5 Essential Tips for a Social Media Manager

Whether you are a social media marketing pro or just want to want to brush up on your skills, check out these five essential tips for a social media manager to dominate their KPIs:

Know Your Audience
Schedule Now, Worry Less
Content,Content, Content
Stay Relevant
Metrics, Your New Best Friend

1. Know Your Audience

Before you create a plan or even start the sign for a social media platform, you need to know your audience. Which platforms does your audience visit? Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, or Pinterest? Do you know the trends and terminology they use? In a previous post, I talk more about Storytelling & TOV, detailing how each platform requires a different ToV (Tone of Voice). For example, if your audience is Gen Z, you may want to consider untraditional platforms like Discourse, BeReal, and Twitch. After reading this article from LinkedIn News, it’s interesting to see how the younger generation is using social media and is breaking away from our traditions. For example, Instagram has been attempting to attract younger users by mimicking Tik Tok’s Reels, becoming notably less of a photo-sharing app. But will it work for Gen Z, who cares more for authenticity and honesty?

Also, simply, you don’t want to waste your time and resources on posting on a platform where your audience does not frequent as much. As a social media manager, you want to amplify your efforts as much as possible and save time by researching trends.

More on Social Media Channels
Social Media Personas – Envisioning Your Perfect Customer

2. Schedule Now, Worry Less

Save time and schedule your posts for the next week(s). It would be best if you were working a week in advance. Hence, you have time to make adjustments, reach out to the creative time, or generally, put out as many fires as you can lol I list some tools and resources that I’ve used but to name a few – Hootsuite, Sprout Social, SemRush, Buffer, SocialBee, and SocialPilot. They are usually not free but may offer a free, limited account and/or a free trial period.

3. Content, Content, Content

As you will begin to understand, content makes the social media world go round. Content can be in the form of graphics, videos, blogs, events, webinars, carousals, case studies, etc. If you are lucky enough to have a good flow of content at your disposal, it’s still good to have some other options in your arsenal in case of emergencies.

Canva – Don’t let graphic designers sway (mock) you from using Canva – it’s a super helpful skill and can be a great time saver with all of the pre-made templates. I also use Canva to help the creative team outline/visualize what I need. Canva does have a free option, and it is great! But once you go Pro, you won’t want to come back. (Yes, I just realized how creepy that sounded lol)

Fiverr – A great site to find freelancers for small projects! If your team is overwhelmed and you have a deadline (and a budget for it), I would recommend looking for a freelancer here to assist you.

Upwork – I think Upwork is preferable for more long-term projects than Fiverr. However, even if you want to make some extra cash, you can sign up as a freelancer and take up jobs.

Grammarly – Oh, Grammarly, where art thou when I was in college? I literally envy the youth for having this tool accessible when I was stressing over comma placements. I use Grammarly for both short and long copy (social media and blog content), which is great when you don’t have a proofreader on your team.

4. Stay Relevant

It’s giving…
You’re a dub
His album was mid
Period.
Throw hands
Choosing violence
Chile

If you have no idea what the above terms mean, you are behind (I lowkey wish I had no idea what it meant). When it comes to trying to stay relevant, I try to split my brain in two – the casual viewer and the marketer. Social media is fun and has a lot of great content, but there are also trends I try to keep aware of when viewing/engaging with it.

Another (more sophisticated option) is to invest in social media listening tools. OMG, they are awesome. You set tags of what exactly you want to search for: Trends, influencers, whoever mentions your company, competitors, and everything in between. THE POWER is in your hands.

Tools I have used (AND DON’T HAVE ANYMORE) are Sprout Social and Meltwater.

5. Metrics, Your New Best Friend

Give me a M- E – T – R – I – C – S! Metrics!

Metrics are a social media manager’s best friend who comes to your apartment, Starbucks in hand.

Social media platforms have their own tracking system where you can download reports and pull data. Still, depending on your resources, like Hootsuite or SemRush, you can aggregate all the information from each platform. Google Analytics is also an excellent tool for your campaigns to better understand your user’s experience.

What are some other tips you would share for social media managers?