A suggested definition of the social media management role, dervied from cross-industry sources.

1. Deepak Pershad’s Blog
Defining the Social Media Manager Role
One of the more practical aspects of integrating Social Media management into one’s
organization is defining the role of the social media manager. I recently reviewed a range of
such job descriptions across different industries (including banks, technology, and retail
companies), and built a composite job description, that is outlined below. An occasional job
description would add in computer languages (e.g. HTML, XHTML and CSS), but these were
excluded due to their relative infrequency of occurrence.
Depending on the level of seniority, some of the accountabilities may be assigned to junior,
mid-level or more senior roles. How does this composite job description fit with your
organization’s social media function? I’d welcome your comments.
Social Media Management – Key Accountabilities
Strategy
 Put in place a solid social media strategy aimed at using social media and marketing techniques to
raise community awareness, visibility, membership and traffic across all brands
 Provide direction on the optimal use of social media tools in the context of broader business and
branding objectives
 Develop, implement and manage social media strategies with relevant support from other team
members
 Provide a vision of where new media could extend the brand’s reach and build new links with
customers
 Develop & execute an online outreach strategy
Planning
 Develop social media plans based on analysis of monitoring results
 Translate and communicate the Brand through new media channels: Develop initiatives that
encourage greater engagement from customers/followers
 Monitor social media marketing activity of competitors and other best-in-class brands to inform
future tactics
 Collaborate with Marketing teams and make recommendations based on insights and trends
Advocacy/Thought Leadership
 Act as internal consultant to departments and staff at all levels across the organization to provide
communications, strategy and marketing consultation
 Keep abreast of innovations and trends on social networks, tools and vendors
 Monitor trends in social media tools, trends and applications
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2.  Regularly feed back insights gained from social media monitoring into the Marketing and Editorial
teams
 Stay informed of industry trends and what competitors are doing; experiment with new and
alternative ways to leverage social media activities
Social Media Sites and Blog Management
 Manage corporate social media sites, cultivating and managing branded online communities using
relevant social media tools including digital analytics, and collaborate with internal partners to best
manage other social forums
 Oversee day-to-day operation of internet site and related micro-sites
 Facilitate online conversations and events to ensure that conversation and content are relevant
 Monitor brand related online conversations
 Provide direction on the optimal use of social media tools in the context of broader business and
branding objectives
 Monitor social networks for potential opportunities or threats
 Monitor, report, analyze and refine social media activities, and develop response and escalation
protocols for user feedback/comments
Campaign Management
 Consult on social media integration with online advertising and partner programs
 Identify new and innovative techniques to amplify sponsorship and partner opportunities
 Work closely with event managers to identify and execute on social media integration at corporate
events
 Conceptualize and manage paid placement opportunities, including sponsorships, search engine and
banner advertising (organic search engine marketing)
 Collaborate with social media agencies to create campaign and program strategy, communicate
business objectives, and determine tactics to meet objectives
Day-to-day Activities
 Communicate community feedback to internal teams for the consideration of future programs
 Work with departments such as Business Development to provide appropriate input for the
preparation of presentations and proposals
 Day-to-day management of external agencies and vendors
Content Management
 Day-to-day management of development of social media content
 Enter content, including text and graphic elements, into various content management systems
(CMS) and other digital media tools
 Maintain quality assurance for online editorial content, including visual elements, such as layout,
typography and context
Content Creation
 Provide content support at corporate events by live tweeting, live blogging, hosting tweetups, and
engaging product/service users onsite
 Write content as well as edit client-supplied content for delivery via appropriate digital channels to
target audiences
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3. Corporate Communications
 Support/provide direction around social media relations, including distribution, monitoring and
reporting on social media releases
 Work closely with PR to reach site editors, writers and other influencers
Analytics
 Analyze campaign reports and turn insights into strategic action to optimize current campaigns.
Track successes and lessons learnt to inform future social media strategy and tactics
 Monitor, track and analyze opportunities on social media channels
 Work to improve SEO, including development of metadata and keyword content and analyzing
content on existing sites
 Conduct/Review relevant industry research to ensure an understanding of client verticals, channels
and competitive factors
 Establish key metrics by medium and campaign; provide weekly and monthly reports analyzing
traffic, and site data
 Analyze customer data to identify trends; analyze tracking and reporting analytics
 Conduct online research to identify websites and online influencers for outreach
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