How to Become a Social Media Manager
With the rise of influencer culture and social media dominating how many people communicate and get information, more and more organizations are hiring experts to manage professional social media accounts. They see this digital landscape as a way to grow their fan base, turning likes and followers into sales and customers.
A relatively new position, many organizations situate social media management into their existing communication and marketing plans. Jobs in this area are growing faster than most, and while starting salaries are modest, there are ample opportunities to climb the corporate ladder and increase your earning potential. This is especially true if you are willing to learn and grow as technology advances and the digital frontier expands.
Social media managers interact with customers online, create engaging content, research consumers’ search habits, contribute to communication and marketing plans, and track campaign performance. They play a pivotal role in today’s business, nonprofit, and public administration landscape. Discover how to become a social media manager with this guide.
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5 Steps to Becoming a Social Media Manager
There is no traditional route to becoming a social media manager, but there are some steps you can take to help you on your career journey.
- 1
Choose a Training Pathway
Becoming a social media manager doesn’t always require a degree, but it does require skills in communication, technology, customer service, and creativity. If this is a field you are interested in, your first step is to deepen your understanding of how social media works and how you can grow an online presence.
Many students will choose a traditional route and obtain a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communication, business, public relations, journalism, or English. Others will devour YouTube and TikTok training videos, and enroll in online courses to learn how to become a social media manager on their own. Regardless of your pathway, you’ll need practice in multimedia content creation, search engine optimization (SEO), data analytics, and audience engagement to start.
- 2
Build an Online Presence
Put that training to immediate use and build your own online presence. Expand your network by honing in on a particular hobby, interest, or skill, and seeking out other like-minded influencers and marketing professionals.
You can also pursue internships and volunteer projects in the digital marketing space to get real-world social media experience. Follow the organizations you would some day like to work for and engage with their content.
Grow your audience by creating content across social media platforms. Dive into data analytics to track your success and better understand what your followers want to know. This is also a good time to experiment with new technology and learn ways to manage multiple social media accounts.
- 3
Create a Portfolio to Showcase Your Work
Now that you have followers and content, choose the posts that best showcase your work and create an online portfolio. There are many free websites you can use to host your work online. You can also assemble noteworthy social posts together into a professional PDF document.
You’ll want to show potential employers a diverse selection of content, including text, graphics, and video. You’ll also want to highlight any analytic and engagement skills you have learned along the way. You can do this by showcasing the visual elements of a social post and writing a few sentences explaining its impact.
- 4
Research Potential Employers
Monitor your online network for open positions and search for content creation and social media manager roles using popular job sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork. Link your portfolio to your professional pages and make it clear to your network you are looking for a job.
Reach out to your online contacts for leads. If you have obtained a bachelor’s degree, discuss potential job opportunities with your professors, guidance counselors, and work supervisors.
You will also want to seek out organizations that interest you. You can read industry publications and write to recruiters to learn more. Showcase your skills by reaching out on one of your more popular social media accounts.
- 5
Apply for positions
As you find jobs that interest you, you’ll want to apply directly on the company’s website. You will likely need a resume, cover letter, and work samples. This is where your online portfolio can be a huge asset.
Track your applications and follow up with hiring managers after applying. You can also begin preparing for interviews by researching potential questions and preparing responses that highlight your content creation skills and social media savvy.
If you are looking specifically for a management role, you’ll also want to showcase your leadership and ability to manage multiple projects, programs, and staff.
What Do Social Media Managers Do?
Whether you’re on TikTok, LinkedIn, SnapChat, Facebook, or X, your job as a social media manager will be to make sure your organization’s online presence is building its business.
You will work to incorporate social media into existing communications and marketing plans, create and monitor social posts, and interact with consumers and like-minded professionals online.
Five Social Media Manager Duties
- Content Planning and Strategy: Planning social engagements across platforms, considering the timing of posts, and differentiating your organization’s editorial voice to reach more followers.
- Create and Monitor Posts: Creating social posts for different platforms and working with text and visual storytelling elements to engage and grow your audience — this includes share-worthy memes, listicles, videos, infographics, polls, and gifs.
- Audience Engagement: Interacting and communicating with other people online, including other brands and services. Be an active participant in the social landscape by sharing posts, commenting on content, and responding to mentions and queries.
- Data Analytics: Monitoring and evaluating social content across platforms, conducting keyword research to understand what your audience is searching for, as well as determining what types of social posts resonate with your followers.
