What Makes a Good Social Media Manager?

It can be a crazy job, requiring a fantastic sense of humor and a thick skin. Social Media Managers, can you see yourself in this description?
Aika Zikibayeva
July 12, 2016 - 5 min. read

Social Media Managers are an interesting breed. We spend the bulk of our days combing the overly-crowded feeds looking for gold and the meaning of life, and we’re still happy. We’ve seen every inspiring quote you’ve created a visual for with a bokeh photo background and an 18-pt Ostrich Sans. We’ve read every life quote you’ve aligned yourself with and sagely posted like a social Zen master. We noted your zealous 3:00am comments on our Facebook ads, and deleted the risky ones. We go home, draw ourselves a bath, and find our serenity in lost hours of Pinterest board organization.

We do this because we have a sense of humour, and because we think working in Marketing is fun. We like to write. We can put out fires and disarm the rantiest troll with respect and kindness. We are thick-skinned, and we can laugh a lot, including at ourselves.

Sounds like a nutty job, doesn’t it? It’s usually a combination of many qualities, skills, and talents – there’s not a perfect social media manager, just a perfect one for their brand. We’ve identified 5 main types of social media managers based on their dominant trait – which one describes you best?

#1 – The Social Shaker                 

01-Social-Shaker

When tech support has a problem, they call you. Whether through passion or persistence, you know your product better than anyone. Every in and out, hack, fix, and setting is within your grasp. If anyone can explain your product to the world, it’s you.

Strengths: Master of product, Tech mastermind, Sales-oriented

Room to grow: Sometimes, that encyclopedic knowledge can be a bit imposing. Your job is to sell, service, and engage people who have differing levels of expertise. That means meeting users where they are and delivering an interactive experience tailored to their skill level. Great social media managers can jump into the technical nitty-gritty with power users while also realizing that others need a gentle helping hand. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

#2 – The Socialite

02-Socialite

You are very much focused on building and growing a community. As a social media manager, your first instinct is to react to all queries and comments on social, ensuring high customer satisfaction. You know that customers expect an answer on social in 30 minutes or less, and with your skills, speed, and expertise you make sure to offer fast and helpful replies. You are very structured and understand how to prioritize social interactions, so that any potential issue is dealt with before escalating into a full-blown crisis.

Strengths: Customer-focused, Customer care, People person

Room to grow: Connecting all data points and understanding the full picture of the customer interactions. One fan may have complained on Twitter about something, but what if they were a loyal customer, and a brand advocate on Facebook up until then? Making sense of all the interactions and touchpoints will allow you to personalize communication and offers.

#3 – The Social Siren

04-Social-Siren

You are the proactive social media manager, constantly looking for new growth opportunities on social. You enjoy interacting with various communities, starting conversations around relevant topics, and, of course, the occasional tweet chat. Real-time events fuel your imagination. With your 360-degree view of social media, you are the person to call on for the latest news and trends on social, but also the one that makes sense of these developments in a practical manner.

Strengths: Listening, Industry Knowledge, Real-time

Room to grow: Your real-time reactions are impeccable, however, don’t forget to consolidate your strategy with some solid planning. A mix of planning and real-time reactions can help you achieve your own Oreo moment at the next event you are planning to cover. Work with your team on different scenarios – and use a tool to add your ideas, images, and supporting links, so that if opportunity strikes, you are ready to jump in and delight audiences.

#4 – The Architect

03-Social-Architect

You are the strategist of the bunch, the mind that guides the direction of your company’s social media tactics. You have extensive knowledge of your data and insights, and understand how to apply these in order to entice audiences. All your actions are well thought out, and in line with your set strategy and the brand’s social media persona. You understand the importance of a cross-channel cohesive voice that delivers a valuable message and delights audiences. Social is a much more than a distribution channel for you – it’s a way to humanize the brand and create more meaningful interactions.

Strengths: Strategy, Data, Cross-channel

Room to grow: You have a very good knowledge of your processes, tactics, and strategies, based on customer insights. However, do you really know your customers? Understanding their behavior once they interact with you can be already too late in the buyer cycle. Your desired audience might already be looking for what you are offering, without knowing or mentioning you. To enhance your knowledge, you need to start making sense of all touchpoints and micro-moments in the customer journey.

#5 – The Social Alchemist

05-Social-Alchamist

You are the mastermind of customer experience. Social is a much more than a distribution channel for you – you see the value in connecting with audiences at the right time and place, and with the right content. All your social activities, backed by solid data, have a clear purpose: to offer a cohesive customer experience for your audience across all channels. You understand that the relationship between your fans and your brand is not determined by one moment in time, but by the sum off all direct and indirect interactions. You have a good knowledge of the decisive micro-moments your customers go through, and you aim at meeting them in all stages with enticing offers.

Strengths: Strategy, Data, Customer Experience 

Room to grow: You have the right attitude and the right processes in place. However, keeping up with your audience is a recurrent task – you need to keep a vigilant eye on your results and adjust accordingly. The needs of the social-savvy fans are ever-changing…as is the makeup of the industry.

There isn’t one perfect result – a good social media manager is made out of sugar, spice, and …everything social. At the same time, social media is an ever-evolving job, so one needs to be open to experimentation, testing, and learning new things. Keeping up with the latest social media developments requires an agile mind, a real understanding of the brand and its audience, and a keen sense of matching these two in order to deliver the best bottom line results.

Now that you’ve selected your persona, why not take our quiz and find out if your choice matches the results? Caution – fun questions ahead ?

Take-quiz