Guide to Effective Social Media Management for Your Brand

Social media management deals entirely with handling a brand’s online presence so that resources are correctly optimised and more customers are satisfied, which further contributes to a higher increase in returns.

So you want to become a social media manager. Scheduling posts, monitoring performance, etc., are some responsibilities that you can expect. Find all about social media management that you need to know as a beginner. 

Table of Content

1. What is social media management?
2. Elements of social media management
3. Social media management tools
4. Social media manager: key responsibilities
5. Social media management courses

What is Social Media Management?

Social media management covers all tasks that handle your brand’s online presence. This includes publishing relevant social media content across platforms, monitoring audience engagement, reporting, using the right tools for automating, etc. You can say that the goal is to optimise the brand’s resources without spending too much money or time.  

Explore more about What is social media marketing?

Elements of Social Media Management

Regarding social media management for a new or existing brand, there are a few common elements to consider. 

Selecting the Right Channel (s) 

Not all social media platforms are equal. It is the target audience and their preference for communication over those channels. 31% of social media users use these channels to provide feedback on products or service feedback (Sprout Social). 

First, you would have to align your social media goals with these channels. That means you may have to choose a channel that lets you interact with an audience differently. Facebook is great for all kinds of audiences, while Instagram is popular among the younger crowds. 

Creating and Managing a Community

Social media management’s main aspect is about building a community of people with similar interests. Social media managers can manage discussion boards that let community users open up about what they actually may require from the product or service. 

Engaging Users

According to Sprout Social, 41% of the consumers of brands on social media platforms unfollow when the brands do not solve their queries on the channels. Unfollowing aside, about 50% of users share their bad experiences on their channels, as per Dimensional Research. 

Consumers today expect brands to be accessible 24/7. Social media managers must ensure that their channels respond promptly to queries and feedback. 

Monitoring

Monitoring is essential in social media management. Mostly because, you would want to know how your campaigns are performing through likes, shares, etc. Monitoring can show you the demographics that engage with your brand, the channels that are not worth spending money on, etc. 

Online Reputation Management (ORM)

This aspect has to do with continuous reputation building so that your audience perceives your brand positively. ORM is done based on the branding you have created or are going to create. 

Analytics

Your social media strategy will work better when you are able to measure the KPIs you set for it. Common social media KPIs include follower count, impressions, likes, comments, amplification rate, etc. Essentially, social media managers need to define these KPIs and create timely reports and take immediate action based on results. 

Social Media Management Tools 

All the needs of managing your social media accounts from publishing to reporting can be handled by social media management tools. 

Some advantages of using such social media tools are

• They save time as you can schedule bulk social media posts in advance and you don’t have to rush to post them
• You can easily track your brand mentions, and negative feedback and maintain your brand reputation with most of these tools’ in-built social listening features.
• You won’t have to rely on other analytics software to track KPIs as they are already in these tools
• Responding to customer queries across multiple channels can be streamlined with most social media management software

Now that you know the advantages of these tools, here is the list of the most popular ones with each of their unique advantages. 

1. Hootsuite – Best for bulk-scheduling and monitoring multiple channels
2. Buffer – Ideal for small businesses to use its free version
3. Sendible – Agencies with multiple clients can find this tool much useful than others

Social Media Manager | Key Responsibilities

Social media managers are also known as community managers. Depending on the age of the brand or the size of the marketing team, the key responsibilities include the following. 

1. Creating content relevant to the brand and channel through competitor and industry research
2. Defining KPIs and actively monitoring them
3. Developing a social media calendar for each month based on the social media strategy
4. Scheduling posts, curating content, etc
5. Improving returns on the budget set for the social media team
6. Collaborating with marketing and sales departments

Social Media Management Courses

Social media managers in India earn within the range of ₹ 1.2 Lakhs and ₹ 10.0 Lakhs per year, as per AmbitionBox. Depending on the experience, certificates, and location, it can go even higher.

Here are some social media management courses that you can take to become a social media manager. These courses will strengthen your basics on the best practices regarding sharing on the relevant platforms, curating, etc. 

1. Social Media Marketing: Managing Social Media on FutureLearn
2. Measure and Optimize Social Media Marketing Campaigns on Coursera
3. Social Marketing Training With Hootsuite on Hootsuite Academy

Parting Thoughts

Social media management is challenging, but the right tools and experience will significantly contribute to brand growth. And practices such as deleting negative comments, not responding to the audience on time, etc, should be avoided.