Things Every Social Media Person Should Know

By Lauren | January 15, 2015 | 0 Comment

What are some things that are crucial for every community manager or social media manger to possess? Here are some skills that are important for those working in social media, and those aspiring to work in social media.

Monitoring software

Surprise, surprise! You’re going to need to know how to use monitoring software eventually at some point in your career as a social media professional. Not only will this make your life and job so much easier, it is also crucial that you not only are fully knowledgeable on the different software’s out there, but also know what each is best for. It’s okay not to have working experience with them all, because many don’t offer free trials, but having an understanding of the pros and cons of each are helpful.

Analytics

You’re going to need to be able to back up what is working and what isn’t working, and provide analytics about campaigns, and initiatives you have running on social. If you aren’t able to analyze the data and collect results from your campaign, why are you even doing them? Not to mention that it’s going to be pretty hard to justify the importance of social in your organization if you have nothing to back it up. Knowing analytics will also help you alter and tailor things as you go, you’ll begin to notice trends of what your community likes and what they don’t react and engage with. Anyone can post on social media, but there has to be a strategy around it and you have to be able to prove to people your results of each post.

How to construct content in any length

Whether you are posting on Twitter vs LinkedIn vs Pinterest etc. etc. your content is going to be of different lengths. How do you make an engaging post fit into 140 characters? How do you make a pin on Pinterest engaging enough that someone wants to re-pin it? Knowing each platform and what types of posts work for these platforms is critical. You really need to be a content guru with strong writing skills because otherwise you won’t garner the results you want, and you’ll constantly struggle with each platform you need to adapt too.

How to dodge sticky situations (PR)

If you’re working for a large organization or agency, chances are you’ll have a PR team dedicated to this sort of thing, BUT that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful for you to posses knowledge and experience with public relations. My background in PR has been crucial in my success as a social media professional. Why? Because when sticky situations occur on social, whether it’s angry customers, or an organizational crisis, I not only respond, but I know the proper way to respond without tarnishing our organizations image.

Multiple personalities

Not only is every social media channel different, and the people that are on every social channel, but you may be jumping between different campaigns or brands that hold different voices/tones. Not every brand sounds the exact same – you’ll notice this when you read different accounts. For example: Oreo’s brand voice is evidently different then Air Canada’s would be. Knowing how to switch your personality when writing for different brands, products, etc. is critical. If you’re a good writer this will come easy, if not, then you should begin to work on your writing and channeling different voices and tones to come through when you write.|

Be on top of the trends

Social media is constantly changing as we all know, one day something may be popular, and the next day it may not be. Knowing the latest in social media and media trends as a whole is key. What are other brands and competitors doing? What are some innovative things you’ve seen? What new platforms should you keep your eye on, and which ones should your company dodge? Being a social media professional you have to commit to the constantly changing field, and if you’re not ready to continually learn on a daily basis, then this probably isn’t the career path for you.

0 Comments