- Professional Development: Tracking advances and changes in the social media and tech industries to verify you are meeting the online communication goals of your organization, testing new platforms, and experimenting with content to find new followers.
Six Social Media Manager Skills
- Branding Expertise: Successful social media managers don’t just use social media platforms, they understand how to leverage content to spread awareness and drive growth. This means building and maintaining an online brand across social platforms, and growing an audience of followers.
- Writing and Editing: Social media is one way to tell your organization’s story and this will require basic editorial knowledge. Even with advances in artificial intelligence text models, your way with words to make a human-to-human connection will be necessary to grow your audience and inspire action.
- Creativity and Design: Whether you are actually creating graphics and video to share on social media will depend on the scope of your position, but all social media managers need an eye for detail. A basic understanding of visual content creation is a must.
- Research and Data Analytics: To stay current with your follower base and deepen your understanding of digital marketing best practices, you must develop your research and analytic skills. Data can help you think of posts, reach new audience groups, and monitor and track the effectiveness of your social outreach.
- Customer Service: Social media isn’t just a way for you to connect with potential customers. More and more customers are using social media to quickly connect with the brands they love (or hate). This often means that the people running social media accounts are also providing basic customer support and care.
- Management and Administration: As a social media manager, you will likely oversee a variety of social media campaigns and need to coordinate with other departments, like communications, marketing, public relations, or media affairs. Your responsibilities could include project planning and administration, staff supervision, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation.
How Much Does a Social Media Manager Make?
A social media manager is a relatively new position and many organizations fold that work into their existing marketing and communication departments. Social media specialists are likely to earn middle-income wages in the $50,000-$70,000 a year range, depending on the size and scope of their organization.
Managers have the potential to earn even more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), especially if you consider working for a large corporate or government entity. BLS reports the following median wages for leadership positions that are likely to include social media management.
| Jobs | Salary (2023) | Job Outlook (2023-2033) |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing managers | $157,620 | 8% |
| Public relations managers | $134,760 | 7% |
| Advertising and promotion managers | $131,870 | 8% |
| Fundraising managers | $119,200 | 7% |
Top paying roles will typically require a bachelor’s or master’s degree and several years of experience. Many aspiring social media leaders will get their start with specialist roles in content creation, marketing, communication strategy, or public relations. In these entry-level positions, you can hone your technical and leadership skills to advance your career.
BLS reports average salaries for early career workers in the content creation and social media space. The median annual wage for media and communication workers, which stands at $66,320, surpasses the median annual wage nationally, which is $48,060.
| Jobs | Salary (2023) | Job Outlook (2023-2033) |
|---|---|---|
| News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists | $57,500 | -3% |
| Fundraisers | $64,160 | 6% |
| Public relations specialists | $66,750 | 6% |
| Writers and authors | $73,690 | 5% |
| Market research analysts and marketing specialists | $83,190 | 8% |
The communication management field is growing faster than most occupations, a promising sign for emerging social media leaders. Coastal states like California and New York continue to dominate the job market and pay the highest salaries; however, these states also have the highest costs of living.
Employment of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers is projected to grow 8% from 2023 to 2033, according to the BLS. This amounts to a projected 36,600 job openings each year.
Public relations and fundraising manager positions are growing slightly slower, but still above average. There is a projected 7% growth for these industries, with an estimated 8,900 annual openings through 2033.
| Source | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Payscale | $57,430 |
| Ziprecruiter | $64,850 |
| Indeed | $57,970 |
Other Social Media Roles
Content Strategist
Help organizations meet their financial and communication goals by developing and managing online content to generate leads, sell products, and grow an audience. Content strategists work closely with social media to make sure its presence is part of any marketing or communication plan.
Community Manager
Liaise between your organization and its online followers, acting as the company’s official voice online. Provide support and information to current and potential customers, and interact with other groups to build your organization’s ethos.
Influencer Marketing Manager
Build and manage a team of online influencer partners. Coordinate with other departments to maximize their impact. Monitor and track influencer marketing campaigns.
Social Media Analyst
Research and report on how customers and followers are interacting with a company online to predict future trends and strategize effective marketing and communication plans. Consider how emerging social media platforms and technology could expand your organization’s reach.
Social Media Specialist
Create and publish content across social media platforms to build an organization’s brand and meet marketing goals. Interact with other online users and monitor metrics to increase brand awareness.
