Social media is a complex, digital ecosystem that is continuously evolving. At the helm is our social media manager. Wearing multiple hats, the social media manager is in charge of strategizing and executing on all the social media activities of their business. Learn how to be a social media manager with this handy guide and excel at it! Go back to school with Hootsuite University and get ahead with a Hootsuite certification: http://signup.hootsuite.com/hsu-back-to-school/

1. GUIDE
How to Excel as
a Social Media
Manager
A Hootsuite Guide

2. How to Excel as a
Social Media Manager
A Hootsuite Guide
Social media is a complex, digital ecosystem that is
continuously evolving. At the helm is our social media
manager. Wearing multiple hats, the social media
manager is in charge of strategizing and executing on
all the social media activities of their business. From
marketing, customer service or social HR, social media
managers have their fingers on the pulse of both what
clients want and what their company needs.
The Many Hats of a Social Media Manager
To keep up with the modern consumer, brands need
to be one step ahead on social media. This is where
social media managers come in. These digitally savvy
experts have a diverse and demanding role, not only
developing their company’s social media strategy, but
also executing and monitoring campaigns and activities,
measuring results, proving social ROI, growing their
online community, and much more.
This guide will look at the key responsibilities of
today’s leading social media manager and help you
get ahead:
HOW TO EXCEL AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER 2
Social Media
Strategy
Monitoring &
Engagement
Audience Building
& Community
Management
Content Creation,
Curation &
Planning
Measurement &
Reporting
Training &
Support

3. HOW TO EXCEL AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER 3
Social Media Strategy
When creating your overarching social media strategy,
be sure to develop and incorporate:
‹‹Key social media goals and objectives
‹‹Audit of the company’s current social media status
‹‹Content strategy and calendar
‹‹Crisis management
‹‹Analytics and metrics to track progress
Getting started on the basics of your social media
strategy can often be challenging. First thing’s first,
set goals and objectives. They will be the compass by
which all your social media initiatives are directed. Social
media goals should always be directly aligned with
your company’s overall objectives. This will help you
prove the ROI of your social initiatives, and help you get
the executive buy-in and support that you need to be
successful.
Content Creation, Curation & Planning
The foundation of all marketing campaigns is content.
Creating content that’s relevant and useful to your
audience is the best way to keep your business top-of-
mind and help build meaningful relationships with
prospects and customers.
You’ll need to identify what type of content you intend to
post, and how you’ll be using social to promote it. This
ties back to knowing your audience.
Following relevant influencers and businesses in your
industry to will allow you to curate content that is
relevant to your audience. Dig a little deeper and find
out what social networks your customers, competitors
and influencers are using, and start engaging through
the most relevant channels.
Tip: Make sure your social media goals
are “smart” – specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic and time bound. It
is vital to make your goals measurable
so that you can track your progress
towards each goal. To test how measurable your goal
is, ask yourself what it will look like when partially or
completely achieved. If you don’t know, go back to
your overall company objectives and ensure your
social media goals are directly aligned. Check the
“smart” acronym again, and make sure you’ve set your
goals up to be highly measurable.
“Different social networks attract different
audiences. For instance, our Instagram
account attracts aspiring photographers;
our Pinterest following caters more toward
females; Twitter attracts those interested
in our product releases and news stories.
Knowing this, we share relevant content and
grow distinct communities.”
Allison Butula, Social Media Manager at Herschel
Tip: When creating and curating
content, it’s important to be mindful
of your audience’s motivations. When
planning each piece of content, be sure
to answer the following key questions
to ensure you’re delivering value:
AAHow does this content add value for our
audience?
AAHow will this content help or entertain them?
AAWhy will they share this content?

