From the author: hello my dear readers! Today I would like to talk about the popular and, most importantly, in demand Internet profession SMM specialist! No one will deny that the Internet has a huge impact on the life of every person, especially social networks. On the Internet, we can not only communicate, get acquainted and find various useful information, but also order services and buy goods. If you belong to the category of people who like to combine business with pleasure, if you are interested in the question: how to become an SMM specialist and earn money using your favorite social networks, then this article is for you!
Who is an SMM specialist?
I want to note right away that an SMM manager is a universal specialist who manages the presence and promotion of a brand on social networks and channels, such as Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, My World, etc.
Its main tasks are to strengthen the client's image, increase the coverage of the interested audience, process the negative, as well as neutralize the "black PR" in social networks.
The main goal of a social media specialist is to create a positive image for his customer. The SMM manager develops a plan to promote the brand in certain social networks, builds work to find and neutralize negative reviews, increases the audience and performs many other equally important duties.
What are the responsibilities of an SMM specialist?
Before thinking about how to become an SMM manager, and what courses for SMM specialists to take, you should familiarize yourself with the main responsibilities and requirements for candidates for this position.
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What skills do you need to master?
So, having dealt with the duties of an SMM specialist, you can determine the main skills that you have to master. First of all, you need to thoroughly know the functionality and capabilities of the social network in which the work will take place. The SMM specialist must be able to:
create groups, communities, events and public pages;
know how to get likes, likes, tweets and other manifestations of user activity;
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be able to attract subscribers and send traffic to the customer's website or affiliate programs.
In addition to social media skills, you need to know the basics of web design. After all, an SMM specialist must be able to create an attractive community design and know how to make beautiful “selling” pictures. To gain these skills, you can take video courses on web design or stationary training. An SMM specialist must have a sense of beauty and be a versatile person. It will be equally useful to learn the basics of SEO promotion and video and photo editors.
Where to study as an SMM specialist?
Despite the fact that an SMM specialist is a very promising and sought-after profession, there is nowhere to get an education in this specialty. Since the profession is at the intersection of IT and marketing, a common requirement for candidates is high computer literacy - basic knowledge of programming languages, principles of building and filling sites, knowledge of various applications and tools.
How to become an SMM manager if there is no such specialty in universities? There are only two ways to get basic knowledge: take full-time courses or master the necessary skills on your own. Moreover, the second option is no less effective, because now on the Internet you can find a huge number of books, video courses and articles on any topic.
It is not necessary to look for courses directly on SMM, you can start by learning web design and HTML, then master the skills of working in photo and video editors, go through and learn the basics of SEO promotion.
Why choose the profession of an SMM specialist?
If after learning how much you have to learn to become a professional in the field of SMM, the desire to move towards the goal has only become stronger, then here are the main advantages of this profession:
none of your friends will know exactly what the essence of your work is. After the phrase “I am an SMM manager”, everyone will listen to you meaningfully, and if you also specify that you work in social networks, then they will also envy you;
you will always be aware of all Internet jokes, because this will be your responsibility;
if you work in an office, then no one will ever be able to forbid you to sit on social networks;
You will receive regular job offers. After all, if you become a professional in your field, it will be quite difficult not to notice you on a social network;
after about a year of work, you will learn to look at the world with different eyes and stop being offended by people (all conflicts for you will be just work with objections);
working as an SMM manager, you will become an interesting and versatile personality.
Of course, all the benefits of working in the SMM sphere cannot be listed, because for everyone they open in different ways. If you are ready to work hard, open up to new knowledge and work towards your goal without sparing yourself, then success is guaranteed! Liked the article? Subscribe to our blog and share with your friends. See you soon!
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The profession of an SMM manager was finally formed only by 2010, when social networks took a strong position as a platform for business promotion. SMM specialists are responsible for the promotion of brands, goods and services in social networks, and the scope of their duties depends heavily on the concept of the project. For example, for one project, you can do channel design on YouTube, and for the other setting up targeted advertising VKontakte.
