t have to have a Prince2 certificate, but you do
need to be able to manage projects and your time well. It’s
typical for social media manager’s to work with multiple
clients at any one time. Keeping tabs on everything is
important so that it doesn’t get overwhelming.

Technological

Social media exists online. Therefore, you need to have a
certain degree of computer literacy. Having good
knowledge of social technology will enhance your services
and ensure you are keeping up to date with the latest social
trends and developments.

Interpersonal Skills:

Communication

It kind of goes without saying that if you’re going to be
representing a company and engaging with their customers,
then you will need to have strong communication skills.

Personality

Companies tend not to want to hire people with no
personality to act on behalf of their brand. It doesn’t
resonate well with them, or their audiences.

Responsiveness

I’ve touched on this a few times – social media is very fast-
paced. Imagine if one of your social assignments was
largely focused on customer service and you didn’t respond
to customer complaints or queries for weeks. People online
want rapid responses. Being able to fulfil these needs can
stand your client (and you!) in good stead.

Entrepreneurial

To become a social media manager in a freelance capacity,
you have to be a self-starter. You should be willing to go the
extra mile and take a few financial risks along the way. If
you don’t land a job that pays enough in one month, how
will this affect you?

Multitasking

A great social media manager must be able to effectively
carry out a wide range of tasks. I outline a few of the most
common activities here in this article.

Organisation

You should always be very well organised when delivering
social media management services. I use all kinds of
traditional tools like calenders, white boards and task lists
to keep myself organised. I also use many online
organisational tools, such as: Thunderbird for accessing all
my email accounts in one place, Dropbox to easily share
documents with clients and bookmarks to keep track of all
the websites I frequently visit.

Strategic Thinking

Being able to think campaigns through before they happen
and sometimes thinking outside the box when needed, are
great assets to have as a social media manager. Clients
tend to want to know how you will do something before
letting you do it, so being able to present a clear and
concise strategy is essential.


Wider Skills:

Copywriting

Every good social media manager is a great writer. Writing
forms the foundations of many aspects of online marketing,
be it creating ads, writing blogs , engaging with customers,
scripting sales copy or writing press releases.

Graphic Design

Pretty much all social media platforms provide the
functionality to customise the interface and incorporate your
own branding. If you are sharp with Photoshop (or similar
design software), then you are in a good position to offer
these services as part of your social media package. [I wrote
a guest post on SmartInsights about “Improving your Social
Media campaigns using Graphic Design“] Similarly, creating
content such as infographics, banners or images is standard
practise for a social media manager.

Advertising

Every social media manager should have sound knowledge
of advertising. Be it Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising or
banner advertising, you should know the ins and outs of
each discipline and understand how to optimise each
format.

PR

Public relations is closely tied to social media marketing, in
the sense that both involve managing the spread of
information between a business and the public. You may
start out not needing to have a deep knowledge of PR, as it
is typically managed by larger brands who have an interest
in persuading stakeholders, investors or the public to
maintain a certain point of view.

Statistical

Everything in marketing should be measured. You should
periodically measure and analyse your social marketing
performance and produce reports to your clients to
demonstrate your value.

SEO

Understanding how social media affects search engine
optimisation will ultimately improve campaign performance.
In 2012, there was an average of 5,134,000,000 searches on
Google every day. If you think SEO doesn’t matter to your
social activities, think again.

Traditional Marketing

Even though you generally won’t be involved in traditional
marketing practises while undertaking a social media
management role, you should understand how both forms of
marketing affect each other and how each can be best
leveraged to complement the other.

Video Editing

This will probably be the least used of your wider skills, but
nevertheless it can assist you in your social marketing
positions. I’ve had a few clients that required presentations
or demonstration videos to be edited before being used
within their social media campaigns. I’m for sure no expert,
but having a reasonable level of knowledge in using
Windows Movie Maker (or similar video editing software)
can turn that video file straight from the camera into a
beautiful, YouTube-ready video.
Even if you possess all the necessary skills to become a
social media manager, there is still scope to improve your
services by using different social tools and software.

watch this video modules for more insights


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvTEnJ7VXN4

http://rilnetnigeria.com/2017/02/15/becoming-freelance-social-media-manager-videos-included/

This will help

Nice tip, Thanks!

Nice

rilwan09:
It’s an undisputed fact that every business needs to be
active in social media. The ever-changing demands of the
modern day consumer requires brands to think fast and
adapt quickly in order to stay one step ahead.
The role of a social media manager has appealed to the
mass generation of socially-active internet users. It’s hard
not to. Especially when some might think that you can earn
big bucks from posting Facebook updates. Hardly.
Being a social media manager is kind of like being a stand-
up comedian. You have to quickly understand your audience
and your engagement with them is vital. In order to
accomplish this, you need to know if the audience is
laughing at your jokes and you need to know this in real-
time. If you can do this, then you have already won the
crowd.
Being a social media manager brings with it some key
benefits within a freelance setting. The most recognisable
being the fact that you are your own boss. You make the
decisions and answer to no one. You send the invoices and
you set the policies. Heck, you could sit in your underpants
all day on the computer if you wanted to.
The other is money.
Social media is an in-demand role, but one that companies
are still struggling to come to terms with. Some companies
realise and understand the value social media could bring to
their enterprise and are willing to invest heavily in robust
social media campaigns . Being your own boss, you can
decide how to set your costs and price accordingly.

