With the active development of the Internet, many specialties have appeared that are related to network marketing, social networks, programming, etc. Since such professions are only gaining popularity, it is impossible to get such an education at universities. Therefore, those who wish are sent to courses and webinars to get any information on this specialty.
Social Media Development
Social networks play a special role in our lives. Once it all started with VKontakte. This social network was a meeting place for friends and acquaintances. Here they talked and made new acquaintances.
Over time, VKontakte became a platform for commercial activities, but still remained a social network for communication. The advent of Instagram and the widespread use of the program led to the fact that commercial activities flowed smoothly there. Many entrepreneurs created accounts to promote their business on a social network.
The same situation happened with Facebook. Of course, hundreds of people still communicate in it, but thanks to him and other social networks, it became clear who such an SMM specialist is.
Internet Marketing
They started talking about this specialty after the development of marketing, which moved to the Internet. Here they began to deal with SEO-specialists who help entrepreneurs to develop their business on the Internet.
SEO began to optimize sites. This became necessary after many companies began to develop their resources in the network, working with content, target audience, a huge amount of statistical data, etc. In order to promote a site on the network and raise its position in search results, you have to work on many aspects. Now the processes are all shared between specialists, so there are even more specialties that are related in one thing, but each has its own niche.
So, web designers who work on website design, programmers writing codes for a resource, copywriters working on texts, web analytics, analyzing statistics, and many others have become popular.
Over time, an SMM specialist joined them. Who is this and what does such a person do?
New specialty
Social media marketing has become a major offshoot of internet marketing. Experts realized that one site for selling goods and services was not enough. It was important to be in touch and in social networks. So there was a culture of maintaining commercial accounts and interaction with potential customers.
SMM is Social Media Marketing - what we call social media marketing. Social platforms made it possible not only to promote the product to customers, but also to collect data about the target audience, work with feedback, and also solve other business problems.
Tasks
Before you figure out who this is - an SMM specialist and what he does, it is important to understand the tasks of marketing in social networks.
Of course, the mission of the smmshchik in this case is extensive and directly depends on the subject of the resource and its tasks. Nevertheless, the main thing that needs to be done is to create text or visual messages. At the same time, the post should interest the person so much that he will share it on his page. Thus, the message itself will be distributed on the social network, without the help of the creator.
What is it for? As practice shows, a post that has been reposted causes more confidence than he himself on the company page. This is where the recommendation scheme works, which is precisely the basis of the interaction.
Social media marketing plays an important role primarily in the process of influencing the target audience. It is extremely important, due to the characteristics of your target audience, to collect data that would help to find the most successful platform, the right communication style, and try not to affect those who are not concerned with advertising.
The main tasks of SMM also include the work on the brand. This is an extremely important process in establishing a company, increasing loyalty and increasing attendance.
Instruments
Of course, an SMM specialist primarily works with messages and posts, but this is not his only tool. Communication in the comments is equally important, as customers always want to see a reaction to their feedback and questions.
Also in marketing use work with forums, if any. Often use viral marketing and direct advertising. All this should be well thought out.
Creativity and analytics
Knowing who an SMM specialist is, you can understand what is needed to become one. This profession involves a comprehensive and multi-purpose work. You must always be in touch and involved in communication with customers. Someone might think that this is very simple, but in reality it will be psychologically difficult, because you have to adapt to everyone. And as we know, there are not only polite and kind people in the world.
Of course, often SMM is a creative work that requires imagination and attract people by any means, including jokes and jokes. But in addition to creativity, one will also have to face analytics. It will be necessary not only to collect statistics, but also to interpret it correctly.
Requirements
You can find out who an SMM specialist is by going to any company page on Instagram. All posts and answers under them are written by him. From here it is extremely important that the smmshchik is able to:
- Competently write and speak. Moreover, not only competent writing of texts, but also the creation of interesting content will be equally important.
- Develop an account and attract subscribers. You may have seen some pages on social networks that are not at all interesting to you regarding the product being sold, but are extremely fascinating due to the work of an SMM specialist.
- Set up ads. To do this, you will have to understand special programs, as well as the relevant sections of the social network.
- Understand web analytics. She will also have to face it, as she collects data and helps analyze it.
These are the basic requirements that are most often found in job descriptions. But there are unofficial ones that do not mention, but their presence would be an advantage. For example, work experience and a portfolio of completed projects will be important.
Since often the creation of posts requires not only textual information, but also graphic information, it will be good if you understand graphic editors, know how to create pictures and infographics.
