Why is their role important?
Social Media Marketing is a popular field of work for young professionals looking to get their career started. This post will give an overview of why Social Media Professionals are in high demand for an organization. They have a call to action to help establish the brand for a company by both creating content as well as analyzing it. For example, an important task for them is to be the “face” of the organization and help build a strategic social media marketing strategy for external facing clients. They also contribute to a sense of community. With planning and engagement, they can build an active community around a brand on any social platform. Social Media Professionals have a chance to leverage employees and consumers alike to generate immediate likes, conversations, and leads as needed by the company they represent. This key role they play can be accomplished with the following job criteria.
- Awareness of branding trends and a passion for storytelling.
2. Knowledge of all social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
3. Understanding of statistics and analytical software (HTML, CSS, analytical reporting, etc).
4. Practice with creating and promoting strategic marketing campaigns.
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills to enhance content writing.
How are their social marketing campaigns created?
42.3% of marketers believe that social media has a positive impact on their business structure. Social media professionals have an important role to plan campaigns that engage an audience and generate some type of response and potential action from them. They create content that is appealing to the target audience so they can appropriately interact with them online. In many cases, the Social Media Professional will be the first line of interaction for a customer when trying to reach the company. Their job is not just to create the brand visually, but also to be able to support that brand with proper customer service which can be a key aspect of their job description as well.
Another important feature of their role is that these Social Media Professionals market to audiences of different cultures and backgrounds. For example, a global web hosting company that was established in the United States could have a Social Media Professional that builds out their United States and United Kingdom accounts and respond to comments and tweets from customers of different countries. This is a great way for these employees to not only learn how to establish the online brand for a business, but to be able to promote that brand across multiple platforms/cultures through customer service and social marketing tactics. Understanding key audience demographics makes it easier to prepare the content that will be marketed to them and how to best interpret their responses as well. Keeping an eye on the competition is also something Social Media Professionals need to be aware of. Not only does it help to generate ideas for social marketing within the same line of business, but staying one step ahead of the competition helps these professionals make content that is more unique to the company they represent.
How are their social marketing campaigns tracked?
Once the relevant content is created, the audience interaction needs to be tracked on a platform like Google Analytics. Entry Level Social Media Professionals can actually take a beginners course on Google Analytics to better help them understand how to analyze their campaign data. Another popular site that can be used for planning and analyzing social posts is Hootsuite. Both of these sites can be incredibly beneficial for entry level roles, as well as advanced. Social tracking through Google Analytics and Hootsuite is a great asset to any campaign because of the following reasons.
- Set SMART goals – Create SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) goals that serve as the foundation for how a company presents themselves to customers and how their personal brand is established.
- Create a smart social calendar and planner – Schedule and publish content for all social platforms from a single dashboard.
- Increase customer traffic to the website – Return customers to the website or social media site after the first visit via likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
- Increase brand awareness and gain market insights with social listening – Analyze the data that provides further insight to the topic/industry. Through post reach interaction, audience growth rate, and social share of voice.
- Utilize Search Engine Optimization – Use Google Analytics and Hootsuite for some key metrics that can track SEO. For example, the platforms can measure the quality of SEO traffic, identify slow loading pages, and create an SEO dashboard.
Google Analytics can monitor traffic to a website, session duration, and the bounce rate of individuals using the site. Ultimately, this can show the customer retention rate for social campaigns as well. Aligning social media goals with business goals is a top way for marketing and Social Media Professionals to design a strategic business plan. Social Media Professionals can increase revenue for an organization by encouraging conversions through likes, shares, and comments. They help consumers see a company in a new light with social media being the primary form of interaction, marketing, and growth.
How can their social campaigns leave a lasting impact?
Social media is constantly changing so it’s imperative that Social Media Professionals stay on top of current trends and language as it relates to social media. In addition, creating personal connections on platforms like LinkedIn is a great way to learn from other professionals in the same field, take courses on social media marketing, and look for jobs that may interest them as they grow in their roles and expand their network. They can also post their own content on their private profiles to show their skills and build their resume with connections they’ve already made or are looking to make in the future.
Social Media Professionals can begin their careers with a focus on the day-to-day operations of social media planning and that can eventually lead into more of a management love role. Ultimately, Social Media Processionals love social media, understand how to communicate with their intended audience, are creative thinkers, have an eye for design, and are analytical. Social Media Professionals may not begin their career knowing al these job characteristics but its an evolving field that truly has a lasting impact for any organizations. The world of new media continues to change and these Social Media Professionals will remain in high demand for years to come. look forward to seeing how Social Media Professionals continue to enhance the world of new media and take companies from the idea phase of digital marketing to fruition!
Category: Analytics, Personal Branding