Everything that an SMM manager does is aimed at making a profit from social networks. The specialist attracts traffic, works with the audience, forms its opinion about the brand.
The main responsibilities of an SMM manager include:
- Strategy Development presence of the company in 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.
- Creation of media plans and content plans.
- Content generation- both with the involvement of "contractors" (designers and copywriters), and without it.
- Promotion groups, pages, publics and so on. It includes creating and setting up advertisements, holding contests and attracting traffic by any other available means.
- Analysis conversion rates and adjustment of advertising campaigns depending on the result.
- Communication- creation of 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 can expand or vice versa - narrow. For example, it is often practiced to promote groups by a team in which one is responsible for the content, the other for advertising, the third for design, and so on. Many professionals additionally train 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:
- sociability: a specialist must be able to communicate with different audiences in their language;
- equilibrium: it helps to adequately get out of unpleasant situations;
- responsibility: the specialist is obliged to bring what he started to the end and not to abandon the project halfway;
- stress tolerance- without it, it is impossible to solve force majeure situations;
- resistance to criticism- without it it is difficult to see and correct the mistakes made.
These requirements are often found in vacancies. Some companies are willing to provide training for beginners, while giving out a 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 look for new clients with the help of:
- social networks- you can start a working page and publish cases, tips, your thoughts and other content that is interesting to potential customers;
- mailing lists resumes for vacancies on various sites such as HeadHunter, Avito, Rabota.ru, and so on;
- KP mailing lists- commercial offers - for different companies in which there are no open vacancies, but their presence in social networks is minimal;
- publishing a summary on special portals such as Avito and other well-known resources;
- freelance exchanges type kwork, fl.ru, freelance.ru etc.
Over time, many specialists come to the recommendation, and then the SMM manager is not looking for a job - she herself "floats" into his hands. True, this applies only to those who really know their business well and increase the profits of companies through their development in social networks.
How much does a specialist earn? The exact amount depends on the scope of responsibilities, promotion region, company budget and other factors. For example, the average salary of an experienced specialist in Moscow as of May 2016, according to HeadHunter, amounted to 60,000 rubles. Statistics were collected on the basis of 220 vacancies.
Modern life is hard to imagine without the influence of the Internet. People buy various goods there, order services, communicate, get acquainted and just relax. The Internet has also become a place of work for many different specialists. Blogs, websites and social networks are what you can earn tens of thousands of dollars on, and there are a lot of ways to earn money. Every day the number of sites increases, the number of users of social networks increases. All this leads to the emergence of new professions related to the development and promotion of Internet resources. Today we will talk about social promotion. I think there is no need to explain why social networks are the object of our attention. I can only say one thing - 180 million. This is exactly the number of registered users of Vkontakte, and 50 million of them visit the site daily. This is a huge platform for making money, promoting your own brand and developing the site. And of course, there is a separate caste of people who are engaged in promotion in social networks, these are SMM specialists.
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SMM and SMO promotion - what is it?
Those who were previously interested in social promotion have probably already met with such abbreviations as SMM and SMO. What is it and what is the difference between them? If we consider in detail, then SMO (from the English Social Media Optimization) is one of the types of modern external website promotion, which consists in filling the site and promoting it in social networks. In fact, you do not need to look at search engines, all the emphasis, and all the traffic you will receive from various social networks. networks. SMM (from the English. Social Medial Marketing) is the process of attracting visitors to the site using the possibilities of social networks. Also, SMM specialists are engaged in the development of brands in the network, the formation of its positive image. To a greater extent, this is the work of marketers, only the main focus is on the social sphere. I am sure that after reading the two definitions, you will ask “What is the difference between SMM and SMO?”. Although these concepts are very similar, they are not the same. We can say that SMO is an integral part of SMM. The main task of SMO is to attract social network users to your site. For this, special groups are created, advertising campaigns and various promotions are held. SMM includes SMO, but the main goal is to popularize the brand, project, resource in the social network itself. The methods used in SMM promotion are more diverse and more creative. Here you need to think not in a stereotyped way, but to select more and more new ways to implement the tasks.
