Social media skills that every marketing professional should obtain from entry-level to management positions.

Social media is continuing to grow each and every day. With that growth comes essential skills and expectations for social media professionals. It may become hard to dictate what skills are the most important or what expectations are asked of you when applying for a job. Even with social platform changes, the core of this parting practice will always remain the same. They’re some core skills that you should have before applying to a social media role.

Remember, they’re several different forms of social media marketing:

• Content marketing/creation
• Advertising/sponsorships
• Influencer marketing
• Paid media
• Community management
• Forum contribution
• Reviews

Is Social Media Marketing Right For You?

They’re several different layers to marketing. How do you know that social media marketing is right for you? They’re a lot of pros and cons to becoming a social media manager. If you are really into your personal social platforms, then a big con may be that you will get paid to spend a good amount of time on your favorite social media platforms. The biggest con is that everything that is posted on social media stays there forever no matter how many times you may try to delete it. Mistakes can and will go viral.

If there is still some uncertainty given the information above click here to learn more about the pros and cons of becoming a social media manager.

5 Essential Social Media Skills

If you read through the information above and thought “I am the person for this job”, then continue reading. Of course, they’re many different skills that you will acquire along your journey to becoming a social media professional, but how do you know why to start? Below is an overview of five different key skills you need as an entry-level marketing professional

All in all, social media is solely a communication-based platform. Whether it be communication through video, text, or pictures, users create their posts to communicate with one another just the same as businesses do. With that being said, it is critical that you have strong communication skills that can flex into any social platform, character count, or audience.

Good communication doesn’t only mean through social media. This also means with your team as well as your boss. You need to have effective collaboration skills as you will be working with one another in regard to brand image, content creation, and timelines. Strong communication skills will also be needed when it comes to developing internal education and training. This is a skill that should be possessed prior to applying to your first marketing role. To learn more about how to be an effective communicator view TED Talks Ideas About Communication.

Writing

As mentioned above, mistakes on social platforms are irreversible (in most cases) so having effective writing skills is very important. Having effective writing skills also helps to get your message across clearly and concisely on all social media platforms. Of course, proper grammar and punctuation are important when it comes to writing, but even more importantly you need to consider the brand’s voice. Are the writing style and word choice that you are using effective when it comes to correctly representing the brand and the voice that they want to portray?

From creating attention-grabbing ad copy to participating in social media banter is it imperative that you know how to create material that is concise and pulls emotion from your audience. Not only is brand voice important, but so is tailoring your approach. The content that you post on Facebook will not work the same for TikTok. This is where creativity comes into play. Tailoring your writing for different audiences and different platforms is a must-have social media skill.

Creativity

Knowing what sets your brand apart and creating that difference for consumers to see are two different things. Differentiation is one of the biggest challenges for brands when it comes to social platforms that can become over-saturated. This is where creativity comes into play. Are you able to think outside of the box? Are you able to come up with interactive content that hasn’t been seen or done before?

To be creative means to have a sense of humor and the ability to improvise if needed. Having a creative mindset in a social media role allows you to develop innovative campaigns, create visually appealing multimedia content, lead brainstorms within your team, expand your brand’s current image and voice, and consider every detail of a social media post from images to links and formatting. To flex your creativity skills, take a look at Creative Mornings events.

Efficiency And Organization

It is nearly impossible to participate in any marketing strategy without managing your time effectively. And in order to manage your time effectively you need to make sure that you are organized. Not only are efficiency and organization important at the entry level, but it is also even more important at the managerial level. As a marketing manager not only are you expected to oversee campaigns and distribution rhythms, but you are also expected to leave and execute each and every campaign from start to finish.

Each campaign will come with a timeline. This will consist of brainstorming sessions, content creation deadlines, platform decisions, etc. In order to maintain timeliness and stay on track for each campaign it is important to develop an organization technique. Whether that technique is keeping a detailed calendar, or writing everything down in a notebook, you need to make sure that you are setting goals for yourself to meet in order to maintain efficiency throughout the whole campaign process.

Traditional And Digital Marketing

Before social platforms existed, traditional marketing was all that we knew. In order to reach a brand’s marketing goals, you need to have a general understanding of basic traditional and digital marketing. As a marketer, your task is to connect the brand’s social strategy to its big-picture marketing and business goals. It is essential that any form of marketing done outside of social media for a brand match its overall image and is cohesive.

When it comes to traditional and digital marketing, they’re a couple of approaches that need to be considered; events, emails, lead generation, and PR. Understanding these different approaches will help only help your brand. Creating a strong connection between traditional marketing and social media marketing will only benefit a brand and allow them to connect with its customers, drive sales, and generate revenue on a larger scale.

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Social Media Marketing Professional?

Think to yourself, are these five skills something that you already possess or feel comfortable working towards? Do you enjoy scrolling through your personal social accounts? Do you feel as though you could create and effectively convey social media content similar if not better than what you see existing today? If you answered yes to all of those questions, then social media marketing is right for you. I would also hope that it is not right for you wouldn’t have gotten this far down into my blog post. Either way, the five skills above are great qualities to have in any role.

I would love to hear from any and all marketing professionals about this topic. Please consider commenting below on how you have utilized these skills in your everyday work!

Also, be sure to check out The Social Observer’s Twitter page to keep up with great information for entry-level social media professionals over the coming weeks.

Category: Advanced Tactics