Businesses are now using social media channels more than ever because of the benefits these channels offer. They help them save marketing costs, increase their sales and target a wider audience.
However, a business owner has many things to handle, and he needs a team of social media experts to manage his social media business profiles like experts. This is where social media associates come to help. They manage social media profiles and offer numerous services to make a business increase its online reach, conversions, and sales.
A social media associate plays many roles in a company. Read the article to learn what exactly his responsibilities are.
What is a social media associate?
A social media associate is a member of the marketing department and is hired to maintain the organization’s online presence.
He oversees several activities of social media profiles of the company. He helps with strategy development and boosts business visibility on social media. He works with both internal and external marketing teams to ensure the business is properly promoted through social media.
He may also schedule and publish posts, create engaging content, and communicate with customers to resolve their queries and gain trust.
Social media associate is considered an entry-level job where an employer wants someone who can help him manage social media profiles even if the person does not have previous work experience.
Which skills do you need to become a social media associate?
A social media coordinator has multiple skills which help him perform multiple tasks in a firm. Here are the key skills that employers look for in a social media coordinator.
Strong writing skills
You should know which elements make a written piece attractive and engaging and which kind of content should be posted on a particular social media channel. For instance, posts having 1900 to 2000 words perform the best on LinkedIn, but they will most probably fail to create engagement on Instagram, where users prefer concise and crisp content.
So, you should use your writing skills to write different forms of content for different social media channels based on the preference of their audiences.
Give attention to detail
You may have to edit and review social media content before it is published on the company’s business profiles. You need to pay attention to detail and read the content thoroughly to make sure it is error-free and according to the interests and likes of your target audience.
Able to use digital design tools
Although it is the role of a social media designer to design posts and images using digital design tools, you should still know how these tools are used for different purposes. It will help you make necessary amendments to designs when reviewing them.
Social media knowledge
You will have to handle multiple social media channels at once; therefore, you should know how each channel works. Social media channels have some similarities and some differences. You should be aware of both so you can make the best use of them for the sake of the company’s profit.
Measure and check metrics
You cannot determine the success of your social media content and campaigns if you do not analyze and measure their metrics. You should know how to analyze conversions, response rate, the share of voice, referrals, and engagement, as these are some of the most important social media metrics that one must track to measure success.
Good spoken and written communication skills
A social media associate communicates with different team members, such as content creators and photographers, and shares his views about their work. He also communicates with the social media marketing manager and gives him reports on the current updates.
If the manager asks him to make amendments to the current social media marketing strategy, he will have to discuss the suggestion with the marketing team. You can discuss those suggestions clearly only if you are good at communication and you know how to convey a message properly.
Ability to respond to the changes well
When you create content, and the manager asks you to change it, you should show flexibility and have the ability to respond to those changes fast. You should be adaptable, so you can make necessary changes to the strategies and make them successful.
Ability to work collaboratively with other teams
As a social media associate, you will have to work in a marketing department consisting of different teams. You will have to work with numerous team members on different projects. Your collaborative abilities will help you listen to other team members attentively, accept your mistakes, respect the diversity of your co-workers, and work towards a common goal.
What does a social media associate do?
A social media associate performs the following duties in an organization.
Create rich and engaging content
He creates high-impact and shareable content to engage or inform the target audience. The content can be in any form, such as written posts, animation, graphics, or video, depending on the social media content strategy goals.
Design strategies to promote content on social media channels
Users of different social media platforms have different preferences. A post that generates engagement on LinkedIn may not work the same way on Instagram.
Therefore, a social media associate develops strategies to share content on different platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn such that it generates maximum engagement on each platform. He knows which kind of content works the best on which platform.
Manage social media profiles
A social media coordinator handles social profiles. He makes sure content is posted on time in a positive way. He checks content before it is posted on social channels to ensure it aligns with the brand tone and voice.
Strengthen relationships with influencers
Influencer marketing is growing every year. More than 80% of buyers have purchased something after getting a recommendation from influencers.
A social media coordinator realizes the value of influencers and establishes a professional relationship with them to make sure social media marketing goals are met properly.
Create a report of social media metrics
Social media metrics should be observed every day to ensure posts and campaigns are generating the results you want. These metrics tell you about the number of impressions, likes, comments, followers, and leads you get every day.
