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If you have an interest in pursuing a career in social media management, or maybe you are thinking of changing your career, being a social media manager might then be the best option for you. It is a realistic and flexible option for you should consider. Just like the name suggests, social media management is a career that involves taking care and controlling the variety of social media accounts, which might be business accounts, entrepreneurs accounts, and celebrity accounts, among others.
Considering the current way of operations in the market, social media has become a powerful tool for various activities, especially for business and advertisement purposes. Nowadays, large businesses, firms, and organizations often hire professional social media managers, even on a full-time basis, to handle their social media management activities. You may find others with entire departments that are solely dedicated to the management of social media activities and accounts.
Small brands, entrepreneurs, and solo entrepreneurs also have a reliance on social media managers, mostly hired on a contract basis, to help them with their market needs through social media. In both cases, the parties are mainly occupied with other business-related activities to the point that they may not find time to handle social media activities, which is crucial to the excellence of their business. This is where you come in to manage their social profiles on their behalf so that they can go on with their activities, and in turn, you get a significant amount of income from them.
How Social Media Managers Make Money
We have just concluded that you, a social media manager, can make a significant amount of income through social media management. Let us see how. Social media management is one of the ways of earning money online, where you gain from the clients and businesses that you serve or handle their profiles on behalf of them.
If in case a social media manager is hired by a company or employed on a full-time or part-time basis, they are then entitled to a salary. In case the social media manager prefers so operate under a self-employment basis, then they can set their charges, maybe hourly rates, weekly, monthly rates, or per project on a contract basis.
If the social media manager is hired or employed by a company or particular business entity, then they agree on the salary as per the standard rates of payments. The self-employed managers are often referred to as social media consultants, who mostly operate through different levels and types of packages. For instance, they can set a package for activities such as posting on social media a number of times per week or month and charge a certain amount on a weekly or monthly basis. The packages, therefore, vary depending on the number of activities that they are going to be handling for the client within a given period.
How Much Do Social Media Managers Make?
As per the reports by PayScale, social media managers make an average salary of $50, 400 a year. Awesome, right? However, the income varies with a number of factors such as years or amount of experience, marketing and communication skills, and location.
According to PayScale, a manager at the entry-level with less than a year of experience can expect to earn an average income of $39, 100 inclusive of tips, overtime, and bonus. A social media manager in an early career with 1-4 years of experience makes an average of $48,000, while the one in a mid-career stage with 5-9 years of experience can make up to $59,700.
An experienced manager, with 10-19 years of experience, can make up to $64,570 while a manager in the late stages of their career, above 20 years, makes up to $51, 000. That is the average income of any social media manager, as per PayScale reports, which is truly incredible. The amount can also vary depending on the position that you hold.
Self Employed vs. Employed Social Media Manager
A social media manager can operate through self-employment or get employed by different organizations or business entities. Managers working under an employment basis are entitled to a salary, just like the other employees, after a period of time-mostly after a month or half a month. Once employed, the social media manager can also get some bonus, overtime, and tips, though they are not guaranteed the additional sources of income but the basic salary.
Managers working on a self-employment basis, also called social media consultants, work through offering their services inform of different levels of packages and charge on different rates such as monthly rates, daily, weekly or hourly. They operate under a freelance basis where the clients in need of their services only hire them for a specific period to do only the specific activities as per the packages. As a self-employed manager, you can set and regulate your schedules, charge what you think is appropriate to avoid overexploitation, and have a work-life balance.
What Do Social Media Managers Do?
Social media managers have the responsibility of facilitating social media tasks on behalf of their clients, communicate with vendors and customers to manage their sites, pages, and profiles on social media. They write statements, such as company statements, respond to queries and concerns on behalf of the companies or the specific client.
For these reasons, social media has to have excellent communication skills, creativity, and proficiency with the use of digital devices and systems, including computers and their utility softwares. They, therefore, serve as the liaisons and voices of their organizations in line with supervising, approving creative content, and researching new and better social marketing strategies. They also implement marketing campaigns for brand recognition, gain customer loyalty, and do analysis for the various tweak programs and initiative performance.
Typically, the duties of a social manager include the following,
- Scheduling and planning of content all over the different platforms of social media.
- Tracking, analyzing, and reporting on the performance of the different campaigns.
- Searching for expansion opportunities and those that breakout on the social media networks for growth.
- Working in line with other brands and different influencers to enhance the visibility of the business and have a leading generation drive in the market.
- They develop and handle the execution of corporate strategies on social media.
