Last time I jumped on here, we looked at what a realistic social media team of today should be comprised of. To recap, it is not a good idea to stick an entire social media strategy on one junior Marketing Coordinator. Not unless you want your social strategy to accomplish the bare minimum, hinder your ROI, while ultimately burning out your coordinator. Simply put, a full strategy deserves a full team.
A few weeks ago, the first group of professionals recommended for a full-service social media strategy team included:
- A Social Media Manager
- A Social Media Content Creator/Curator
- A Social Media Advertiser
- A Community Manager
Let’s dive into a few more integral roles that would impact your brand’s social team.
5) The Graphic Designer/Video Editor
I already talked about the content creator/curator you’ll likely need as part of your team; this particular role is very similar, but with full focus placed on visual content. So just as the content creator’s copywriting will represent your brand voice, the graphic designer will oversee your brand image. It’s important that this individual adapts alongside the ever-evolving video marketing landscape as well as the constant changes in design trends. (Google is a great example of a team who constantly tweaks their visual image). This is critical for keeping your social presence current and eye-catching.
Skills: Naturally, this team member should be pretty well versed in social media practices and tactics; it’s vital he/she understands how visual communication has an important role to play in the social world. Experience in the main design tools and software is key. I recommend looking for training in current design tools like those included in the Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Muse, Animate…the list goes on!). We usually prefer to also review portfolios for visual communication roles like this one; it is a great way to assess a skill like their attention to detail.
Main Responsibilities:
- Produces and edits visual content as it aligns to the content calendar and creative briefs
- Develops graphic assets to accompany social content and advertisements
- Oversees brand consistency in all visual assets
- Produces images, illustrations, logos, videos and animations
- Stays up-to-date on evolving design trends and new tools or software
- Collaborates with the Content Creator/Curator, Social Media Advertiser and Community Manager to ensure cohesive brand representation
6) The Social Media Influencer Manager
This particular role is one of the newest professional positions to join many large marketing teams. It actually stems from the hugely profitable trend of collaborating with industry influencers. Your Social Influencer Manager will oversee your company’s relationship with influencers in your industry and ensure these influencers’ social content align with your own brand’s vision, values and objectives.
Skills: First and foremost, it’s imperative that your Social Media Influencer Manager understands your industry as well as your brand values inside and out. A full, bird’s eye view enables this role to make valuable connections and build meaningful relationships with your influencers as well as your target audience. That said, you will want someone who has strong relationship building skills and even stronger communication skills. A great candidate will be consider themselves an expert in social marketing and have the know-how to manage several projects at once.
Main Responsibilities:
- Defines and manages influencer activities and campaigns
- Researches competitors, key influencers and trends in your industry
- Aims to align influencer campaigns to overall social media content calendar
- Creates timely content for influencers
- Monitors content shared by influencers to ensure brand alignment
- Collaborates with Content Creator/Curator, Social Media Advertiser and Community Manager to ensure cohesive brand representation
7) The Social Media Analyst
Well you had to know this one was coming. I encourage every team to include at least one analyst; this is the individual who will provide insights that will define your direction. Note, this particular analyst doesn’t necessarily need to be passionate about social media per se. Instead, their interests are in working with stats and data while understanding how social media impacts the business (and vice versa).
Skills: In order to manage the dashboards and organize the data, your analyst should have knowledge of the social media management tools that the rest of your team will be using. Obviously, strong analytical skills come into play for this role; the ability to provide reports and essentially translate it for stakeholders is important for keeping everyone on the same page.
Main Responsibilities:
- Maintains reporting dashboards on regular basis
- Prepares, analyzes and presents key findings to stakeholders and team members
- Provides daily recommendations for team activities to ensure goals are met (eg: sales, awareness, reach etc)
- Actively studies and stays up-to-date on trends, tools and platforms
- Collaborates with the whole Social Media Team
I hope this gives you a deeper view into what roles your own team might be lacking. Remember, these are just the basic, core roles to consider. There’s no secret combination or magic number of how many designers, curators or analysts to add to a Social Media Department. There are many ways to build your team, which will be unique to your company’s budget, goals, industry, capacity for training, etc.
Plus, considering the rapid growth and digital advancements made on a daily basis, flexibility is your best friend. For all we know, I’ll be back in a few months talking about brand new roles you might want on your marketing team.
