What does an SMM manager do? What to do if there is not enough content? Required knowledge and skills of an SMM specialist

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An SMM marketer is a specialist who attracts traffic from social networks for companies.

Such an employee can be compared to a magician. One who skillfully juggles several objects in the air at once. All the attention of the public at this moment is concentrated on the circus performer. The same is true in social media marketing. A true professional in this field is a one-man orchestra. He is operating big amount tools to gather around the brand target audience, expand its coverage, increase profits. There is only one difference - people look at the brand, and not at the SMMer himself.

Ideal SMM marketer for the project

It's not easy to be such a specialist. To give you an idea of the scale, a few years ago an article was published about one hundred skills that he should master. We will talk about key skills. In general, such an employee is responsible for all work with content, communications and traffic.

What are the responsibilities of an SMM marketer?

Analysis of competitors' activities.
Preference and Response Research potential buyers.
Drawing up a content plan for the month.
Preparation of a brand or product promotion strategy.
Creation, content and maintenance of a group, public, account.
Communication with users, etc.
Attracting people to the community.
Studying new trends and implementing them when necessary.
Conducting competitions and quizzes.
Setting up targeting and contextual advertising, searching for a site for its placement.
Track metrics using special services(number of subscribers, growth in coverage, number of transitions to the site, company recognition, involvement, user activity, return on money invested in promotion).

Qualities and skills of a good SMM manager

Do you like to use social networks? Can you communicate with different people? Do you have analytical thinking? If you answered “yes” to all these questions, you have a good chance of becoming a... Of course, you will need many more skills to grow into a professional.

Literacy. Communities run by a specialist are the face of the brand. Mistakes are unacceptable, as they can cause negative reactions from subscribers.
Introduction to graphic editors. Most of the content you will have to deal with is visual. Resizing an image, adding a logo to it, enhancing a photo - all this should not be a problem for you.
Knowledge. It is very important to learn at least the basics, because this position involves working with the company’s reputation, attracting clients, managing advertising and its budget.
Ability to write texts. You need to know the nuances and formulas of writing informational and regular posts. You also need to have an instinct and understand what your target audience will like.
Understanding psychology. The specialist’s responsibilities include communicating with subscribers, increasing visitor activity, responding to negative reviews and messages.
Creative thinking. You will need it in order to easily generate new promotion ideas, create competitions, promotions, and features to increase audience engagement.
Knowledge of web analytics tools and services that help evaluate work results.

How to become an SMM specialist

There are no educational institutions where you can obtain the necessary skills, but there are numerous courses. It will be a good help higher education marketer. But the only guarantee of success for an SMM manager is constant self-education.

Read books on PR, SEO, copywriting, advertising. All this will be useful in your activities.
Watch video tutorials. There are many free materials on YouTube and other sites.
Take online and regular master classes. Don't miss the chance to chat live with an expert. This way you will receive valuable advice and be inspired by his example.
Public pages, groups, blogs, Instagrams on relevant topics. There are a lot of them: Cossa, SMMPlanner, Popartmarketing, Instashkola, vk.com/bizness_online, vk.com/cerebro_vk and more.

There are a lot of sources; you need to be able to structure the information received and immediately apply it in practice. Remember that theoretical training is important, but it will not make you a professional. How to gain invaluable experience?

To start, do personal accounts on those sites where you want to work first. You can immediately apply all the knowledge gained in your account. In addition, it will be strange if an SMM marketer does not have his own page. This way you will kill two birds with one stone: you will start creating personal brand and gain skills.

There are several more ways to learn how to promote on social networks from scratch:

Come up with a company and promote it.
Create communities for the businesses of your acquaintances.
Find companies that clearly need help and offer your services.
Get a job as an intern at an agency or with a well-known specialist.

How to learn to write

You need practice. The more you write, the better you get at it. Read books about sales and informational texts, think about what interests your audience (real or fictional) and get started. You can create your own tasks or register on a content exchange. The second option is less suitable, since an interesting task is not always found. But for completing it you will receive payment (albeit small), and you will overcome fear clean slate and get an idea of what commercial articles are.

An SMM specialist is a complex and in-demand profession. If you decide to become an SMM specialist, get ready for constant self-education, experiments and irregular days. Very often, such specialists are in touch most of the day, since you also need to be a community manager, which means answering subscribers’ questions in a timely manner. This can be called the main disadvantage of working on social networks. Otherwise, this is an exciting activity, during which you will gain a lot of knowledge and skills in related fields and become a sought-after employee.

An SMM manager is a specialist in promoting a brand, website, goods or services using social platforms on the Internet, which include: social networks, blogs, forums.

