How to Become a Freelance Social Media Manager

Social media is a significant source of news and information. It also offers a platform for businesses to interact with customers. Over the years, social media has grown exponentially. Research shows that over 3.5 billion people are currently active on social media platforms. This is about 45% of the world’s population.

Since social media usage by businesses is ever-increasing, there is a need for social media managers. Want to know what a social media manager is and what they do?

In this guide, we explain what a social media manager is, what a social media manager does, how much they earn and more.

What is a Social Media Manager?

A social media manager is a skilled professional who creates and maintains marketing campaigns for brands. As a professional, a social media manager is an individual trusted by an organization to:

• Curate content
• Monitor social media pages
• Measure marketing campaigns’ performance

Basically, a social media manager is an experienced person who is confident to go live and engage with the audience. Social media managers are often found in the public relation or marketing departments of large companies. They are responsible for building brand awareness and growing audiences on social media platforms such as…

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

What Does a Social Manager do?

A social media manager has several responsibilities…

Curating and Promoting Content Across Social Networks

A social media manager curates and promotes content across social media networks such as Instagram and TikTok. He promotes a brand by maintaining content on a brand’s social media profile and page.

Promotional content can be regular updates about a brand’s products and services or product giveaways. By promoting content on social media, the manager boosts the brand’s social media presence. This helps them engage their audience.

Respond to Comments

A social media manager responds to comments left by social media users on the brand’s business page. Whether the comments are positive or negative, the social media manager responds positively. First, by thanking the person for taking their time to comment.

Second, the social media manager uses the brand’s name and keywords in the response. This adds a little marketing to the comment. Lastly, the social media manager invites the consumer to do something with the brand’s response. For example, “We look forward to your next visit and bring a friend!”

Create Graphics

Occasionally, a social media manager will make graphics using free graphic design platforms such as Canva. The manager can create stunning designs in minutes, such as infographics and Facebook covers.

Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics is the practice of gathering and analysing data from social media pages. Professionals use social media analytics tools to track conversations online. They also use it to mine customer sentiment to support customer service and marketing activities.

Branding

Social media managers are brand ambassadors. They represent a company’s products and services online and in-person too. Brand ambassadors have the responsibility of building brand awareness. By doing so, they personify the brand and make it easy for its customers to interact. The goal is simple – to influence customers to buy the brand’s products and services.

Basically, a social media manager combines the following professions/roles into one…

• Marketer
• Copywriter
• Digital Strategist
• Customer Support
• Analyst
• Designer

As a social media manager, you’re also a community manager.

How Much can Social Media Managers Earn?

According to Payscale.com, the average salary of a social media manager in the UK is £25,398. The base salary range is between £18,000 to £39,000 while bonuses range from £308 to £5,000.

An entry-level social media manager with 1-year of experience or less can earn £20,204. This includes bonus, overtime pay and tips. An early career social media manager with 1 to 4 years experience can earn £24,910 while a mid-career manager with 5 to 9 years experience makes £33,095.

Experienced social media managers have experience ranging from 10 to 19 years. As such, they earn £39,305.

What Skills Do You Need to Become a Social Media Manager?

To become a social media manager, no formal qualifications are necessarily required. But some employers may expect you to have a relevant degree in…

• Public Relations
• Digital Marketing
• Journalism
• Media and Advertising

To succeed as a social media manager, you need the following skills.

Creativity

Social media is about engaging with the audience. To do this, a social media manager must create relevant, informative, entertaining and evergreen content. Content is not restricted to text and images. You also have:

• GIFs
• Videos
• Audio
• Graphics

To create award-winning content, a social media manager must be creative to get the job done.

Discerning

A social media manager must be discerning. With knowledge and good judgement, a social media manager can make timely decisions. This is necessary for social media as everything moves fast. With such a skill, a manager can conduct himself appropriately to prevent bad PR, especially in a social media crisis.

Social

Engaging with social media users is one of the responsibilities of a social media manager. The audience expects brands to keep them up to date with the latest products and services and respond to their comments. A social person can respond to positive and negative comments professionally.

Organized

Social media managers are usually required to handle several tasks. You can find them posting dozens of times across multiple channels, responding to comments, and staying on top of trends. To ensure everything runs smoothly, a social media manager needs to be organized. Using social media management tools, the manager can automate processes and improve efficiency in the role.

Research

Research skill refers to searching, extracting, evaluating, and presenting relevant information on a topic. This is an important skill to possess, especially in the age of fake news. As a researcher, the social media manager can carry out market research, build a buyer persona, fact check, find the right stats and more.

If working as a freelance, you need additional skills such as…

• Sales and Negotiation
• Business and Management
• Stress Management
• Persistency
• Passion for Learning
• Time Management

If you lack some of the skills above, don’t worry. There are digital marketing courses you can take online to improve your skills. These tailor-made digital marketing courses are a lifesaver and taught by experts.

How to Become a Social Media Manager?

There are several ways a freelance social media manager can get jobs.

Upwork and Fiverr

Businesses are looking for social media managers to help them reach social media marketing goals and more. By creating a free account on Upwork or Fiverr, you can create your online profile and bid for jobs. On Fiverr and Upwork, competition is very high. To be successful, offer a guarantee, add clear and concise titles, and a detailed description. Also include videos, images and past references (if any).

Ask for Referrals

If you’re looking for social media opportunities, ask for referrals from family, friends, and colleagues. You never know who knows of a business looking for a social media manager to boost their social media networks’ presence. All you need is a couple of jobs to prove your skills and experience.

Meetups and Conferences

Every meetup or business conference has a freelance marketplace. You can set up your table and invite interested parties to explain what you do. Meetups offer an opportunity to network, especially if you’re targeting real estate agents.

Pitch to Local Businesses

One of the fastest ways to get clients is to pitch your social media marketing skills to local businesses. Craft an email detailing your many skills and experience as a social media manager. You can include references from past clients you helped boost their brand social media presence. To track your emails for opens, we recommend HubSpot Sales. Remember, don’t be spammy.

Twitter and LinkedIn

Twitter and LinkedIn are popular social media networks. As such, they are excellent platforms to network. Occasionally, you can find Twitter and LinkedIn users posting jobs for social media managers. To find these opportunities, perform a simple search. Using keywords like “freelance social media manager” or “social media manager.” On Twitter, you can use hashtags with the keywords.

Final Thoughts

To be successful as a social media manager, you need more than just skills and experience. First off, you need to practice what you preach. As a social media manager, you should not have less than 1,000 followers on your personal social media accounts. No brand wants to hire a social media manager with 1000 followers or less.

Second, have the right equipment (such as a Desktop Computer and Laptop) so you can work with clients from anywhere in the world.

Third, learn to use social media analytics tools such as Sprout Social. They will help you gather useful data from your client’s social media pages, which helps in decision-making.

Lastly, keep learning. Social media changes fast, and to keep up, you need to upgrade your skills.