SMM Specialist - Prospects for the Profession
With the advent of the Internet, many large companies began to understand that the future lies with it, but if 10 years ago the prospects for various professions on the Internet were vague, then with the advent of social networks and the strengthening of their influence, it finally became clear that there would be a huge demand for good specialists. Such specialists used to be SEO optimizers, and now more and more companies are focusing on promotion and creating a positive image in social networks. That is why they need SMM-shchiki. As you understand, a specialist, in whatever field he works, has always been appreciated. The Internet is no exception. Today, a master of social promotion can earn from $ 3,000 a month, and every day the opportunities for earning, and, accordingly, profits, are only growing. The main thing here is to find your niche in time, while there is still good demand and there is an opportunity to make a decent name for yourself.
How to become an SMM specialist?
As Lenin said, "Studies, studies and studies again." In order to become an SMM specialist, you do not need to wipe your pants at the university for 5 years and receive an unnecessary diploma. Self-education is the basis of this promising profession. There are already a lot of manuals on the net that will help you take the first steps. Pay attention to the phrase "first steps". You only have to take the vector of movement, understand the basics, all further study is only on your own. Try to create your own group, promote it using various methods. You can create a website and experiment, start driving traffic from social networks to your website. Believe that no webinars and books will give you the experience that you will get on your own. Only real practice and understanding of the thinking of network users can turn you from an ordinary user into a real SMM master.
Why is SMM better than other promotion methods?
Speaking about SMM, it is worth dwelling in more detail on the advantages of such promotion over other types of development of your own brand, product or resource. After all, I declare that SMM is the future, and it would not be bad to show you the real advantages that social media has today, not to mention what will happen in a couple of years, given the frantic pace of development of social networks.
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- SMM promotion is cheaper than SEO or search engine advertising. This factor can be decisive for a young businessman who does not have much money for promotion. Over time, the effect of SMM will only increase, and there will be more and more ways to promote. It can be assumed that the price will not rise either.
- Incredible prospects. It would seem that the largest social network Vkontakte already unites 180 million people, much more. But no, it is actively developing, more and more new people are being attracted, the audience is growing. This means that SMM also has good prospects, and not just good, but excellent.
- Virus intensity promotion. With SMM, you can easily launch viral ads that can take your brand from rags to riches in a matter of days. Social networks are the best place for this type of advertising. Very fast dissemination of information, easy exchange between users, accessibility - perhaps these are the determining factors that speak for SMM.
- No big competition. Not everyone has yet managed to understand the possibilities of social networks, although the development trend is good. If in search engines, in order to take top positions and attract a visitor for a competitive query, you need to work very hard, then with social networks, everything is much easier. Of course, over time, competition and the struggle for the user will only increase, but in any case, SMM has more prospects and options for attracting people.
SEO cannot boast of such an effect, since this type of promotion is not intended for viral marketing at all.
Every student who created a group and read a couple of videos on YouTube began to consider himself an SMM manager from God! The profession of a social media manager appeared not so long ago, so few people clearly understand what an SMM specialist does and what his duties are.
Meanwhile, the demand for SMM people is growing rapidly, and the pages of many companies are in a half-dead state. So, who is the SMM manager and what does he do? Let's immediately dispel the main myth - being an SMM manager is not only about publishing content. But what exactly does a social media manager do?
« You can’t just take and answer in a nutshell ...»
SMM specialists are responsible for curating the brand's social media channels. They monitor, moderate, and respond to audience comments. Create with other brands, create and publish content: videos, images and text.
An SMM manager must understand the difference between platforms such as FaceBook, Vkontakte and instant messengers, and must also be able to recognize and understand their audience on each account.
Excellent communication and writing skills are just as important as a good sense of humor. Since the SMM specialist will interact with an audience that gives out a whole range of emotions, from criticism to praise, including explosions from trolls and haters, therefore, you need to have thick skin and nerves of steel.