- Monitor Web activities allover various geographics and departments to guide the participants, or clients, on the integration of the best practices for excellence.
Apart from communication skills and creativity, it is highly recommended that a social manager should have some design knowledge, especially graphic design since social media also involves creating graphics posts for the company.
It is also a requirement for social media managers to make reports on the performance and progress of their activities as proof of the significance of their services. As a social media manager, you also have to be ready to learn every day and go with the changes in these rapidly changing landscapes. You have to be up to date with the latest resources, trends, tools, and apps that are associated with the social media marketing job.
How to Get Started
Just like any other career, getting into the social media management career is also an aspect that requires some basic strategies to ensure that you become a successful and excellent social media manager, and also ensure that your career takes off and runs smoothly. Nobody would want to spend their resources on hiring someone with not even the least knowledge of social media management, or one who just joined to make money without the required skills. For this reason, the following aspects are significant in getting started with the social media management career.
First, get the right training. There are social media management training courses that are available to equip you with the necessary and required skills. With these skills, you are confident of what you are doing, what is offering, and what you are offering. More so, you get to know how to handle the various aspects of social media marketing on your own.
With the required skills, clients can trust you with their profiles to manage them on their behalf and have the confidence that you will provide what they need as per their requirements. After understanding the basics and required skills of social media management, you are at even a better position to delegate your work to virtual assistants whenever you decide to start your agency. However, knowledge is required whether you are employed or self-employed.
Choose The Best Platforms to Master
After having the necessary training, what follows is having a specific platform to master, which helps in setting you apart from the competition. The most common platforms that you can choose to mater include:
Instagram, which is excellent with graphic design and photography.
Facebook is great with live videos and automated responses for messages to paint a picture of concern for the company.
Pinterest is also another powerful search engine that is image-based. It also has a strong graphic design background for creating images that catch the eyes of the viewers. It works just like Instagram through the use of hashtags and following other accounts.
You can choose to become a specialist one of the platforms or handle as much as you can, but have one that you are a professional at handling.
Create a website to show a portfolio of your work. In the current world, having a website is the best and easier way of informing people about who you are and what you offer for them to trust you with their needs, especially in this sector of social media management. You should build an attractive and professional website that showcases a portfolio of your work for your clients to gain an interest in working with you.
Have your channels on the social media platforms. Having channels on social media platforms helps you to have followers and gain popularity. With a significant number of followers and reputation, it is easy for the clients to gain interest on you and hire you.
Manage an account for someone just for free. This is a great step, especially if you are just starting or just started, to create a portfolio to showcase your skills in social media management. It is a kick start to bringing some clients right to your services.
Apply for positions on social media management. Due to the competition in the market, it is advisable that you cast your net wide and apply for several positions that are available instead of just confining yourself at one point. Link up with people on the platforms such as LinkedIn and attend network events until you get a position. Through this, plus a good website and a better portfolio, your chances of getting a position are very high. This is in case you are okay with working on an employment basis.
How to Become a Self-Employed Social Media Manager
As we had discussed above, being a self-employed social media manager comes with a given variety of benefits. However, it requires some strategies for becoming successful. The following four strategies are crucial to becoming a successful self-employed social media manager.
Understand your targeted client
This is the first step towards your success as a freelancer. There are a variety of companies and people that you can manage social media profiles. It is advisable to have a specific niche (denote your services to a particular group of clients) because it enables you to focus and become better at what you choose to do. For instance, you can focus on design, travel blogs, or medical spas. After choosing, make sure to understand what is expected out of that specific sector.
Create a posting schedule
You should then keep a consistent daily schedule of what you are supposed to do or what you do. Luckily, some systems have been developed to schedule your activities on social media.
Build your portfolio
It proves your value to the clients and gains their trust in your services. Keep it updated and as attractive as possible. It should also be in line with your profiles.
Develop your client base
You can frequently pitch the clients and add them one by one while ensuring that you serve them better. Ask for their feedback to ensure satisfaction and have them under comprehensive management to avoid disappointments or failures in delivery.
Is Social Media Management a Good Fit For You?
Yes. Social media management is definitely one of the best online jobs that can be taken on by many. It does not matter whether you are an undergraduate, or stay and prefer to work from your home.
It is a career that fits just right into the current technological world that does not require a lot of input resources but has a significant amount of return or income, especially when self-employed, but even when employed as well. You also find fun in pursuing this career, and therefore if you have an interest in social media marketing, it is the high and right time you get started.
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