Today there are few people (among those who are friends with the Internet) who would not hear about such a specialist as an SMM manager. However, only a few will be able to answer the question "who is he and what is he doing?" And even among employers posting vacancies about searching for this “fashionable” professional, there is no clearly defined understanding of the tasks and responsibilities of an SMM specialist. However, this does not prevent them from conducting interviews and hiring people who are responsible for promoting in social networks, and applicants call themselves experts in this field and submit requests that sometimes shock even generous “payers”. So who is he, this unpredictable and so necessary manager of our day SMM?
SMM and SMO - what is the difference?
Before talking about the profession itself and its representatives, let's first look at this: what is SMM? What is its difference from SMO? What role do these components play in promoting a website / product / company on the Internet?
If we compare it with SEO, then SMO - work directly "on" and "with" the site (internal optimization), and SMM - activity outside it (external optimization) or marketing on social networks.
The essence of smm-activity
Social Media Marketing is aimed at promoting the goods and services posted on the site, in social networks, forums and blogs in order to make them recognizable and thereby attract targeted visitors - consumers, customers, etc.
SMM activity is often confused with SMO. However, these are two completely different areas of work designed to achieve one goal - brand promotion. Unlike SMO, social media marketing does not imply any work directly with the company's website, its content, transformation and optimization. All work is carried out on an external site and consists in communicating with a potential audience, attracting new subscribers and future customers to the website, as well as in smoothing out conflicts around the company / brand / product through competent responses to negative reviews / comments.
Thus, we can say that SMM is an effective tool for creating a positive image of a company or product that allows you to quickly convey information about it to your target audience through active work in social networks.
SMM specialist and limits of his responsibility
Now, having some understanding of the essence of smm-activity, we can proceed to a discussion of specialists who carry it out. What should be the ideal candidate for this position, what knowledge and skills to possess, and, finally, what are the main responsibilities of an SMM manager in a company?
To begin with, the profession is relatively new and not yet fully understood by both employers and job seekers in this field. That is why today there is a huge number of so different and often conflicting opinions and ideas regarding the scope and boundaries of responsibility of the SMM manager. So, for example, he should not be engaged in one-time advertising and PR campaigns (this is the responsibility of specialists in PR and online advertising) or making proposals, maintaining a client (this is the immediate task of the account manager).
SMM Manager is a specialist who is responsible for maintaining and promoting the brand / product on social networks. His duty is to achieve specific tasks assigned to a commercial site (groups, pages, blogs) by communicating with the target audience in a virtual space. At the same time, the tasks can be different: sales, increasing brand awareness and remembering the product, improving the image of the company, etc.
Thus, two main areas of work of the manager of social networks can be distinguished:
- attracting and increasing the audience (subscribers);
- work with attracted audience (communication, answers to questions / comments / work with negative reviews).
What is an SMM manager doing during the day?
Given the above, it’s interesting to know how the SMM specialist’s work day goes. In order for his work to be effective, it is important to properly organize it. So, throughout the day, the SMM box needs to:
- Monitor thematic resources, monitor updates in this area. It is very important to keep abreast of the latest news relevant to your audience (and preferably before the subscribers know about the event).
- Fill the site with relevant and interesting content that will cause comments and discussions among subscribers. This helps to solve the tasks set for the site, and therefore, in front of the audience.
- Work regularly with the comments of community members. This is one of the main tasks of the SMM manager. It is important not only to respond to messages and questions, but also to encourage further discussion of some topics between subscribers / community members.
- To build an audience through advertising / targeting. The result of the work should be specific user actions: subscription, joining the group. Moreover, the audience should not be random, but the target, otherwise the meaning of working with it will be reduced to zero.
- Analysis of the work done. It is important to analyze the work of the site itself, that is, the audience's compliance with the tasks assigned to the site and the adequacy of the content of the attracted audience. In addition, you need to monitor how SMM activity affects the achievement of the company's goals - increasing the number of registered on the site, increasing the number of calls and expanding other activities from potential customers.
What kind of SMM specialist is he? Qualities Required by a Professional
You must admit that the above tasks cannot be called easy, and, of course, not everyone who calls himself an "SMM manager" will be able to do it. What professional and personal qualities should a candidate for this "proud title" have?
- The first and one of the most important is the ability to communicate. And it’s not just, but virtually and specifically with a certain group of people (after all, each person requires his own, special approach). It is the presence of this quality that contributes to the growth of the target audience and the creation of a favorable atmosphere within the group / community.
- Understanding not only the objectives of the company, but also the interests of the community. Ideally, the SMM manager should become “his” among subscribers - potential customers.
- The ability to always be in the know. By receiving and broadcasting relevant information on time, the manager will keep the community in trend and use it to promote the brand / product.
- The ability to speak the same language with the audience, which includes the right choice of forms and content of comments, as well as an important component - a sense of humor (this feature is irreplaceable when working with social media content, because they should be willing to share it!).
- The ability to mirror the emotions of the audience, spreading positive moods in the group, as well as the ability to properly work with negative reviews.
In addition, a good specialist should be technically savvy and master social media tools. So, it will not be superfluous to understand analytics and SEO, programming, understand (at least at a basic level) the API of social networks.
Why is it worth “wanting” to become a professional in the field of SMM?
Today it is not so common to meet such a comprehensively developed SMM manager in his field. Jobs, meanwhile, are increasingly appearing on popular job search sites. If you are the one who dreams of a career in social Internet marketing, then re-read the article and evaluate the quality of your knowledge, skills and abilities. Weaknesses can always be developed, pumped up and built up, the main thing is to have a desire and not be lazy. However, the salary of an SMM manager is one of the incentives to become a real pro and get into a good company as this specialist. In some areas, the remuneration of SMMs reaches 100 thousand rubles or more. Therefore, if you feel the strength in yourself - go for it!