Wage

30,000–50,000 rub. (rabota.yandex.ru)

Place of work

An SMM manager is in demand in all companies that are in one way or another represented in the Internet environment or carry out e-commerce: advertising agencies, online stores, online media, online representative offices famous brands. A specialist can work in an office or conduct business remotely.

Responsibilities

SMM (Social Media Marketing) is a comprehensive strategy similar to work professional marketer. The range of responsibilities of a specialist is large. The SMM manager studies the target audience of the project, finds sites where they are represented in the greatest concentration, and creates a promotion strategy. The work is further divided into several areas:

Important qualities

A specialist must have such qualities as: an excellent sense of humor, sociability, an active life position, a positive attitude towards any difficulties, stress resistance, organization, focus on results, creativity, an analytical mind, as well as the ability to competently express one’s thoughts orally and in writing.

Reviews about the profession

“An SMM manager is... a universal specialist, capable of efficiently managing people and processes within social platform brand."

Yuri Gladky,
Director of the digital agency GRAPE.

Stereotypes, humor

Many companies have already stopped underestimating the power social media, so they are increasingly hiring SMM specialists on staff. However, due to the novelty of the specialty as such, there is still no clear idea of the manager’s workload and remuneration. An SMM manager must be able to defend his point of view and constantly demonstrate the real benefits that he brings to the company.

Education

Many people mistakenly believe that any young person who is active in life can become an SMM manager. However, a specialist with education in the field of advertising, PR and marketing will be able to perform the duties efficiently. You can study at such universities as: St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions, Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A. I. Herzen, St. Petersburg State University.

Humanitarian universities in Moscow: Academy of Social Management, State Academic University of Humanities, Institute of Humanities, Institute of Humanitarian Education and information technologies, Institute of Journalism and Literary Creativity.

Daria Golovanova

Reading time: 14 min.

Perhaps the fastest growing profession on the Internet for last years- SMM manager. It has already accumulated various stories, misunderstandings and myths, such as that this is a job for schoolchildren, etc. It seems to us that it is time to start debunking them. Let's figure out what is meant in job descriptions, why an SMM specialist is actually needed, and how he should work.

What might be the responsibilities of an ideal SMM manager?

The main responsibilities of the person responsible for SMM in the company may include:

building a general strategy for the brand’s presence on social networks;
turning this strategy into reality;
the ability to feel and understand the brand, focus all actions on its target audience and communicate in its language
reasonable budget management, maintenance and analysis of advertising campaigns;
the ability to take beautiful photographs. Even on the phone. Small business can no longer be imagined without beautiful profile there is nowhere else on Instagram, and ordering a lot of shoots is not always the best a budget option. That’s why photo content often has to be implemented by the SMM manager;
have a sense of beauty and be able to catch trends.
competent written language, ability to write and correct text content;
Knowledge of at least the basics of layout and understanding of usability to optimize a site for social networks is highly recommended;
and, of course, the ability to work with people and the skills of a psychologist are very important;
and etc.

Ksenia Prokina, Editorial Group Head Sociorama by iConGroup:

“Today, different employers often define in their own way who an SMM specialist is in his company, and what exactly he should do. In interviews, the conversation often begins like this: “Let’s define what we mean by this word.” So, one employer sees in this position an employee who, having decided on a goal, breaks it down into tasks, selects tools, briefs, controls, and reports to the SMM director or head of the marketing department. And the other will indicate such tasks as: writing content, moderating communities, working in tandem with a designer, reporting. But he will not, for example, control the budget, select promotion tools, etc.

The fact is that it is unrealistic to cover the entire pool of tasks and do it manually. We are now talking, of course, about real professionals, and not about schoolchildren or mothers on maternity leave, who were inspired by the opportunity to make money on the Internet. Therefore, ideally, tasks are divided into several employees by specialization, for example, I am responsible for content, moderation and design.”

As you can see, the hands of a good CMM specialist should grow bushily: he should be versatile and ready to perform a wide range of work.

Now let’s start debunking the myths that have taken root in our heads.

Myth 1. Working on social networks is for interns and students

Social media marketing is one of the necessary tasks for business development of any scale. If you think that this is some kind of childish task that any schoolchild can do, then you can put an end to your reputation. Incorrect positioning, low-quality content, lack of understanding of strategy and goals - all this will, at best, lead to a decrease in the number of subscribers, and at worst, will negatively affect the attitude towards the brand and sales.

Myth 2. Social networks are the same job for 8 hours 5 days a week

Here's another common stereotype. Social media marketing is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day. To SMM marketing had significant authority on social networks, you need to always be online. This means that you must be able to use various planning tools, ideally be able to answer questions from potential buyers at any time of the day or night (after all, the Internet never sleeps).

