As anyone who has been in the industry for a while can attest, the role of a social media manager has changed drastically over the years. The skills a social media manager needs to have in 2024 look very different than they did a decade ago.
In this article, we’ll discuss what it means to be a social media manager in 2024, how the role has evolved, the skills needed to become one, and how to land this role.
Let’s get started.
What does a social media manager do?
Loomly's Social Media Manager Christie shows us what the job is really about.
In the most basic sense, a social media manager markets a business using social media platforms. They play a major role in strategizing and executing a company’s presence across multiple social media platforms primarily to build brand awareness and ultimately generate sales for the company.
While social media managers are specialized in one sense — they focus on one marketing channel — their roles often look more like a generalist’s. They typically play a role in several or all social media functions for a company.
Typical responsibilities for a social media manager
A social media manager’s specific responsibilities depend on the size of their team, the type of company they work at, and the social media strategy they are executive. However, as a predominantly generalist role, most social media managers have wide-ranging responsibilities such as:
- Building a social media marketing strategy that defines social media goals and lays out a way to achieve these goals via platform mix, content mix, posting strategy, and other tactics.
- Brainstorming content ideas for brand and product marketing, as well as organic and/or paid content; this usually involves partnering with other teams to ensure social is involved in larger marketing campaigns.
- Creating social media content, including any combination of copywriting, design, and video work; some social media managers also appear on-screen in their company's social content.
- Planning a social media content calendar that defines when and where content will be published, then overseeing a content workflow to move content from ideation to production to publication.
- Interacting with followers and customers on social media, whether it's engagement-focused interactions that build community, or handling customer questions and requests.
- Analyzing social media performance using native platform tools as well as third-party tools in order to gauge the success of the strategy and recommend changes.
- Staying on top of social media trends, including memes, trending audio, and viral formats, as well as platform and algorithm updates.
- Running social media advertising campaigns, from selecting a platform and understanding ad options and bidding strategies, to audience targeting and creative development.
Our social media manager here at Loomly, Christie Osterhus, works with all aspects of social media. She provides some insight into what her role looks like as she manages multiple different parts of a social media strategy.
“I have my hand in strategy, content creation, influencer marketing, community management, and I really enjoy this diverse scope of work. It’s fun to craft a strategy combining what's currently working on social media and my personal skill set, then execute it myself. Limitations often produce some of the most creative results, so being a part of a small team pushes me to explore so many possibilities instead of settling for the first idea I have.”
Meg Purdum, social media manager at retirement community Masonic Villages of Pennsylvania, has a similar role, explaining, “Working as the lone social media manager on a small team, I’m doing it all: social monitoring, community management, content creation and curation, analytics, advertising, etc.”
How social media managers fit into a team
On a large social media team, social media managers might oversee all of a company’s organic social media presence, while more specialized roles might be focused specifically on paid advertising or community management. On a small social media team, or a team of one, social media managers have their hands on all the social media levers, from organic to paid to influencer marketing.
Some companies have social media teams with more specialized roles. These specialist roles may make up a full social media management team that works together on the different aspects of the strategy. Or, they may work underneath a generalist social media manager or director by providing specialized expertise in their field.
Some of these specialist roles include:
- Social media strategist: A strategy builder who focuses on the who, what, where, when, and why of a brand — but might not be focused on the how, i.e. the day-to-day execution.
- Influencer marketing: Someone who identifies partnership and collaboration opportunities with relevant influencers, and manages these relationships.
- Social media analyst: A data-heavy role focused on a brand's social media performance and their competitive landscape, building reports and sharing ideas for improvement.
- Social media ads specialist: Someone who focuses on strategizing, setting up, and running paid ad campaigns across different social media platforms.
There are also roles focused exclusively on content creation — photographers, videographers, graphic designers, video editors, etc. Other social media roles don’t focus on marketing at all — community building and customer support roles can be considered more service-oriented and therefore might work on totally different teams.
These differences in social media roles are just one example of how social media management has evolved over the years — more on that next.
How has the role of social media manager evolved?
When social media management first came to be in the early 2010s, it looked vastly different than it does now. Let’s dig into the different ways that social media management has changed in the last 10-15 years.
Managing more social media platforms
The first major change comes in the number of platforms available for business use. In 2010, there were only a few social media platforms that a company could use — Facebook and Twitter primarily.
Now, there are more social media platforms out there than you have fingers and toes — and most of them want you to create a huge variety of content types to appease their algorithms.
Drishti Sharma, marketing manager at mental health company GoodLives, says, “I remember when I started my career in social media, 5 years back, the algorithm of all the social media [platforms] was very different. Even if we used to post a simple creative with a basic caption, it used to get a lot of reach.”
Meg agrees, saying, “There are more platforms to be on and more that’s required of you. The focus has shifted to video over photos, which often takes a lot of bandwidth and resources to produce. It’s harder to be in multiple places at once, but there’s often still an expectation to cover every existing channel.”
Experimenting with new content types and formats
We’ve also seen major changes in the amount of content types businesses can create.
Look at Instagram alone. When it first launched, it was a chronological feed of user photos. It wasn’t until a few years later that it enabled video-sharing. Then it started allowing businesses to run ads. Before long, it launched Instagram Stories. Then live video streaming. Then carousel posts. Then shops and shoppable posts. And now, we have Instagram Reels, plus Notes and Broadcast Channels.
Not only does a social media manager need to know how all of these different content types work, but they also have to create and share them — across every platform.
Contributing to marketing strategy
Since social media has overshadowed other marketing channels as a key driver for brand awareness, you need a killer strategy to maximize your reach and integrate it with your other marketing efforts. Back in 2014, having an active social media presence at all could be a differentiator.
