In today's digital world, where market competition intensifies every minute, social media marketing is a mandatory tool for attracting and retaining customers. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources, effective use of social media can ensure significant business growth. However, at certain stages of business growth, hiring an in-house SMM manager can be too costly. Therefore, for many entrepreneurs, SMM freelancers are a smart solution to achieve the necessary results in this field.
Who is an SMM Manager?
Let's start with the general definition of an SMM manager. This is a specialist who specializes in social media marketing. Thus, an SMM manager is primarily a marketer responsible for developing communication for the company or brand on social networks, creating and implementing a strategy and content plan to attract the target audience and increase awareness of the company or brand. Their work also includes analyzing the effectiveness of strategies, campaigns, content, and making adjustments to achieve maximum results.
What Are Typically Responsibilities of an SMM Manager?
The core hard skills of an SMM professional include developing social media strategies and content plans, creating and publishing content, engaging with the audience, and collaborating with influencers. They also involve planning and launching targeted advertisements, analyzing results, and optimizing strategies, content plans, and advertising campaigns. A detailed list of SMM manager skills may include:
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Selecting the most relevant platforms for the business, brand, company, or product
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Registering official pages on the chosen platforms
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Developing a presence and promotion strategy in social media
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Creating and managing groups and communities
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Generating content – texts, visuals, photos, videos – either independently or with the assistance of specialists such as copywriters, designers, photographers, or videographers
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Implementing various audience activation tools: viral content, promotions, contests, giveaways, quizzes, surveys
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Planning, setting up, and analyzing targeted advertising
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Executing collaborations with brands, influencers, bloggers, opinion leaders
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Engaging with the target audience: providing feedback through responses to messages and comments, handling complaints, and negative feedback
What Type of SMM Specialist Does Your Business Need?
SMM managers can be divided into two main groups: generalists and specialists.
Generalists typically possess a wide range of skills in all aspects of SMM, including strategy development, content creation, analytics, audience interaction, and advertising campaign management. They can efficiently handle various tasks and provide comprehensive support for a brand or company on social media platforms.
Specialists, on the other hand, specialize in specific areas or tools, such as strategy, analytics, targeting, copywriting, video, or design. They have in-depth knowledge and expertise in their chosen fields, enabling them to provide professional support and achieve excellent results in their respective areas of expertise.
Currently, the most in-demand SMM specialists among small and medium-sized businesses include:
Content Manager is the closest group to generalists. Responsible for developing the brand or company's promotion strategy on social media. They develop and implement a detailed content plan to execute the strategy and ensure the company's presence on social media. Typically, they are also responsible for creating the brand's voice (tone of voice), developing a recognizable visual style, and content categories. They regularly populate social media with relevant content according to approved strategies and content plans.
Copywriter is a specialist in creating texts for social media, based on a deep understanding of the brand, its positioning, and audience. They develop and maintain the brand's voice, which communicates with the audience in their language through texts.
Targetologist is a specialist in setting up targeted advertising campaigns on social media. They are responsible for translating business goals into the objectives of the advertising campaign, searching, segmenting, creating audiences, selecting advertising formats and placements, creating ad creatives, testing, budgeting, analytics, and optimizing advertising campaigns to achieve the best results within optimal budgets and timelines.
Storymaker is a content creator who understands the psychology of the audience and can adapt brand or company stories to its interests and needs. Additionally, storymakers actively engage with the audience, creating opportunities for interaction and engaging them in dialogue. Storymakers work with video and photos, creating dynamic and captivating content for Stories and Reels. They understand how to effectively use various features such as filters, effects, polls, questions, stickers to make content attractive and engaging for the audience.
Where to Find SMM Managers?
SMM specialists can be found on various online freelance platforms Creatvepool being one of the best of them. These web services offer a wide selection of professionals with different levels of experience and pricing proposals. Additionally, candidates can be considered through specialized social networks like LinkedIn, where various marketing and content professionals are well represented. Here, specialized groups and communities can be found for posting vacancies and obtaining recommendations.
How to Assess the Expertise of an SMM Manager?
Assessing the expertise of an SMM manager can be done through a portfolio with previous projects and examples of work, results, conclusions, recommendations, and client feedback. Pay attention to certificates or courses in SMM, experience in SMM and in your industry, a list of services for creating and editing content, data collection and analysis. This will help you get a clear understanding of their skills, competence, achievements, relevance to your business, and tasks.
If the portfolio fits your needs, the next step is to arrange a meeting or call to discuss with the SMM manager and compare your approaches to work and vision for brand presence in social media, which will reveal their creativity, professional skills, and communication level.
Key criteria to select SMM managers:
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Portfolio with examples in the format of before/after or case studies with descriptions of tasks, solution logic, and results
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Commercial clients and their feedback
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Diversity of skills and potential for multitasking
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Number of industries with experience
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Up-to-date modern tools
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General and specialized education
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Unique expertise or experience
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Super skills, specifically what the SMM manager loves and excels at better than others
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Fast and professional communication
What to pay attention to when shortlisting SMM managers for a specific client brief:
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Industry experience
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Experience with similar tasks
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Cases with results
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Availability for the project period
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Compliance with project budget and timing
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Willingness to communicate with the client
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Willingness to complete a test task
What important skills should an SMM manager have?
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Analytical thinking for effective data analysis and development of promotion strategy
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Excellent communication skills for effective interaction with the audience
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Project management for planning and coordination of various SMM initiatives
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Creativity and ability to quickly respond to changes in audience requirements and trends in social media
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Knowledge of SEO basics and advertising strategies in social networks
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Knowledge of advertising and copywriting fundamentals
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Technical proficiency in working with social networks and knowledge of their tools