Now many SMM-specialists work in the English-speaking segment, so a sufficient level of English is needed. Finally, it will be a plus if you are familiar with marketing and understand its basic concepts.
Specialist Tasks
They practically do not differ from the tasks of SMM itself, nevertheless, they can be described in more detail depending on the topics and goals of the company. Who is an SMM specialist and what does he do?
- Creates content for social networks and blogs. For this, he can use the help of those who can do infographics and write interesting texts. Sometimes he himself engages in these processes.
- Keeps accounts in several social networks. Now the most popular are Instagram and Facebook. But you can also add Twitter, VK, YouTube, etc. to them.
- Attracts subscribers, collects likes, reposts and save. Increases audience interest in products or services.
- It conducts targeted advertising, and then works with analytics and reporting.
- Communicates with followers and monitors their behavior.
- Involves the audience through contests, giveaway, quizzes, surveys, games, etc.
- Creates a report on the work done and draws up a plan for a new stage.
What is an SMM specialist in simple words? This is a person who leads social networks and advertises a company at the expense of them.
Field of activity
Now almost in any large office, no matter what he does, he has his own SMM department. Pages on social networks appeared at large and small online stores, government organizations and private entrepreneurs.
An SMM specialist can also work in a special company that searches for clients for promotion on social networks, and can lead several projects. Typically, such companies do not have the ability or do not see the point in creating an SMM department in their office, so they buy services on the side.
Training
How to become an SMM specialist and where to start? Higher educational institutions do not yet have such a direction, so those who want to work on social networks have to look for courses or take self-education.
Online courses are becoming extremely popular now. On the one hand, this is a good opportunity to get an education at home, on the other, there are pitfalls that inexperienced users may not know about. What is it about?
Online courses are a pig in a poke. You have probably heard and seen how many schools on the Internet are helping to find the dream profession. But, most likely, you also heard how people pay for classes, but they don’t get either classes or their money back. That is why many do not know how to become an SMM specialist.
If you don’t have confidence in online courses, try to find office classes in your city. Now there are many similar IT schools and all of them offer good training, program and cost. The only thing to remember is to check documents, licenses and certificates. Read reviews and find social networks.
An SMM specialist receives training in different ways, it all depends on the school itself. For example, you can come several times a week to courses, receive theoretical material and practice. In addition, you will have the opportunity to repeat the material at home using a special site or group on social networks.
By the way, many such schools offer tuition remotely. An SMM specialist can attend the lesson while at home (this is convenient if you are sick or, in principle, you do not have the opportunity to go to the office). At the end of the course, a diploma or certificate is usually issued that indicates that you have successfully completed your studies.
Selfeducation
SMM specialist courses help even the laziest to start training. But some of us do not need a “kick” to take action. Since the specialty is new, many novice specialists used self-study. To do this, I had to read a lot of specialized literature (the benefit is now available everywhere), as well as to understand the possibilities in practice.
Those who already work in this area recommend that you immediately study all modern books on marketing. For example, Jona Berger “Infectious. Psychology of word of mouth "or Andy Sernovitz" Word of mouth marketing. " Of course, if you are interested in studying this profession, it is better to "absorb" the maximum available information. Don’t forget about useful blogs and articles.
When you get the position of SMM specialist, training on this should not be stopped. Almost all specialties that are related to the Internet are constantly changing. Technology updates lead to changing trends and trends. You need to constantly be in the trend, to know the latest news and find new ways to advance.
The main thing is to start
If you decide to become an SMM specialist, where to start? Decide for yourself whether you are ready to perceive around the clock all the information that will be poured onto you from a laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc. Some recommend starting with your own account. For example, everyone now has Instagram. Try to do it yourself, read books and recommendations of specialists. Only in practice can you test everything.
A novice SMM specialist should:
- to be a strategist - it is important to study the target audience and develop a promotion strategy;
- to be a tactician - to keep abreast of news, memes, movies, etc .;
- to be a moderator - correctly and educatedly respond to negative;
- to be a diplomat - to adapt to the audience and speak with them “in the same language”;
- to be a specialist - in addition to creativity, you have to understand statistics and analytics;
- to be literate - to follow not only grammar and punctuation, but also stylistics, vocabulary and relevance.
To finally become an SMM specialist, you just need to get started. Do not be afraid that you will not succeed. This is a new specialty, which even if it has algorithms and requires knowledge, it still largely depends on creativity, non-standard thinking and work on oneself.