As Christie says, “As content becomes more and more competitive on social media, diving deeper into a couple key platforms or narrowing focus on what is producing desired results is essential. No one can really afford to ‘post just to post’ anymore, because it will ultimately hurt social accounts in the long run.”
Alfred Christ, social media marketer at 3D puzzle retailer Robotime, agrees, saying, “In the past, social media management was mostly about posting content and engaging with followers. The role has, however, widened over time to incorporate other tasks, such as data analysis, content creation, and strategy planning.”
Another expert from project management tool Wrike, Elisa Montanari, shares, “The industry has grown larger, so you must be able to manage across platforms accordingly. Back in the day, there was little in the game beyond Facebook, but now, most brands maintain a presence across at least three or four different platforms.”
What skills do you need to become a social media manager?
If you’re interested in working in social media, there are a number of practical and “soft” skills that are key to your success.
Practical social media manager skills
Practical skills, or “hard” skills, are more hands-on or technical skills that allow you to perform the practical responsibilities of a job. For a social media manager, this includes skills like:
- Organic marketing
- Paid advertising
- Analytics & reporting
- SEO
- Platform knowledge
- Project management
- Content creation
- Influencer marketing
- Copywriting
- Design
- Videography and video editing
What skills or knowledge do our experts think matter most?
- Video creation: “The ability to make video content is the most valuable skill you can have in social media today. Understanding strategy, style, and every aspect of production is essential for success on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and possibly other platforms in the near future.” – Christie Osterhus
- Copywriting and research: “Even in a video-first world, the ability to write and research still matters.” – Meg Purdum
- Mastery of social media tools: “Technical skills involve proficiency in social media management tools, content creation software, and analytics platforms. Understanding SEO and how to drive organic traffic is also important.” – Alfred Christ
- Copywriting and design: “You need a combination of visual design and copywriting skills so your captions elevate your creatives and vice versa.” – Elisa Montanari
- Know the algorithms: “Before you start your career in social media, understand the functioning and algorithms of each platform.” – Drishti Sharma
“Soft” skills for social media managers
Soft skills are about how you get work done. In social media marketing, common soft skills that may make you a great social media manager include:
- Communication
- Organization
- Time management
- Creativity
- Adaptability/flexibility
- Problem solving
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration
- Empathy
- Relatability
- Resilience
Our experts share the following soft skills that have helped them and others in the social media industry:
- Charisma and a sense of humor: “A great sense of humor and charisma go a long way, especially if you're the one showing up in content. Whether you're creating memes, recruiting others to be in content, or sharing a content strategy with internal stakeholders, the key component is that people should enjoy it.” – Christie Osterhus
- Empathy and resilience: “You need empathy and patience for customer care, and resilience and flexibility to deal with algorithmic ups and downs or a quick-change social calendar. Creativity and curiosity are helpful when brainstorming content ideas.” – Meg Purdum
- Communication and problem solving: “Creativity and good communication skills are very key to developing relevant content and keeping our audience engaged in communication. Being adaptable and on top of what's new in social media trends or algorithm changes. Problem-solving skills and data analyses that go into decision-making. Emotional intelligence is needed to handle customer relationships or respond to feedback.” – Alfred Christ
- Stakeholder management: “You must know how to manage stakeholders. Your job isn’t just to create great content but to effectively prove why your investment achieves a solid ROI, nudging and reminding stakeholders to give their input along the way.” – Elisa Montanari
- Creativity: “As social media requires a lot of creativity, put your artistic mind to work to create content. Work on your writing skills. And, have good observation skills.” –Drishti Sharma
How to become a social media manager
Interested in becoming a social media manager? One thing we love about this industry is how many different ways there are to land a social media marketing role.
Do-it-yourself
For example, Christie fell into social media marketing while she was looking for a career that she could grow alongside her acting career.
“I found myself consuming a lot of content on Instagram and TikTok, and I was determined to ‘crack the algorithms.’ I started running the social media accounts for a co-working space I was working for, but soon took a role at a marketing agency in a very sink-or-swim environment... thankfully, I'm a great swimmer.”
Christie finds social media to be a fantastic career to parallel acting because the worlds are actually adjacent. “All the social media apps are competing for viewers’ attention just like streaming services and network television. At the end of the day, it's all entertainment. Understanding how to make someone laugh or feel connected to a larger community has always been my bread and butter, whether that's through a phone or on the silver screen.”
Formal education
However, Meg took a more traditional route, discovering social media while she was still in college. She took a university-offered social media marketing class while also managing the Facebook Page for her college radio show.
Meg shares, “When I was a junior, I interned for my current company over the summer as a public relations associate. In my senior year, a public relations coordinator position opened up there, and my internship supervisor encouraged me to apply. I got the job right out of school and have been managing their social media ever since.”
Online training
Drishti started by taking an online marketing course. “After doing that course, I did 2-3 internships to understand social media marketing in a much better way. It’s been 5 years and I’ve handled more than 30 social media accounts for various brands and startups.”
Because social media requires many skills that can also be used in other roles, there’s no set path for landing your first social media job.
If you’re interested in getting into the industry, check out our job search toolkit for tips on finding the right roles and gathering your application materials.
Get started as a social media manager in 2024
Love creating social media content and have the soft skills to make a marketing role for a business work? You might just make a perfect social media manager. In 2024, you need the right tools to help make your strategy work — and Loomly is the perfect option for marketing teams. Sign up for a 15-day free trial to see how it works!
