Social Media Manager
What Social Media Managers Do
A Social Media Manager helps to increase exposure through social media platforms. They work alongside a specialized team to reach your brand's goals. From creating monthly editorial calendars to using marketing strategies to deliver your brand's message in creative ways, a Social Media Manager is the link between your business and your social media followers. More than just attracting new customers, a Social Media Manager analyzes data to determine which initiatives work best and capitalize on this information to continue scaling your business.
Practically every business today - even a neighborhood bar advertising it's karaoke night - knows the value of promoting its brand on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. But in the rapidly changing digital media landscape, the role of the person who manages such efforts has become increasingly sophisticated.
Today's social media marketing managers are experts at managing a company's digital footprint, implementing strategies for reaching new customers, and helping to ensure that current customers are satisfied. These professionals create brand promotions, produce and post new content, monitor responses using analytics tools, and coordinate the company's overall online marketing plan.
Duties
- Develop, implement and manage our social media strategy
- Define most important social media KPIs
- Manage and oversee social media content
- Measure the success of every social media campaign
- Stay up to date with latest social media best practices and technologies
- Use social media marketing tools such as Buffer
- Attend educational conferences
- Work with copywriters and designers to ensure content is informative and appealing
- Collaborate with Marketing, Sales and Product Development teams
- Monitor SEO and user engagement and suggest content optimization
- Communicate with industry professionals and influencers via social media to create a strong network
- Hire and train other in the team
- Provide constructive feedback
- Adhere to rules and regulations
- Present to Senior Management
AI and This Career
The chance AI takes over most of this job in the next 10 years.
Why this score
- Social tools can draft post calendars, flag engagement dips and stage reply packs. They do not own brand voice or community judgment alone.
- Managers remain accountable for brand voice, community judgment and campaign calls under brand and ethics standards.
- Beyond the calendars, the job is brand voice, community judgment and campaign calls when a post starts a firestorm.
- Demand is growing as brands still need social media managers who own voice after tools draft more post calendars.
- What actually happens: AI drafts post calendars and engagement flags, and managers focus on brand voice and community judgment.
How AI helps
Social desks draft post calendars, flag engagement dips, and stage crisis-reply stubs.
What stays human
Brand voice, community judgment, and campaign calls sit with the social media manager.
How we rated it: This overview page has no O*NET record of its own, so we used the Public Relations Managers task list (11-2032.00). By our count, 13 of the 20 tasks O*NET lists for this job are mainly records, admin, or robot-ready physical work, for a replaceable share of about 65%. Exposure means AI could speed up tasks; it does not mean AI does the job. This rating is about replacement within about 10 years, not how much AI the job uses.
Sources: O*NET OnLine 11-2032.00 tasks (2026); Eloundou et al., "GPTs are GPTs" (2023): exposure score 0.55 of 1 (the middle of 923 jobs is 0.36); ILO Working Paper 140 (2025): ISCO 2432 rated "gradient 2" (task score 0.43 of 1); no O*NET code on page; proxy Public Relations Managers. BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 (Table 1.2 / nationalMatrix, https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/occupational-projections-and-characteristics.htm): projected employment change 5.7%.
Work Environment
Social Media Managers can work from home or in an office provided by the company they work for. This often depends on the size of the company.
Getting Started
How to Become One
Gaining an in-depth, experiential familiarity with various social media platforms is an obvious first step. It's also helpful to learn to use networking tools that allow you to post on several platforms at once. There are some posts that could go viral on one and fall flat on another, and it's vital to know the difference. College coursework, internships, seminars and certifications in the field can all boost your employability.
Education
Though advanced education is not necessary, many employers seek to hire candidates a with bachelor's degree in marketing, business, advertising, public relations or a related field. Additional certifications such as Google Analytics and Google AdWords generally are preferred. Individuals who have a firm understanding of marketing principles and work well in a team setting tend to excel in the position of Social Media Manager.
A bachelor's degree is generally required to work in this field (though small companies like the karaoke bar might not care). Courses of study can include marketing, public relations, advertising, communications, sales, business, economics and finance. Several major U.S. universities offer courses in social media marketing, some of them online only, and some offer two- to five-day seminars on the latest trends. The Digital Marketing Institute, a global professional association for the industry, offers certifications in the field.
Good social media marketing managers are adept at search engine optimization (SEO) and always use best SEO practices. They are good writers, ideally with a keen sense of humor, who possess 'visual intelligence,' meaning they are adept at finding the right photos, videos and graphics to accompany their material. They have an in-depth understanding of their target market, and within their companies they are effective 'evangelists' for persuading the entire team to embrace the social media mission.
Looking for openings in your area?
Hiring Near Me