An SMM manager must be able to prioritize which comments need responses and which do not. You need to stay on top of new trends and technologies. An SMM specialist must be able to come up with compelling content on the fly.
Sounds great doesn't it? If you decide to become an SMM manager yourself or further hone your skills in social networks, study the Convert-Monster online course program.
This guide, in simple words, will help you determine what a social media specialist should do, set the boundaries between your work and that of a manager, and what to pay more attention to.
On November 11, the 6th stream of the online course " SMM manager”, this is 40 hours of practice 2 times a week. Attend your first lesson for free.
A complete guide to the work of an SMM manager
Everyone has long recognized the amazing value and benefits of social media marketing. Perhaps you are one of them! You've seen how this kind of marketing drives quality traffic and sales, and how SMM boosts your online reputation.
However, as a business owner, you won't be spending your time on this, so it's hard to know where to focus your attention.
It is not easy to determine which SMM manager will best handle the promotion of your company or determine the job responsibilities of an SMM specialist.
SMM marketing is an integral part of an internet marketing strategy. Essentially, social networks are people, communication, formation and sales.
Once you've hired the best candidate, you'll need a social media manager job description to set goals, track progress, understand exactly how your money is being spent, and be accountable for
5 skills of an SMM manager
Managing profiles and pages has become a complex and multi-faceted role that helps businesses achieve their highest goals. This is work that cannot be done in isolation within a company.
In fact, some argue that it is no longer a job at all; that SMM tasks and responsibilities should be the responsibility of everyone. SMM skills are increasingly required for all roles. We are seeing an increase in demand for savvy business candidates across the business. In addition, we see this requirement span many levels, from executive assistants to senior vice presidents.
Whether you're looking for an individual social media manager or just an experienced team member, these are the 5 skills a candidate must have.
Graphic production
According to Jeff Bullas, posts with images get 94% more views than posts without them. Buffer says that tweets with images get 18% more clicks than those without. Research from Wishpond shows that Facebook photo posts get 120% more engagement than other types of posts.
For businesses targeting women, millennials, or teens, images are even more important. Visually-centric platforms like Instagram require an almost constant supply of high-quality, original images.
For these reasons, it's more important than ever that your social media manager has the skills needed to conceptualize and create compelling images for your social media and blog posts. While it's not necessary to have advanced Photoshop skills, it does require a good eye for design and the ability to edit images. A big plus if the SMM manager knows where everything is built around pictures.
According to Jay Baer, the ability to think graphically is more important than technical design skills:
« There are a number of software packages that help create simple, one-off social media images, so the shift in work skills is less about producing graphics and more about graphic thinking.”
Copywriting
As with graphics, advanced writing skills are not required. However, the SMM manager must have a good command of the language and be able to express his thoughts in writing.
While your social media specialist may not write blog posts, they will communicate with clients on a daily basis - and 99% of the communication will be in writing.
- Can the manager communicate the idea clearly in writing?
- Is the manager able to support in the text on behalf of the company?
- Can the manager convey the passion and excitement of the business or products in writing?
- Can the manager maintain top-notch professionalism and avoid embarrassing grammatical or spelling mistakes?
Customer service mindset
More than ever, people are using Pages and Groups to get help from brands, so your social media specialist needs to be customer service oriented.
Posting meaningful or smart sayings, engaging images, and inspiring content will only help you if you respond appropriately to customer service requests.
Quick responses to questions and complaints, thinking " customer first and the ability to take complex issues offline are all important aspects of customer service at SMM.
A successful social media manager knows that your social media presence is the face of your brand online. Everything they say or do on social media is a reflection of the brand, good or bad.
Understanding SEO and Content Marketing
As someone involved in the day to day management, promotion and distribution of blog content, understanding SEO and content marketing is a must. Social media managers need to have a basic understanding of how blog and social media content fit into the SERPs and how the content works in the marketing funnel of a business.
