Do you know that more than half of the world’s population is active on at least one social media platform?
Brands have realized that social media is a great way to connect with potential customers and grow their audience. That’s why they have been investing in building relationships and digital marketing strategies to increase their trust and awareness. This has created a demand for social media professionals.
But what does a social media professional do and how can you succeed in this exciting field? Let’s find out: what social media means, what it involves, how much you can earn, and how to become a social media professional.
What is Social Media?
Social media is the term used to describe the platforms where brands communicate, share content, and interact with their audience. But social networks, blogs, and websites are not enough by themselves – they are just platforms. They act as content repositories with features that allow interaction. They don’t promote anything by themselves. That’s why the professional who manages these channels is called a social media specialist. They plan, create, post, interact, analyze, and make it all work.
What Does a Social Media Professional Do?
Many people may have a general idea of what a social media professional is, but there are still many questions about their roles. Since they can do different things, here are some key areas within the complex world of social media:
- Editorial Planning: It involves market analysis and trends to design communication strategies with specific actions that suit the needs of each audience on each social network.
- Content Creation: This is the most popular and loved aspect of social media – creating content. Here, the whole plan is turned into copy, visuals, and captions that express the brand’s strategy to achieve the desired goals.
- Interaction and Monitoring: Besides delivering information to the audience, it’s important to know how that message is received. Social media professionals also participate in conversations with followers to show that their feedback matters to the brand.
- Community Management: The goal here is to establish meaningful relationships with leads and customers to reinforce the digital community around the brand’s objectives.
- Reports and Analysis: No strategy is effective without the ability to measure the return on investment. Tracking, analyzing, and presenting data in reports show the effectiveness of the actions or provide solid data for adjustments.
How to Become a Social Media Professional?
If you are passionate about social media, this profession can be a perfect fit for you. However, to stand out in this role, you need to study and work hard.
- Invest in Education: Professionals in social media usually have backgrounds in fields such as Advertising, Marketing, Journalism, Languages, Public Relations, or even more corporate careers like Business Administration. No matter what the academic background, aspiring indiduals need to develop the necessary skills. It’s not enough to “love social media”; it’s about being a proficient user of all major platforms, knowing advanced features, having good social references, and being curious. Analytical skills, data literacy, creativity, patience, and a desire to learn are essential. Continuous learning through courses, updates, or even pursuing further education, specialization, master’s, or doctoral degrees in the field is important.
- Networking: Whether you like it or not, networking is vital for becoming a successful social media professional. It not only positions you as a reference but also creates opportunities for growth and invites to new projects.
- Create a Portfolio: A useful tool for career success, a portfolio helps display your professional journey to potential clients. It shows skills, qualifications, passions, and education through works done for other clients. Keep the portfolio updated to show professional progress.
- Stay Updated: To ensure a successful career, staying updated on relevant areas such as Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Ads (on various platforms), and Google Analytics is essential.
Tools and Software
Used by Social Media Professionals: Active users on social media produce a huge amount of real-time information. To simplify processes, social media professionals use various tools available in the market. Some widely used ones include:
- Native Social Media Tools: Platforms like Instagram for Business and Facebook Ads, provided by the social media networks themselves, are useful. Many of these platforms offer official certification systems, which are increasingly demanded in the job market.
- Management Tools: These tools help plan monthly publication plans, schedule and monitor posts on social media, and analyze results. Notable examples include mLabs, a leading tool in Latin America.
- Creation and Design Tools: Tools like Canva and Photoshop help create visual content, a favorite aspect of many social media professionals.
- Market Analysis Tools: To provide unique content, social media professionals use market analysis tools such as SEMrush, Google Trends, V-tracker, and Hype Auditor.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools: Artificial intelligence has entered social media, helping in process optimization, automation, and cost savings. Examples include Pareto, focused on marketing automation, and chatbots like ChatGPT, which help with content ideas, corrections, and text improvement.
- Reporting Tools: Reports are crucial for social media success. Platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and DashGoo by mLabs provide valuable insights.
Social Media Professional’s Job Market
After completing the necessary steps, the social media professional joins the job market. In the information age, this field is constantly growing, with opportunities ranging from startups and small businesses to large corporations with dedicated internal departments.
The job market goes beyond corporate institutions to advertising agencies, digital agencies, or freelancing. Despite being a growing market, it is competitive, with different hierarchical levels. Staying updated is crucial for effective communication between the brand and consumers to build a strong and mutually beneficial
