What is a Social Media Manager?

If you’re passionate about media trends and spend most of your time on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, you may be thinking about turning your love for social media into a career. The good news is that social media is one of the fastest-growing industries around and there are plenty of career opportunities available for those who are passionate about working in this field. A few of the most popular social media jobs include being a digital strategist, a community manager or a social media manager. Although these roles have several things in common, such as understanding how to engage an audience and create positive buzz around a company, if you’re interested in fully developing and managing the voice of a brand, then becoming a social media manager is the role for you.

We recently sat down with Juliette Dallas-Feeney, Senior Social Media Manager at Birchbox, to learn more about what it means to be a social manager and to get some tips on how to do it right.

What does a social media manager do?

A social media manager develops a company’s social media strategy and manages their social channels. This often includes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest. In addition to being the voice of a brand, social media managers analyze the results of their campaigns by tracking engagement metrics such as likes, clicks and shares.

What are some of the responsibilities of a social media manager?

The primary responsibilities of social media managers include crafting engaging posts, analyzing campaign performance and communicating with people via the company’s social channels. For example, Juliette’s day-to-day responsibilities include making sure that the company voice is always consistent and that there is a strong community feel across all Birchbox’s social platforms. “I’m leading our entire social media strategy and figuring out how we can combine our marketing messages and make our community fall in love with us,” she explains. Working on those two things in tandem means always being aware of what users are looking for in a brand and being able to deliver that on all channels simultaneously.

What are some of the challenges social media managers face?

Since social media relies heavily on timely, relevant content, staying on top trends can be challenging. It’s what Juliette describes as a “24/7” job because it requires you to know what’s trending on your channels (and in your industry) at all times. One of the other challenges social media managers face is understanding how to use metrics effectively and how to optimize campaigns based on those metrics. But if you’re afraid that these challenges make social media management overwhelming or boring, don’t be. Juliette’s favorite part of her work at Birchbox? “Playing and experimenting all the time,” she says.

As a rapidly growing and changing field, social media is a great career path for those who are excited to uncover new trends and capitalize on them. If this sounds like a job you’d be interesting in taking on, then becoming a social media manager might just be for you.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look for In an Internship and find answers to common interview questions such as Why Do You Want to Work Here?