In-House Social Media Manager, Roles & Responsibilities


The roles and responsibilities of an in-house social media manager are incredibly important, it is clear that social media is here to stay and that it plays a vital role in any digital marketing team. Your Social Media Manager will be the face and voice of your company on the web, the first point-of-contact for customers and also be responsible for conveying the identity of the brand. It is an incredibly important role where the candidate must be perfect for the job.

Kieran Kelly, Display Assistant at MediaCom, has also been running his events management company, Moving North, since the age of 19 and has vast experience using social media to communicate with his target audience and bring success to his business. In this section, Kieran highlights the different roles and responsibilities of an in-house social media manager and why they are a lot more important to your business than is often considered.

In-House Social Media Managers, Role & Responsibilities 

This piece will highlight a lot of the responsibilities of a social media manager and why they are vital to any business with an online presence. These days Social media can make or break companies, there are examples of restaurants operating solely from a Twitter account that have amassed a large following due to the content posted that are always busy, every day. However there are still similar venues that remain empty, and have no online presence.

I have split the social media manager's roles and responsibilities into three important sections:

MARKETING

Blogging: The social media manager (SMM) will post industry-related blogs that your online audience will find interesting and relevant and hopefully share amongst their followers. Implement Campaigns: The SMM will be in charge of developing and implementing the online marketing campaigns across a variety of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook etc. Competitor Research: Social media enables businesses to get a closer look at their competitors and the way they are using their online platforms. Their actions are in the public domain and can be researched and analysed in order to identify ways to improve your own company's social media strategy. Build & Maintain Key Relationships: Social media platforms such as Twitter allow users to communicate with hundreds of different demographics, interact with business partners, potential customers and key stakeholders casually to strengthen the relationship.

Opportunistic/Instant: Social media is a unique marketing tool that enables companies to use instant and opportunistic marketing tactics to capitalise on topical events. For example Oreo gained great brand exposure for their quick thinking "You Can Still Dunk In The Dark.*" advert posted on their Twitter account during the 2013 Superbowl when the lights went out during the match. (Retweeted 10,000+ times in one hour)

COMMUNITY OUTREACH / CUSTOMER SERVICE

Interaction: Interaction is key with social media. A social media manager should be creative, confident and love talking to people through whatever mediums are available. Customer Service: Social media allows firms to receive customer enquiries directly and in the public domain. It is very important to deal with these in the right way, the worst thing a company can do is attempt to censor or delete comments complaining about the company. Users are often extremely satisfied to receive any sort of reply at all and the responses are visible to other followers.

MANAGEMENT

Generate Traffic: Posting content on social media channels linking back to the parent website can be an excellent tool for generating traffic if used effectively. Updates: By maintaining a constant online presence, the SMM will be aware of any new updates and technologies being introduced and therefore, will be first in line to adapt and use these new updates to the company's advantage. For example, early adapters to Facebook introducing hashtags to their posts. Track and Monitor Success: There are many social media managing tools that provide reports on performance that are simple and make it easy to understand the measurable impact of a campaign, or even just a post. Manage Brand Identity: The SMM will be able to manage the brand identity and how the company is perceived by others through their digital channels. If the company wants to change or adapt a part of their identity (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility) the first point-of-call is with the SMM to change their online presence.

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