While SMM signals may not have a direct impact on search rankings, the indirect effects are undeniable. Your manager must understand how reach and engagement affect not only referral traffic and revenue, but also SEO. Content is the cornerstone of your SEO, and your social media manager is the gatekeeper and promoter of most of that content.
How will the manager promote your blog content on social media? Does the manager know how driving traffic to the company's website affects the bottom line? Does he know how driving traffic to the company's website affects profits?
SMM advertising experience
If you do not have an advertising employee on staff, your SMM manager must have experience working with paid advertising in SMM (or a desire and passion to learn).
According to the Salesforce 2015 State of Marketing report, social media advertising is one of the top two priorities for marketers. In fact, 70% say they plan to increase spending in this area.
Life hack! Where to find an SMM manager? A good way to find and test an already trained SMM specialist is the new generation freelance exchange kwork.
Best SMM Books for Managers
- Hard SMM: Getting the most out of social networks. Authors: Dan Kennedy, Kim Welsh-Phillips. Liters rating: 4.09
- SMM for beginners.
- Guerrilla social media marketing. SMM manager user manual.
- Marketing A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Should Know.
- Business promotion on VKontakte. Systems approach .
- Social media marketing.
- SMM Training. Principles of earning in Instagram.
The work of an SMM manager
Administration includes, but is not limited to:
- Planning and goal setting
- Develop brand awareness and online reputation
- Content management
- SEO (search engine optimization) and incoming traffic generation
- and sales
A social media manager is a highly motivated, creative individual with experience and a passion for communicating with current and future clients. This passion must be expressed through daily customer interactions with the goal of turning your fans into customers.
Community management and participation (both online and offline) is integral to the success of a social media specialist. An important aspect is the positive and open communication of the company, which will attract new hyper-active buyers.
A social media manager plays an important role in managing a company's content. #1 search ranking on Google is relevant content (search engine content should be the best). Now it is clear that content management should be part of the job responsibilities of an SMM manager.
Content management responsibilities include:
- Create and publish relevant, original and high-quality content.
- and work with performers.
- Participate in the life of the company in order to improve the content (for example, creating online reviews, training employees, rewarding participation in company marketing, etc.).
- Post content regularly
- Use the right content management tools.
- Create a content calendar to manage and schedule specific and timely posts.
- Promote content through social media ads.
This position is paid as a full time job with bonuses. The duties of an SMM specialist may also include:
- Digital Marketing Management
- Control
- Work with clients
- Community Management
Being smart is critical to the success of your content marketing. You need to keep your attention so that potential customers can learn more about your products and services, and search engines index your content, rewarding you with authority.
Unified content strategy
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is:
To know the answer to this question, you must have a clear idea of who you are as a brand and who your target customers are.
- What is so unique about your company…what makes people buy from you? Answer this question in detail.
- Describe your target customers. What are their interests, concerns and problems? How can you help them make a purchasing decision?
- Don't forget about those fans that aren't on the market yet. What can you offer them to make their communication with you interesting?
Promotion strategy
It is extremely important to constantly expand your fan base and promote your content. Now you need " pay to play" in social networks.
Social media advertising is a very valuable tool to get your message heard. However, SMM advertising (Facebook, Vkontakte, Instagram) is not like the one you are familiar with. They differ in content, placement, and targeting… and when done right, they are perceived as much more fun.
The best way to get followers on your Facebook or Vkontakte page is to use ads. A small budget with carefully chosen images and a clear call to action will increase likes, increase engagement, and generate leads.
Engagement strategy
Your social media manager has a responsibility to listen, respond, ask questions, and engage your audience. You should carefully consider how he will react to organic (non-paid) links in the comments section.
People will ask questions and sometimes participate in sales. The social media manager must have the knowledge and experience of your sales process in order to respond appropriately.
If a customer asks a question, answer it and see to it that you engage them even further, ultimately directing them to a product page, signup form, or appointment.
