The days of a single touchpoint with customers are long gone. Today, businesses need to manage multiple channels, across a range of timezones just to keep pace with their audiences. 

That’s where a social media manager comes in. 

What is a social media manager?

Did you know 43% of consumers increased their social media use to discover new products in the last year? When organizations aren’t on social channels they run the risk of losing entire markets. 

A social media manager is the team member responsible for building and executing your company’s social media strategy, measuring the results of these campaigns, and making strategic changes based on the data. 

They are a brand builder who constantly adjusts the strategies and tactics they use to better connect with your target audience based on what’s trending and what their customer base responds to most.

On a day-to-day basis, a social media manager job may entail:

  • Planning, creating, and scheduling social media posts
  • Building and budgeting for ad campaigns
  • Responding to comments and direct messages
  • Tracking and analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Identifying and researching new trends and competition

The bottom line? Social media managers are a crucial part of any successful company.

6 reasons your company needs a social media manager

It’s a business's job to meet customers where they are and today that means social media. The number of social media users in 2021 jumped by more than 13% since 2020, according to research by HootSuite. In fact, the most recent data showed an increase of more than half a billion users in just 12 months.

If that’s not reason enough to get a social media manager, here are six more.

1. To track your brand and product reputation on social media

Today a brand's reputation is everything, and much of that image is dependent on social media channels and online reviews. Brand image makes such an impression on someone's decision to purchase, you must have someone dedicated to regularly monitoring your reputation online. 

A study by Motista found that customers with an emotional relationship to a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value and will recommend the company at a rate of 71%, compared to the average rate of 45%. Clearly, the effort needed to monitor brand reputation is well worth it. 

Yet curating a thoughtful brand image and managing online conversation around your business is no small task. Social media managers are at the forefront of this effort. These professionals keep their finger on the pulse of sentiment about your business.

2. To ensure effective customer service

Customers are increasingly turning to online messaging when looking to get answers or problems resolved. Research by Facebook found that:

  • 64% of people would rather message than call a business
  • 70% of people expect to message businesses more in the future for customer service questions

Social media channels are now also a hot spot for customer service. It’s critical to have a person (or more) dedicated to manning these platforms so your customers always get a response in a reasonable time frame. 

According to the Sprout Social Index, over 75% of consumers expect a response to their messages in 24 hours and over 35% of the respondents seek a response within 1 hour.Social customer support is highly effective because it allows customers to reach your team on the platforms they already use. You’ll need a social media manager to lead these efforts.

3. To run key social campaigns

Over 70% of marketers who use paid channels online use paid social. At this point, if your social media strategy doesn’t involve a mix of paid and organic posting, you may be a bit behind. That's because social media has become the go-to place for consumers to research and purchase products.

Paid social advertising helps your brand get more exposure without relying on organic platform algorithms and their ongoing changes. Social media managers will make strategic decisions about how you target your audience, build customer journeys, and get people to your site to make a purchase.

4. To strengthen your marketing team

When done correctly, social media is a full-time job. Often, on smaller marketing teams, social media responsibilities are handed off to content leaders. While this keeps the lights on for your social channels, it likely leaves you without a complete picture of performance, brand voice or strategies for further engagement. 

Social media managers are an important hire. These professionals allow the rest of your team time to focus on what they do best while ensuring you are getting the most out of your different channels.

5. To truly understand your audience

Social media intelligence means the knowledge or insights gained from analysing social media data. These data points help you better understand your customers’ needs so you can deliver the right products and services. 

More than half of social marketers currently use data to understand their target audience better. That’s because social media holds the key to understanding the bigger picture of who your customers are. 

Social media intelligence is ultimately about helping make business decisions based on social media analysis and data. It’s often also called social business intelligence, for this reason.

6. To own social listening

Social listening is the practice of monitoring of your brand's social media channels for any customer feedback and direct mentions of your brand or discussions regarding: 

  • Specific keywords
  • Topics
  • Competitors
  • Industries

This is usually followed by an analysis to gain insights and act on those opportunities. This analysis can affect everything from social strategy to product updates and beyond. 

For decades brands have attempted to gauge public opinions and customer feedback through surveys, technology has caught up to make surveys redundant. From advanced digital consumer insights to straightforward social listening tools, there are platforms dedicated to unlocking key insights. 

People are talking about anything and everything online, it’s just a matter of having a social media manager on board to find them.

Social media managers are crucial to your team

If you thought social media professionals were just posting memes and liking tweets, you’re wrong. This role requires a person who is adept at multitasking, has an eye on branding and knows how to execute on strategies quickly. 

To remain competitive in a saturated landscape, you need to make sure your business is meeting people where they are. And, today, social media is where they are waiting.