Social media manager
Social media strategist, social media specialist, digital community manager, social media marketing manager
Social media managers communicate with organisations’ customers and clients through social media channels.
Salary Range: £23,000 £75,000
How to become a social media manager
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- an apprenticeship
- working towards this role
University
Some employers may expect you to have a degree in a relevant subject, like:
- advertising
- marketing and public relations
- digital and social media marketing
- internet design
- journalism
- business management
Entry requirements
You’ll usually need:
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
More information
- equivalent entry requirements
- student finance for fees and living costs
- university courses and entry requirements
Apprenticeship
You could do a digital marketer advanced or degree apprenticeship, or a digital community manager higher apprenticeship.
Entry requirements
You’ll usually need:
- 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
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Work
You could start work with a social media or marketing company as an assistant or digital content writer. As you get more experience, you could work your way up into a management position.
You could also do qualifications through professional bodies like the Institute of Data and Marketing and The Chartered Institute of Marketing to help improve your prospects.
Volunteering and experience
You could get experience by volunteering to manage a charity’s social media channels.
You could also show that you understand and know how to use social media by:
- managing your own social media profiles
- setting up and writing your own blog, and tracking its use and popularity
- getting involved in social media for the company you already work for
You could also keep up to date by joining webinars about social media trends.
More information
Further information
You can find out more about social media marketing careers through The Chartered Institute of Marketing.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You’ll need:
- knowledge of media production and communication
- knowledge of English language
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to sell products and services
- the ability to work well with others
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- the ability to use your initiative
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
What you’ll do
Day-to-day tasks
Your duties may include:
- updating social media sites
- writing blogs, articles and posts
- responding to social media posts and developing discussions
- checking online for company mentions and customer feedback
- searching for interesting posts, news and articles to attract site visitors
- overseeing competitions and campaigns promoting your company
- taking part in conferences and group chat relevant to your industry or company
- educating other staff on social media use
- promoting social media use within your company
- developing strategies to increase your audience
- using social media tools like Hootsuite, TweetDeck or Buffer to manage multiple sites
- using web tracking tools like Google Analytics, Social Report or Bitly
Working environment
You could work in an office.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could move into managing social media for larger companies or progress to a senior or head social media manager job.
You could also become an online digital community manager, acting as a link between consumers and businesses supplying online products. For example, working with gamers and games developers in the online gaming community.