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No matter what your thoughts on social media there is no getting away from the fact that it has changed the way that we do business and communicate with our loved ones.
I’ll admit that I am not great with social media, posting whenever I feel like it with little to no consideration around the information behind what I post, I’m probably someone that could benefit from social media management, but if you’re someone that is good with the social media platforms and can get people engaged, could you help businesses achieve their goals social media goals and make money as Social Media Manager?
Social media management is what it says on the tin, it’s the management of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok on behalf of a business or individual.
A Social Media Manager will work with a client’s brief to develop strategies that achieve a certain goal, this might be to get more followers, help promote a brand or increase the number of visitors to a website or blog.
How to become a Social Media Manager
Anyone can call themselves a social media manager, but the ones that earn their worth in gold are those that have the skills and knowledge to get results because, at the end of the day, it’s a results based business.
An intermediate to advanced knowledge of social media platforms is essential, hands on experience in creating content for social media platforms that gets results is crucial.
This means that not only do you have to be creative in the design and execution of the post, but you will also need to know how social media ads work and how to analyse the metrics that will show that you’ve been able to achieve results for your client. Clients will want to see proof of your ability so showing results from past clients is key, if you don’t have any clients yet, try reaching out to businesses and offer your services for free or at a discounted rate.
Social media is fast moving so you will need to be able to understand social media trends and know how to quickly adapt. This means that being a Social Media manager is a process of constant learning, which will mean watching social media experts on Youtube or reading blogs or listening to podcasts about best practices.
How to stand out as a Social Media Manager
Creativity and knowing how to create various forms of content is a must, you will be creating various types of content such as images, videos and written posts.
No two social media platforms are the same and each one will require its own creative know how, if for instance you excel in creating video content, you might be able to serve those clients that are looking for exposure on TikTok on the other hand you excel in written posts then Facebook might be where you concentrate your efforts.
Social on a specific demographic
Just like social media platforms themselves, those that use them will be different, so you might want to call upon your own experience and target a certain demographic, whether that be by age, cultural background, occupation or anything other demographic that you can think of.
If you feel after reading the post up to now, still feel that you have the necessary skills to be a social media manager, here are several ways you can make money.
Social media advertising
Social media platforms have a lot of data on their users, which your client might be able to capitalise on.
If you have commercial awareness and understand the brief you could create advertisement copy and use the information the social media platforms hold to target a specific segment of their user base.
Social media analytics
If your skills go beyond the creative element of social media and you understand the data behind the creative then you might be able to sell your skills specialising in social media analytics.
Businesses need to know that their efforts on social media platforms have been worth it, so understanding the performance metrics and user behaviour and being able to put this in a useful report will help them make decisions that can help with their social media strategy.
Act as go between for your client and brands
Some clients might be perfectly okay with the creative element of social media and have really good engagement but do not know how to monetize the platform, this is where you can step in.
If you’re comfortable reaching out to brands then, you could get your client sponsored posts or paid advertisements and take a percentage of the agreed fee.
How much you can make as a social media manager will depend on several factors
Your expertise
Your expertise doesn’t necessarily mean the amount of time that you have been a social media manager, but your ability to achieve results.
The more that you can show that clients have been able to achieve certain goals the more you will be able to charge.
The services that you offer
Some clients will value one service more than another, but this is where you have to sell yourself and the service that you provide.
As already pointed out, social media isn’t just about dancing doing a dance on your favourite platform there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes.
If for example, you are going to sell your service looking into the analytics of social media you need to be able to communicate why this is important and explain how this data can be used not only to increase engagement but possibly save time and money by not focusing on those things that don’t work and doing more of what does.
How you charge for your service
You might charge an hourly rate or monthly retainer, either way knowing your worth and the benefits that you bring is important.
Don’t undercharge, set your social media manager prices right from the get go, and test the waters with different pricing strategies, but never too low and not too high.
Many people, not only in social media management, fall foul of undervaluing themselves and the value that they can bring thinking that a client will never pay x or y. Don’t sell yourself short and look to see what the average is in the industry
Conclusion
Social media and online marketing are here to stay, for a while at least, so being able to help a client stand out from a crowded market makes being a social media manager a good way to make money.
It’s by no means an easy way to make money where you can use your creative outlet and forget about it, it takes a lot of hard work and skill and a willingness to keep up to date with trends, but the benefits of it can not only be financially rewarding but rewarding in other ways too.
It can be flexible, you can fit it around your life and it’s not location specific meaning that you can work from almost anywhere and because there are so many facets to social media management there is an opportunity to only focus on the area of social media management that you excel in, which doesn’t necessarily have to just be the creative aspect but the data behind it too.
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