4. HOW TO EXCEL AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER 4
Monitoring/Engagement
As a social media manager, you need to be proactive,
listen, and engage with your audience. Rather than
waiting for prospects to reach out to you, proactively
engage with those actively mentioning your brand on
social. By actively listening through your social media
channels, you’ll be able to:
‹‹Track brand mentions, competitors, key industry
terms and relative keywords
‹‹Identify opportunities as they happen so you can
respond in real time
‹‹Turn customers into advocates by engaging with
them and resolving their issues or questions
‹‹Gain actionable insights into what people are saying
about your business on social media
‹‹Monitor the social media presence of your
competitors to stay up to speed
Audience Building & Community
Management
While content is core to the success of any marketing
campaign, it’s crucial to first understand and effectively
target your audience so you can create and deliver
relevant and valuable content. In order to develop a
long lasting, engaged community, there needs to be
consistent, valuable and authentic communication
between you and your audience.
Considerations when identifying and growing your
online community:
‹‹Research, understand and invest in your audience
‹‹Add relevant people to social accounts and lists –
follow, retweet, engage
‹‹Understand what you want to ask your audience
and why
‹‹Identify and get to know key influencers in your
industry
‹‹Give extra love to those interested in your brand –
send them a tweet or a shout out on Facebook!
As a social media manager, you’ll also need to identify
and manage your company’s social media capacity.
Based on the resources available, you’ll need to decide
if and how you want to scale and grow your online
community and your social media presence. In order to
expand, you may need additional support.
Tip: Social media can be noisy and
overwhelming. Because of the sheer
volume of activity and buzz online, it can
be difficult to know what to monitor and
when to engage.
One way to manage this is by setting up specific
keyword and hashtag search streams in Hootsuite,
creating and populating streams with exactly what you
are looking to monitor.
71% of consumers who experience a quick and
effective brand response on social media are
more likely to recommend that brand to others
Tip: If you’re the only one managing
your company’s social media efforts,
you may need to make a case to
your boss for bringing on additional
resources. Put together a high level
presentation to highlight your success so far, and
showcase how expanding your social efforts will
contribute to the company’s bottom line.

5. Hootsuite Certification allows you to become a
pro with today’s leading social media management
tool and showcase your skills through recognized
industry credentials.
Get Hootsuite Certified Today
HOW TO EXCEL AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER 5
Measurement & Reporting
In order to understand the impact of your social
media efforts, it’s crucial to identify the right metrics to
measure your progress towards your key social media
goals. Keep in mind that your social media goals cannot
live in a vacuum. Make sure they directly tie back to your
company’s overall objectives, so that your social efforts
can contribute to your company’s bottom line. This will
help you gain the executive buy-in and support that you
need to be successful as a social media manager.
Once you have identified the right campaign metrics,
you’ll need to report on these in a way that is relevant
to your key internal stakeholders. Analytic reports help
explain the value that social media is adding to the
business, proving the value of your all your hard work!
Training and Support
While HR typically supports employee training and
development, social media is new for most companies.
As the in-house social media expert, you may also
be expected to get your team up to speed on the
fundamentals of social media, industry best practices,
and platform training. As social media impacts all
aspects of your business, you will soon see that it will
no longer be the exclusive responsibility of a single
person, team or department. Therefore, it’s important
to streamline social media skills and knowledge across
your team or department, whenever possible.
Tip: Not sure which metrics to report on?
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
AATo increase social media engagement
report on: Likes, Shares, Comments,
Retweets, Mentions, Favorites.
AATo increase traffic to your website measure: URL
clicks and traffic from social media.
AATo increase brand awareness measure: Follower
Growth Rate, % Change Over Time in Followers,
Twitter Sentiment, Reach by Region, Clicks by Region
Tip: Fundamental social media training
and education within Hootsuite
University will help any business get
up to speed with current social media
strategies. Your team can explore
hundreds of videos on areas such as the dos & don’ts
of social media etiquette, how to set up social media
profiles for business success, best practices from the
top social networks, and walkthrough training on the
Hootsuite dashboard.
Now that you’ve learned key tips and tricks to getting ahead as a social media manager, it’s important to showcase
your expertise and gain industry recognition, so you can stand out from the pack.