A social media coordinator first understands all metrics himself, and then creates a report to discuss the results with management and team members.
Help increase the number of followers and sales
Another task that a social media coordinator plays is increasing the number of likes or followers gradually. Every day many new users join social media channels. Every second, more than 11 people use social media for the first time.
As the number of social media users increases, the social media coordinator ensures his number of followers also rises. For this, he uses different techniques, including content optimization, regular content creation, and collaboration with influencers.
Understand emerging trends
New trends, social media features, and technologies are emerging fast. It is important to keep up with these changes to ensure your content does not look outdated or boring. Live videos, ephemeral content, and chatbot communication are some of the top 2022 trends.
A social coordinator adds these trends to his social media marketing strategy and makes the best use of new trends to gain the audience’s attention and boost post engagement.
Generate ideas for content
He works with writers and content creators to help them come up with innovative and fresh content ideas. Good content helps a brand increase not only its followers but also its sales. That’s why a social media coordinator makes sure fresh new content is produced and posted every day.
The guide to becoming a social media associate
You can become a social media associate by following these steps.
Complete your bachelor’s degree: As mentioned earlier, social media associate is an entry-level job. Most employers look for fresh graduates for this post. They prefer candidates with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, mass communication, social media marketing, or a related field that shows you have the knowledge you need to successfully run social media profiles.
Learn skills that make you marketable: A social media associate should have numerous skills, including SEO, metrics analysis, and content creation. When completing your bachelor’s degree, you can enroll in online or physical courses that teach these skills. You can also find many free resources on the internet where you can learn these skills from online gurus.
Create your professional profiles on different social media channels: Creating your profiles on social channels will offer you many benefits.
First, you will be able to test your skills and use them every day, which will help you learn them better and gain experience. Second, if your content is engaging and your profiles have a large following, potential clients will automatically get attracted to your profiles and inspired by your work. They will see your potential and may hire you for their own social media profiles.
Work for small agencies to have experience: Your knowledge and skills are important if you want to acquire a job, but many employers also consider previous experience. Therefore, once you have learned basic skills, start working for small agencies or businesses to sharpen your skills. Working in an office will also help you see what an office life looks like and how to work professionally in a team.
Apply for the job: If you have a company in mind where you have always wanted to work, then wait for its social media associate vacancy to come up. Follow the company’s social media profiles to learn about their social email strategy and talk about it during the interview to make a good impression on the interviewee.
If you don’t have any such company in mind, check job websites every day where employers publish jobs frequently.
Work independently: A job related to social media gives you the freedom to work independently as well. You can create professional profiles on popular freelance platforms and start selling your social media-related services to clients worldwide.
Later, you can create a small agency and hire a team of skilled social media specialists to work for you to meet your client’s needs.
Social media associate salary in the US
As of May 2022, Glassdoor reports that the average total salary of a social media coordinator is around $59,387 per year. It consists of a $43,026 annual base salary and $16,361 annual additional salary (commissions, tips, cash bonuses, etc.).
The highest salary of a social coordinate can be around $68,084 per year, while the lowest salary can be around $34,356 per year.
A day in the life of a social media associate
Most social media associates come to the office at 9 in the morning. They first check their emails and voicemails to respond to important messages earlier. They check their meeting schedule and attend meetings with management and other teams when required.
They work with social media designers, photographers, and writers to ensure content is being produced according to the company’s set goals. They review their content and publish it on all social media profiles of the company.
They run social media campaigns, and if a campaign is already running, they analyze its metrics to see if it is generating the results they want or not. If the results are not according to their expectations, they discusses it with the social media marketing manager and makes changes to the campaign according to the manager’s suggestions.
They respond to customers’ comments and DMs. They set up meetings with social media influencers to share their social media goals with them and establish a strong professional relationship. They wind up their work before 5 pm and write down tasks for the next day before leaving the office.
Summary
A social media associate can be a writer, designer, social media handler, and much more based on a company’s needs. Your roles and responsibilities will vary depending on the requirements of the company you work for.
If you are interested in becoming a social media associate, make sure you get a bachelor’s degree and learn basic social media skills like SEO, marketing, writing, communication, etc.