Social Media Strategist
Create strategic plans for your organization’s branding, communication, and online social media presence. Use skills like data analytics, planning, content creation, and customer service to grow social engagement and sales.
Brand Manager
Oversee an organization’s online branding to meet company standards and ensure a positive online experience for clients and potential customers. Contribute to communication and marketing efforts to reach and expand target audiences.
5 Free Social Media Management Courses
A changing technological landscape means continuous professional development and upskilling to be competitive in the job market. There are many free social media courses online. While some offer all of their content at no cost, others will offer one free class, a free monthly subscription, or a charge only if you are seeking a course completion certificate. Specialty courses like SEO writing, or how to write an effective hashtag are also options.
Meta’s Social Media Management on Coursera
Part of Meta’s Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate, Coursera’s Social Media Management course helps learners develop content creation and management skills, including how to create effective Facebook and Instagram posts. It takes users about 17 hours to get through five self-paced modules.
Great Learning’s Social Media Management
Quickly learn ways to strategically engage audiences and grow an online brand with Great Learning’s Social Media Management course. The 1.5-hour class for beginners covers the fundamentals of social media management and details five pillars of successful social media campaigns.
HubSpot Academy’s Social Media Marketing Certification Course
HubSpot Academy’s Social Media Marketing Certification class is developed for small business owners, influencers, and marketing managers wanting to maximize their social media impact. Learners explore how to develop engaging and effective social media strategies that focus on inbound traffic creation. The course’s 10 online lessons take most users about 5.5 hours to complete.
Google’s Foundations of Digital Marketing and E-commerce on Coursera
This class is part of Google’s Digital Marketing & E-commerce professional certificate. The course offers foundational knowledge on attracting and engaging online customers, with a focus on growing purchases and customer loyalty. The course has four modules and takes around 18 hours to complete.
CareerFoundry’s Digital Marketing for Beginners
Get an introduction to the most commonly used digital marketing channels and prepare a marketing campaign with Career Foundry’s Digital Marketing for Beginners. There are five self-paced tutorials which expose learners to the different roles of marketing managers, as well to the tools and channels available to improve workflow and measure success.
Certifications for Professional Development
If you are serious about growing your career and want to stand out to potential employers, paid industry certification programs are typically more cost-effective than obtaining an additional degree. These professional development opportunities are especially helpful for mid-career professionals, who are looking to improve their social media skills.
Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate
Learn at your own pace while pursing Meta’s Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate. This series of six courses takes about five months if you can commit 10 hours a week to study. Learners develop practical skills for building an online presence, growing a following, managing social media accounts, and creating Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns.
Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate
This six-month class teaches participants how to manage digital marketing campaigns, attract and engage customers, and sell products online. Students typically spend about 10 hours a week learning the fundamentals of e-commerce. Participants learn from Google how to build e-commerce stores, analyze performance data, and grow customer loyalty.
Hootsuite Academy Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification
Hootsuite’s Advanced Social Media Strategy course is for managers, strategists, and organizational leaders who want to build and scale social strategies. Created in partnership with Syracuse University, the 20-hour self-paced course boasts an academically recognized certificate taught by industry experts. Lessons cover planning, content creation, influencers, social media management, and monitoring.
Cornell University’s Social Media Marketing Certificate
Cornell University’s Social Media Marketing certificate constantly makes top social media professional development lists due to its name recognition and robust program. The online course takes three months, with a projected 5-7 hours of study each week. Topics include how to create and maintain a clear and impactful social media presence, as well as ways to build branding and create targeted content to increase followers and customers. The program also covers influencer campaigns and cross-platform post development.
LinkedIn Learning: Social Media Marketer Learning Path
Discover ways to leverage social media within your overall marketing strategy and connect with consumers online with LinkedIn’s Social Media Marketer Learning Path. There are seven courses and six hours of content. Topics include marketing foundations, page optimization, copywriting, content creation, and strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming a Social Media Manager
Social media management is a relatively new field and employers are still defining the qualifications needed for excellence. Yet, a few key attributes have been noted. Good social media managers are effective communicators and are creative and analytical thinkers. Some employers will want candidates who have at least a bachelor’s degree.
More important than a degree, however, is experience. An online portfolio can showcase your content creation skills and knowledge of social media platforms. Proficiency in SEO, Google Analytics, and Hootsuite is also a plus.
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