Skills Of A Social Media Manager

Fundamental Skills:

Marketing Knowledge

You should have a good grasp of the basic marketing
principles. Some education in marketing would be beneficial,
but otherwise you can find many quality resources online.

Experience

Your experience doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to
life experiences. Have you managed your own social media
profiles for a while? Do you know how to effectively
maintain your own social accounts and understand what
clients expect?

Sociable

I touched on this at the beginning of the article. If you are
not a sociable person – someone who doesn’t like
communicating much and isn’t very outgoing, then
becoming a social media manager just isn’t for you. Sure,
you can hide behind a keyword and monitor for a while, but
clients will usually want to meet, speak on the phone, or
have Skype sessions at some point.

Project Management

You don’t have to have a Prince2 certificate, but you do
need to be able to manage projects and your time well. It’s
typical for social media manager’s to work with multiple
clients at any one time. Keeping tabs on everything is
important so that it doesn’t get overwhelming.

Technological

Social media exists online. Therefore, you need to have a
certain degree of computer literacy. Having good
knowledge of social technology will enhance your services
and ensure you are keeping up to date with the latest social
trends and developments.

Interpersonal Skills:

Communication

It kind of goes without saying that if you’re going to be
representing a company and engaging with their customers,
then you will need to have strong communication skills.

Personality

Companies tend not to want to hire people with no
personality to act on behalf of their brand. It doesn’t
resonate well with them, or their audiences.

Responsiveness

I’ve touched on this a few times – social media is very fast-
paced. Imagine if one of your social assignments was
largely focused on customer service and you didn’t respond
to customer complaints or queries for weeks. People online
want rapid responses. Being able to fulfil these needs can
stand your client (and you!) in good stead.

Entrepreneurial

To become a social media manager in a freelance capacity,
you have to be a self-starter. You should be willing to go the
extra mile and take a few financial risks along the way. If
you don’t land a job that pays enough in one month, how
will this affect you?

Multitasking

A great social media manager must be able to effectively
carry out a wide range of tasks. I outline a few of the most
common activities here in this article.

Organisation

You should always be very well organised when delivering
social media management services. I use all kinds of
traditional tools like calenders, white boards and task lists
to keep myself organised. I also use many online
organisational tools, such as: Thunderbird for accessing all
my email accounts in one place, Dropbox to easily share
documents with clients and bookmarks to keep track of all
the websites I frequently visit.

Strategic Thinking

Being able to think campaigns through before they happen
and sometimes thinking outside the box when needed, are
great assets to have as a social media manager. Clients
tend to want to know how you will do something before
letting you do it, so being able to present a clear and
concise strategy is essential.


Wider Skills:

Copywriting

Every good social media manager is a great writer. Writing
forms the foundations of many aspects of online marketing,
be it creating ads, writing blogs , engaging with customers,
scripting sales copy or writing press releases.

Graphic Design

Pretty much all social media platforms provide the
functionality to customise the interface and incorporate your
own branding. If you are sharp with Photoshop (or similar
design software), then you are in a good position to offer
these services as part of your social media package. [I wrote
a guest post on SmartInsights about “Improving your Social
Media campaigns using Graphic Design“] Similarly, creating
content such as infographics, banners or images is standard
practise for a social media manager.

Advertising

Every social media manager should have sound knowledge
of advertising. Be it Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising or
banner advertising, you should know the ins and outs of
each discipline and understand how to optimise each
format.

PR

Public relations is closely tied to social media marketing, in
the sense that both involve managing the spread of
information between a business and the public. You may
start out not needing to have a deep knowledge of PR, as it
is typically managed by larger brands who have an interest
in persuading stakeholders, investors or the public to
maintain a certain point of view.

Statistical

Everything in marketing should be measured. You should
periodically measure and analyse your social marketing
performance and produce reports to your clients to
demonstrate your value.

SEO

Understanding how social media affects search engine
optimisation will ultimately improve campaign performance.
In 2012, there was an average of 5,134,000,000 searches on
Google every day. If you think SEO doesn’t matter to your
social activities, think again.

Traditional Marketing

Even though you generally won’t be involved in traditional
marketing practises while undertaking a social media
management role, you should understand how both forms of
marketing affect each other and how each can be best
leveraged to complement the other.

Video Editing

This will probably be the least used of your wider skills, but
nevertheless it can assist you in your social marketing
positions. I’ve had a few clients that required presentations
or demonstration videos to be edited before being used
within their social media campaigns. I’m for sure no expert,
but having a reasonable level of knowledge in using
Windows Movie Maker (or similar video editing software)
can turn that video file straight from the camera into a
beautiful, YouTube-ready video.
Even if you possess all the necessary skills to become a
social media manager, there is still scope to improve your
services by using different social tools and software.

watch this video modules for more insights


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvTEnJ7VXN4

http://rilnetnigeria.com/2017/02/15/becoming-freelance-social-media-manager-videos-included/

Great thread and I downloaded all the videos. Thanks. But I need help creating a free Lynda account. The links on your site are not accepting the details I'm putting in. They keep rejecting everything. Please, I need your help desperately. Thanks in advance.

Becoming a social media expert is not that easy, you need to experience and learn a lot but when you master it, it will help a lot in your business.


Regards,
Maryann Farrugia
View Maryann Farrugia on Twitter
https://twitter.com/farrugiamaryann?lang=en

Looking to hire reliable social media managers, buy real Nigerian Instagram followers and run social media adverts? Check out https://socialmediaexperts.ng

Nice write up