10 high-impact tasks of a social media manager

More useful advice fom Brian Peters over at Buffer.

1. Strategizing

There are so many goals we could potentially focus on as social media managers – like brand awareness, engagement, traffic, and signups, to name a few. There’s also the challenge of figuring out how to make sure your social media goals are aligned with your overall company goals. That’s where a having a solid social media strategy comes into play.

2. Engaging

Along with creating and curating content, cultivating a happy and engaged audience is a high-impact task for any brand. This helps to create a community of loyal followers who will eventually help to spread the word of your product or service on social media.

3. Creating

At the heart of every social media manager role is the art content creation. Content is the life blood of your social networks and what keeps your audience reading, engaging, and interacting with your brand. It’s important to learn how to create all sorts of content from videos to GIFs to infographics and more.

4. Curating

Depending on the various types of content you share on social, curating can have a huge impact on your overall social media results. Discovering and sifting through content from others involves having a deep well of sources to read—as well as the time to read it all and determine the best fit for your brand.

5. Scheduling

Planning ahead and scheduling content is another high-impact task that makes a world of difference for your brand. We’ve often found that our posts perform best early in the morning, in the evenings, and on weekends — so choosing a social media management platform that allows you to post even when you’re not online can make your life a whole lot easier and improve your results.

6. Listening

I’m always amazed over the awesome things that I find when I have my ear to the ground – searching and listening for conversations around Buffer and similar terms. There are so many opportunities for marketers and brands to proactively seek out and build relationships with potential customers in your community. But choosing the right listening tool is crucial for finding relevant terms and conversations in your industry.

7. Measuring

Once your posts are scheduled and sent out to social media it’s time to analyze their performance. How many clicks did they receive? How many likes, comments, and shares? How did it impact the bottom line? Then, taking a step further, how can you use those stats to help make informed decisions in the future. That’s where great social media managers thrive!

8. Helping

The use of social media as a customer service tool has skyrocketed over the last few years. Customers are no longer relying only on 1-800 numbers for answers to their questions – they’re turning to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Whether folks are reaching out to you with a question, comment, concern, or complaint, it’s a social media manager’s job to figure out the best plan of action to help that person.

9. Learning

Becoming a student of the trade and learning as much as you possibly can has both a short and long-term impact on your brand or company. Like I quickly mentioned before, there’s a steep learning curve to becoming a great social media manager and building the skills it takes to succeed all stars with learning.

10. Experimenting

We love experimentation here at Buffer. In our experience, the more we experiment the more we learn about what works and what doesn’t on social media. We’ve tried all sorts of things from five Facebook Live sessions in one day to creating a Tumblr account to starting a podcast. Experimenting ties directly into all 10 high-impact tasks of a social media manager.

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