Over the past few years the social media industry has erupted and many people now spend a large chunk of their time on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (to name a few). This has led companies from all sectors to create some lovely Social Media Manager vacancies – the only problem is that the job market is pretty competitive and securing one of these roles can be pretty tough!

That said; if you do want a role like this, it’s really important to try to stand out from the crowd and impress your potential employer – and an easy way to do this is to show that you tick all the right boxes. If you’re a Digital Marketing Exec or Social Media Assistant, the jump to a managerial role can be a bit scary – so to help you find out when you’re ready to take that jump, I’ve come up with the top six skills employers look for in a Social Media Manager.

1) Experience In Using Social Media Tools

There are a number of different tools that make a Social Media Manager’s life so much easier. Things like Tweet Deck, Sprout Social, Hoot Suite and Facebook Insights can really help you work more effectively, which obviously benefits the employer overall. If you can use some of the key software, be sure to get it on your CV!

social media rules 2) An Analytical Mind-Set

There’s a bit of a misconception that a social media role just consists of writing statuses and a few blogs – but there is so much more to it than that. Social media platforms are now advancing their analytics tools on a regular basis, which means the Social Media Manager is required to analyse more and more data. As Manager, you’ll be required to report back stats, so you need to have a good idea of how these platforms work and what information you can gather from them before starting a position like this.

3) Ability To Plan Long Term Social Media Strategies

An extremely important aspect of a Social Media Manager role is the ability to plan. Your employer wants you to be able to report to them about the overall plan for the next year – this helps the employer to understand your thoughts and it also helps you create a successful strategy.

In order to create a plan you need to have a clear understanding of your market and the general social media trends. This can then lead to you creating things like content calendars and seasonal campaign plans – if you can do this well, you could really impress your potential employer.

4) Ability To Write Quality Content

With social media algorithms becoming more and more complex it’s essential that you can write quality content that is relevant to your brand and customers. This will be a big part of your job role, so your potential employer wants to see that you can engage your customers – maybe bring a few examples of your content in or tell your prospective employer about previous social media campaigns that you were part of.

5) Additional Digital Marketing Skills

Like I said before, there’s a lot more to a social media job than you might first think – many social media roles need you to have some general digital marketing skills like blog writing, keyword optimisation and even some low-level design skills. These aren’t necessarily a must, but if you’re looking to really wow a potential employer then it’s good to show that you can adapt to your environment and help the Digital Marketing Manager out.

6) Communication Skills

Communication skills sound like a really simple one, but you’d be surprised at how many people actually lack this talent. There are loads of ways you can prove your communication skills – it can range from some previous digital work experience to writing a blog. Have a good think back to your previous work experience and make sure communication skills are on your CV somewhere!

So there we go; six skills employers look for in a Social Media Manager. If you’ve got any more skills or ideas then feel free to comment below or tweet us on @BubbleJobs!