Social Media Specialist

Like most businesses, everyone wants to get the “best bang for their buck” out of their marketing budget.  Digital marketing costs 62% than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads. One of the largest contributors to the success of social media and other forms of digital marketing is the interaction that exists between the customers and the platforms used, whereas traditional marketing pushes the brand out without any engagement in between.

For example, social media marketing allows your social specialist to track all data and insights of your specific content and how much traffic is flowing back to your website.  This is much more difficult to measure the success of a billboard advertisement or a direct mail campaign.

And if that wasn’t enough reasons, there is just the raw facts that everyone (ok maybe not everyone) is online. In fact we know that last year Facebook hit the 2 billion mark!

Here is one of the top objections that I hear a lot:

“My customers are not searching for my services on social media….”

I challenge this actually.

For example, let’s take a look at Pinterest - this powerful platform goes beyond just recipes and do it yourself crafts - 80% of millennials use Pinterest to find things they want to buy!  

Also common services that many customers search for in Google allow you to rank with your social profiles and eventually guiding traffic over to your website. Consumers are smart and they are doing their research. 81% of shoppers conduct online research before purchasing a product in fact. The internet isn’t stopping and your brand is just next in line to get in front of the action.

Simply posting your promotions, photos, and a few links just doesn’t cut it anymore in this competitive online world.  A social media manager will provide you a detailed strategy with a plan of action. Before creating any content, detailed research should be performed to look up trends, audiences, and identify target markets.  The social media manager will then create specific content around these markets and a strategic way of delivering the content.

Besides just broadcasting out content, one of the most important aspects of social media management is engaging and learning from your audience.

People don’t always trust brands. They trust the humans behind it. A social media specialist responds to comments, starts new conversations, answers questions and reaches out to influencers or potential partners. These are the types of actions that really grow accounts and create a community around your brand.

Part of managing social media accounts includes reputation management.

Recent statistics show that 70% of consumers use social media platforms to contact brands for customer service questions and concerns. If response isn’t made in a timely manner then it is more than likely that person will move on and get there question answered somewhere else, bringing their sale with them.  

The digital marketing world is one of the most advancing and fastest changing industries. Sometimes new changes are made without warning. Your social media manager (if they are a quality professional) are equipped with the latest information.

Did you know that Instagram now allows you to keep archives of all your stories?

Did you know that Facebook now allows text in their ad images but those images will cost you more?

Did you know that affiliate links are allowed back on Pinterest?

As a social media manager it is our job to stay updated with all the latest social media news. Part of my week always includes education and learning. I have been able to narrow it down to the a few diverse and information packed publications that notify me when new content is released.

How can we take this new information and roll with it? How can we do better for our clients? These are some of the questions that I always keep in mind.

Not only is this important information to keep you ahead of the game it is also important to ensure that you are staying within all the rules of each social media platform.

Every time  I see a business breaking a rule on social media, risking their account being banned it makes me cringe….ahh I want to reach out and lend them a hand! Typically it is not on purpose, it is a mistake because they are not aware of recent changes and the hard earned work has a risk of being taken down.

A social media manager will be aware of these types of situations and how to avoid them.

Social media and all types of digital marketing require a consistent content schedule to be successful.  This is not a one and done deal or a post here and there to get proper leads. A social media manager will develop a content plan and have a content calendar for all postings per platform. They will also post at the most relevant times of the day ensuring that they reach your audience at their peak viewing times.

A social media strategy cannot be truly deemed successful without data to prove it.

When you hire a social media manager you (should) get access to monthly reports that include the analytics data from each platform, as well as how much traffic is coming back to your website.  Not only will this show you which platforms are bringing in the most revenue it will also track which types of content people are engaging with over others.

If you are looking to increase your revenue through social media it is highly recommended that you hire an experienced and driven social media manager to get quality results.