Myth 3. You won’t achieve effective and measurable results from an SMM marketer

Measuring the results and effectiveness of work in SMM today also does not seem impossible. There are several options to track the results of an SMM manager’s work:

Pay attention to reach, user engagement, conversion of paid traffic into social traffic. And don’t forget to track ROI - an indicator of return on investment on SMM.
Track growth rates of ER - engagement index.
Analyze the place of SMM in associated conversions. This way you can evaluate the employee's return on investment.

Myth 4. All the work is just asking friends and acquaintances to like posts to increase the level of social presence.

Experienced SMM specialists will not constantly ask friends and relatives to like their posts. They know very well that they will not be able to deceive the program that calculates the activity coefficient. It is a little more complicated than users are used to thinking. This is why it is so important to work on the creativity of posts and interact with a large number of audiences.

Myth 5: We don’t need it at all

Social media is not suitable for our industry.” A lot of people think this way. In our courses, one of the most common questions is what should we write about, we are from B2B. Especially B2B manufacturing companies, such as construction, industry, etc.

However, while they and their B2B partners do not understand how to implement social media, their employees are still socially active people, and they also like to surf the web, watch the news on interesting topics, including their professional orientation. Look around you: from children to grandparents, everyone is on social media these days.

A common mistake B2B companies make is to view their customers as just other companies, rather than the people who work for them, who are just as socially accessible as everyone else.

In principle, this is possible. But only if there is unique product and with initially perfectly designed marketing.

Myth 6. The demand for SMM specialists has already been formed

As we can see in the graph, the demand for SMM specialists began to increase significantly since January 2016, and the number of vacancies has almost doubled, as a result of which competition is intensifying.

Myth 7. An SMM manager should be cheap

Today there is a generally accepted opinion that it is quite possible to get by with small budgets for initial stage SMM promotions. Of course, SMM services today do not have any fixed cost, and each company can set its own “price tag”.

But when starting to work with SMM, it is extremely important to understand that a one-time promotion will give absolutely nothing to the business. SMM must be integrated into the marketing communications system for any type of business, and it is advisable to expect results only with regular work.

Of course, you can pay a specialist less, but in this case, you should not expect the predicted result; it may turn out to be zero. Many employers continue to turn to freelancers who are ready to “do SMM for $200,” but after 1-2 months of wasted time, money and nerves, they turn to professionals for help.

Therefore, if you are really ready to spend some money one-time, it’s better to go through a good SMM intensive to understand the big picture and what your SMM manager should do directly. Such a course will give you a clear understanding of where, on what and with what efficiency your budgets and paid “man-hours” will be spent.

Myth 8. It is not necessary for an SMM manager to have many subscribers himself?

Maybe yes. But not “bots”. Agree, it’s very undignified when a person has 4,000 friends, and on his wall there are cats liked by his mother.

If you decide to communicate through the manager’s personal page, then it can become another channel of communication with clients. In addition to posting, he can ideally become an opinion leader, able to tell your customers everything about the company, products, and in a friendly manner. After all, if you love your project, you won’t be ashamed to tell your friends about it, otherwise, you shouldn’t take on it.

However, there are many professional SMM specialists who, on the contrary, appear minimally on social networks. Perhaps it's a matter of satiety with social networks.

Most The right way communication with the client in this case - the formation of a separate work page. After all, many people want to tell everything honestly on their page, for example, about a brand. But in this case, the manager has no right to represent his company with such messages on the wall.

Myth 9. SMM specialist can do everything

Very often, the SMM manager can be required to do anything - calculate budgets, do promotion, draw, dance, etc. But as a rule, people who claim that they can do all this are definitely lacking in something.

It is important to decide what work can be done inhouse, and what can be entrusted simply to the control of an SMM manager. For example, write content within the brand and promote it with the help of a contractor. Or vice versa.

Of course, SMM is a complex topic. There are really big budgets here, every day something changes and something new is invented.

SMM managers, and not only - write your comments and additions in the comments, what stereotypes do you encounter in your work?

The profession of SMM manager is confidently gaining popularity among progressive Russian (and not only) youth. And this is not surprising: active computerization of commercial activities requires the participation of specialists in promoting online sites, manufactured or sold goods, and services provided. This is precisely what SMM managers are required for – specialists in working with content and social networks.

Smm manager: responsibilities

Why do you think some posts receive tens or even thousands of likes, while others go unnoticed? It's simple: effective post made by a professional SMM manager who knows how to create “catchy” texts, use “explosive” topics and create “bright” names.

He is well versed in the environment of social networks, understands their functionality, marketing, psychology, copywriting, SEO. He knows how to work with a special, unique, narrow-profile audience, and easily determines the preferences of the target group. Often SMM specialists are familiar with the work graphic editors, understand layout and programming. Another important plus is excellent knowledge of Russian or another working language.

