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Social media managers: is it your responsibility to make sure social media serves the right business objectives?
Posted by on May 15, 2021 at 11:43 amThis obviously varies between businesses so there is no right or wrong answer. I just want to hear your take on it. How do you think it should it be and how is it in reality?
Do you think it falls under your responsibilities to use (organic) social media in the most optimal way for your client / boss? Or is it your client’s job to give you the objectives (drive sales, increase retention, grow the account for improved social proof etc.) and your job is just to execute?
I ask because I work as a consultant whose job it is to improve businesses’ social media strategies, and often they’re almost non-existent. Usually their organic social strategy seems like an afterthought, whereas compared to SEO, paid ads, or content marketing, for example, there usually is at least some kind of plan in place. It might not be good, but it’s something.
Would love to hear some opinions.
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14 Replies
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byu/JonODonovan insocialmedia -
As you said, this depends on the client / agreement / scope of work. If I had to pick a side though, yes, it is your responsibility. Seeing as most clients don’t have an existing social strategy, that’s part of the reason they hire you in the first place
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Choosing your goal with social media requires some knowledge of social media marketing. E.g. don’t go chasing B2B purchases on twitter.
So, unless your client is a very savvy marketing manager I think it’s your responsibility as the social media manager to decide.
Just make sure you agree KPIs with the client so they can’t suddenly get upset they aren’t seeing sales for an awareness campaign.
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The responsibility is ours, more often than not, clients do not really know what they want, so it’s our job to guide them and help them get the objectives in place.
They usually know the end result they want, but bridging the gap between where they currently are and where they want to be is for us to figure out or that’s where we come in.
Bear in mind, though, that SMM levels vary. There are:
1. Entry levels – who are being given instructions to execute (eg: engage for x hours daily, answer queries, follow x people etc)
2. Advanced – who does marketing and strategize
3. Expert – business-level type, can do what advanced SMMs can, and can integrate other services like email marketing, blogging, SEO or whatever the biz needs
In my answer, I’m referring to 2 and 3.
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Depending on the agreement, often I go through a process of onboarding that includes a contract to write a marketing plan. This makes sure that everyone is on the same page and acts as a guide for myself and others to use when creating content. This assists the business owner with communicating their needs to say, the graphic designer and gives them some targets for promotional events like sales. Many small businesses don’t have this information laid out and it is extremely benefiicial to put everything in one place before posting. I sometimes won’t work on posting until this process is handled so that we can make sure the message is consistent straight away.
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It’s your job to propose strategies and guide them in the direction you think could serve them best as a business. Now, it’s good if you can talk to them and made them realize the opportunities of social media and how to reach them, but it’s not your responsibility in the sense that they ultimately have the last word.
My experience is that a lot of them will seek your expertise but not that many want to hear what you have to say. My personal goal is to work with clients who are there for my expertise as much as my technical abilities and drop the clients that are not willing to discuss strategies. That’s because ultimately as a social media manager strategy is everything and if you don’t get results because your client didn’t want to have the strategy talk you’ll have to answer for that when other client ask you why the strategy didn’t work. Hope I made sense lol
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Absolutely, you’re a manager. I wouldn’t say it falls completely on your shoulders but you’re definitely included.
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In my organization, strategy, analytics, and execution are separate roles. If you’re a consultant you would be justified in offering and billing them as separate services.
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Yes, I think the problem is a lot of people aren’t vocal at their workplace or with client’s and just happy to do what they were asked for but taking initiative is what makes a better social media manager.
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I think you could definitely advise them on the benefits of going outside of the expectations they set for you or the project at hand. Like you said, most clients don’t have a particular social media strategy they’ve thought of beforehand.
Personally, I prefer running accounts as optimally as I can just because I know that doing it this way usually delivers the best results for me and the account, w.r.t sales, engagement, growth, etc.
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Except your client is tech-savvy, and already has a social media strategy. I believe it is your take to show them what’s best for them after analyzing their business model, and what they might need most from social media.
Giving more value than required is my way, as it makes me know I can achieve more and opens more doors to referrals.
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Of course. If you’re not serving business objectives and instead using business resources in a way that does not benefit the business why should the business continue to use your services? Engagement isn’t an end in itself. That said, you have a responsibility to explain how social fits into the broader strategy and set goals accordingly.
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Drive awareness (digital mentions), brand safety (crisis monitoring) and web traffic/lead gen.
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“I work as a consultant whose job it is improve businesses social media strategies and often they’re almost non-existent”
In trying to improve the overall brand’s social media performance, it is your job to develop a strategy for organic, earned and paid media (if there is a marketing budget) and this should be agreed with the client upfront.
Clients provide the business objectives, you provide the strategy. The person responsible for implementing the strategy needs to be agreed upfront as well. It could be you or someone in the company.
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