Bridget Willard

What a Social Media Manager Can’t (or shouldn’t) Do for You

Social Media Managers are awesome. They’s so awesome, in fact, that they get amazing and quite unreasonable requests. Well, some of the requests are more demeaning than goal setting, but let’s talk about it.

Recently, my friend Carol Stephen wrote a post called “What Can a Social Media Manager Do For You?” In that post she includes items such as research, deciding when to post, and choosing hashtags.

I thought it would be fun to do the opposite.

Table of Contents hide
1 Here are some things your social media manager should not or can not do:
2 Outsource and Free Up Your Time

Here are some things your social media manager should not or can not do:

  1. Care about your business more than you do.
  2. Be a videographer or video editor.
  3. Be a professional photographer or editor.
  4. Be an expert in InDesign, PhotoShop, et al.
  5. Design logos or creative.
  6. Replace a web development agency.
  7. Be a technical SEO expert.
  8. Be an expert in paid advertising.
  9. Write content for your blog.
  10. An API Ninja.

Many social media managers also have some of those skills. Be aware, however, that they are legitimate skillsets in and of themselves.

Outsource and Free Up Your Time

Have you thought about outsourcing social media? It’s a great way to grow your business and free some of your own time. Having realistic expectations helps you value what a social media manager actually does.

A good social media manager will represent your brand online and off. She will post content that has been created by your editorial staff (content creation is another job). She will post photos taken by your team (or professionals you hire) and write captions and add hashtags. Your social media manager will interact with your audience (known as engagement) with your best interest in mind.

A Marketing Manager ($85k+/year) will most likely be responsible for items 2 – 10 and outsource many of the tasks to vendors. A social media manager ($60K+)  bills for the work, not the time, is easy to get a hold of, and has a good account of her own. A Marketing Manager will likely hire a social media manager to work under her.

What kinds of questions can I help you answer or problems I can solve. Let’s roll up our sleeves and do the work.

Dana Marin

Bridget Willard

6 responses to “What a Social Media Manager Can’t (or shouldn’t) Do for You”

  1. And if you need most of the above in your list done, you could work with an agency who can help you bring everything together in one place and make sure it all works together rather than you hiring a bunch of people.

  2. Hi Bridget,

    I love that you took the opposite view. We’re asked to do a lot of things, and sometimes SMMs can specialize in something else besides social media, but not always.

    Thanks for the link back, too.

    Carol

  4. Ha! I get all of this too much plus doing social media. I’m a brand designer and WordPress designer. I’m definitely not a video editor. LOL