Promoting websites on social networks is an extremely dynamic process that requires active life position, constant development, the ability to process enormous amounts of information, adherence to strict deadlines. In addition, the specialist must be able to use analytics sites, track user behavior and interesting this moment Topics.

Job responsibilities of an SMM manager

Development of a website/product/service promotion strategy. The manager, independently or with the help of in-house marketers, determines the target audience, its needs, interests, monitors behavior, placement and location on the network. The SMM specialist also develops a loyalty system for target visitors of the Internet resource and improves the usability of the site.
Development of an online advertising company. The employee prepares a plan for advertising online, determines its budget, directions, and monitors changes in conversion.
Monitoring the company's online reputation. Specialist keeps track public opinion about the quality of the company’s services/products, directs users’ opinions “in the right direction,” works with problem customers, complaints, objections, removes negative reviews or “hot” comments from the site that could harm the company’s reputation.
Creation and placement quality content . As a rule, employers often require experience in writing articles, posts, creating and editing pictures, and video editing skills from an SMM manager.
Posting information about the company on social networks. This is one of the main responsibilities of an SMM specialist.
Analysis of competitor activity. The employee monitors the activity of competing companies on the Internet, analyzes their work methods and adopts the most effective ones.

An SMM manager can work both remotely and in the office on a 5/2 schedule. (Read the link for why one of the most promising forms of labor.)

A lazy, measured person who types phrases on the keyboard with one finger will clearly not like this profession.

That is why recruiting managers pay attention to the following qualities of candidates for this position:

analytic skills;
strategic planning skills;
experience of successful forecasting;
communication skills;
broad-minded, quick learner;
stress resistance;
sense of humor.

How much does an SMM specialist earn? In different ways, depending on the regions. For example, in Moscow he can earn 30-80 thousand, a professional with 5 years of experience can find a job for 100-120 thousand rubles. In addition, SMM managers often create personal communities, successfully promote them on social networks and make good money from advertising.

You can learn important skills in this profession from this video:

The profession of SMM manager was finally formed only in 2010, when social networks took a strong position as a platform for business promotion.

SMM specialists are responsible for promoting brands, products and services on social networks, and the scope of their responsibilities greatly depends on the concept of the project. For example, for one project you can do , and for another.

Everything that an SMM manager does is aimed at making a profit from social networks. The specialist attracts traffic, works with the audience, and shapes their opinion about the brand.

The main responsibilities of an SMM manager include: Strategy Development
company presence on social networks. A specialist usually forms a clear promotion goal: increasing the flow of customers, increasing brand loyalty, setting oneself apart from competitors, and so on. Creation and design thematic communities
, groups, pages, publics. Drawing up media plans and.
content plans Content generation
– both with and without the involvement of “contractors” (designers and copywriters). Promotion groups, pages, publics and so on. This includes the creation and configuration advertisements
, holding competitions and attracting traffic by any other available means. Analysis
conversion indicators and adjustment of advertising campaigns depending on the results. Communication
— creating responses to negative and positive user messages. Making report

and analytical work.

These are the main responsibilities of an SMM manager. Depending on the project, its functions may expand or, conversely, narrow. For example, it is often practiced to promote groups by a team in which one is responsible for content, another for advertising, a third for design, and so on. Many professionals provide additional training to their assistants. Each project usually has a clear job description

for specialists.

Key skills of an SMM manager

Important skills of an SMM manager, without which his services will not have the desired effect, are: communication skills
: a specialist must be able to communicate with different audiences in their language; equilibrium
: it helps to get out of unpleasant situations with dignity; responsibility:
the specialist is obliged to finish what he starts and not abandon the project halfway; stress resistance
– without it it is impossible to resolve force majeure situations; resistance to criticism

These requirements are often found in job vacancies. Some companies are ready to provide training to beginners, while paying the minimum salary if they have good personal qualities.

How to find a job as an SMM manager?

An SMM manager must be able to independently search for orders. Many specialists work as freelancers and are looking for new clients with the help of:

social networks- you can start working page and publish cases, tips, your thoughts and other interesting things there potential clients content;
mailings resumes for vacancies on various sites such as HeadHunter, Avito, Rabota.ru and so on;
KP mailings – commercial offers- By different companies, in which there are no open vacancies, but their presence on social networks is minimal;
publication of resumes on special portals such as Avito and other well-known resources;
freelance exchanges type Kwork, fl.ru, freelance.ru and so on.

Over time, many specialists are approached by recommendation, and then the SMM manager is not looking for a job - it “floats” into his hands. True, this only applies to those who really know their business well and increase company profits through their development on social networks.

How much does a specialist earn? The exact amount depends on the scope of responsibilities, region of promotion, company budget and other factors. For example, average salary experienced specialist in Moscow as of May 2016, according to HeadHunter, amounted to 60,000 rubles. Statistics were collected based on 220 vacancies.