As your page grows and your content appears more and more in the news feeds, it will be easier for you to attract new fans and build relationships with them.
Conversion strategy
With a growth and engagement strategy in place, the job of a social media manager is to turn fans into customers, and your marketing plan should have clear steps in place.
More advanced forms of marketing use eye-catching . Don't forget to include a call to action and an application form to make sure the customer has an easy path to purchase (and your SMM has a way to keep track of this).
I found that most companies are in need of advice and training from SMM specialists on the promotion, on the project, or need to find smart SMM specialists. Convert-Monster's online courses for SMM managers will help you.
Measurement and analysis to establish ROI
You need to identify the key performance indicators that matter most to your business. Here top 7 indicators(or KPI) to determine ROI:
- Audience Growth
- Audience Engagement
- Content Reach
- Interaction by content type
- Frequency and quality of responses
- Negative reactions
Measure results daily. Your results should be tied to your goals and have a clear picture of the income you are earning.
What does and what does an SMM manager do?
SMM promotion management and daily activities of an SMM specialist include:
- Development of relevant content topics to reach the target audience of the company.
- Create, curate and manage all published content (images, videos and texts).
- Monitor, listen and respond to users in a “social” way, warming up potential customers for sales.
- Conduct online propaganda and open streams for promotions.
- Develop and expand the community through popular bloggers
- Follow the design (i.e.: group or page cover, profile photos, thumbnails, ads, profiles in other social networks, blog, etc.).
- Creation and management of promotions.
- Track comments and reply to every comment.
- Analyze key metrics and update strategy as needed.
- Prepare reports for management indicating the results (ROI).
- Be an advocate for the company in social media spaces by engaging in dialogue and answering questions wherever appropriate.
- Create a comprehensive marketing plan.
- Manage strategies that are verified by testing and metrics.
- Collect testimonials from happy customers.
- Monitoring trends: tools, applications, new channels and designs.
- Continuously learn to stay highly effective.
- Finding both threats and opportunities in user-generated content surrounding the company. Report noticeable threats to management.
- Analysis of anecdotal data and translation into recommendations and plans to revise the marketing strategy of the campaign.
- Monitoring of effective cases (best practices).
- Analyze, review and report on campaign performance to maximize results.
Qualification and experience
Ideal SMM manager:
- Possesses knowledge and experience in the principles of traditional marketing. Marketing knowledge is preferred, but experience in other areas is not required.
- Demonstrates creativity and documented immersion in social media.
- Proficient in the theory and application of content marketing.
- Experience in searching, creating and publishing content.
- Shows the ability to jump from the creative side of marketing to the analytical side, and is able to demonstrate analytically why his ideas are valid.
- Shows deep knowledge and understanding of social media platforms and their audiences (Vkontakte, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) and how each platform can be used in different scenarios.
- Has excellent writing and language skills.
- Possesses practical knowledge of the blogging ecosystem related to the company's field of activity.
- Effectively communicates information and ideas in written and video format.
- Practices excellent time management.
- Is a team player with the confidence to take the lead and guide other employees when needed. (ie: content development, content creation and editing, and online reputation management).
- Learns quickly and can learn new tools.
- Supports working knowledge of SEO principles, including keyword research, Yandex Metrics and Google Analytics. Highly aware of the principles of “search and social.”
- Has functional knowledge and/or personal experience with . If he knows WordPress, then he will understand any other .
- Demonstrates good customer service practices such as empathy, patience, advocacy and conflict resolution.
- Has a great ability to identify potential negative or crisis situations and resolve conflicts.
Final Thoughts
What you need in a social media manager now is a little different from what you might have needed a couple of years ago; especially when it comes to creating graphics and customizing ads.
When you're looking for the perfect candidate, or about to outsource this role to a contractor or agency, look for someone not only with experience, but also with a passion to learn and keep their skills up to date.
The best SMM specialist has been hired to your advantage as you need to expand your online presence to participate in today's hyper-active social media buying demand. Your reputation on the Internet and future sales depend on it!
