With a constant flow of content being published across all types of media, it can be tricky to find your voice in the mix.

For some people, that is just too limiting – they want to say what they have said before with more flair or maybe even something new. For others, limited time does not allow for such creativity, so they tone down their messages to make them sound the same as everyone else’s.

The truth is there are many different ways to approach communication and marketing. What works best for one person may not work at all for you or someone else. This article will talk about how to manage social media accounts, but first let us discuss why this is important and what kind of manager you should aim to be.

Why managing social media is important

Social media has become integral part of our daily lives. It is almost impossible to go anywhere these days without seeing, hearing, or interacting with content produced by someone somewhere on one of the various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

With over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide (source), making sure your personal brand is aligned with those brands is crucial to your success. Not only will it help you gain exposure, it will also help you connect with other individuals who share similar values and/or products.

But while most people use social media to broadcast thoughts and experiences, some choose to keep certain things private.

What is marketing?

So what is marketing, then? Defining marketing can be tricky as there are so many different definitions. According to Merriam-Webster, it means “the business of promoting products or services”!

That sounds about right! But that doesn't really help us though, does it?

Most people agree that marketing involves spending money to promote a product or service. This could include things like TV advertisements, billboards, online ads, etc. but it also includes things such as telling your friends how good a product is or writing a review of it. These activities are considered promotional because they focus more on giving attention to the product or service in question than them.

However, this definition leaves out an important part of why we market products and how professionals do it. The main reason most companies spend money on advertising is to gain exposure for their brand, not necessarily to get people to buy something.

This may sound contradictory, but it makes sense when you think about it. A well-known company would probably spend lots of money to advertise just like small businesses would, but if someone already knows who their competition is then they won’t need much advertising to tell everyone about them. Therefore, instead of investing in expensive advertisement campaigns, some brands choose to put more effort into creating a buzz around their product or service by doing things such as holding events, offering coupons, and/or communicating with other users through social media sites.

Differences between social media management and marketing

While some people try to make you feel like social media management is not a career, it is! It’s just that most of us call it something else. Social media marketing IS a great way to market your business, but only if you do it right.

Social media management includes all those boring tasks such as responding to comments and messages, following others so they view you as their leader, posting updates, etc. This is what many people confuse social media management with.

Marketing is much more than that- it is creating an engaging community that wants to connect with your company and helping them trust you enough to spend money there. This may sound complicated, but it isn’t. You can learn how to do it!

There are several courses and resources available online and through mobile apps that teach you how to start marketing for no cost or very little cost. What matters is that you put in the effort into learning about your audience and giving them what they want.

Who should do social media management?

As mentioned before, marketing professionals can perform social media manager duties. But what makes the difference is whether your degree or position requires you to have professional level skills in marketing or not. If it does, then great! You're already trained in some of the basics of marketing and thus could probably handle certain responsibilities related to social media.

If you are not an expert in marketing, though, there is still hope for you. Almost every major company these days has their own internal team that handles social media for them. By becoming familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of different platforms, you would be able to pick up some of those tasks as well.

By having someone who knows how to market take care of all of this, you will free yourself up to do more important things like meeting with clients, talking about products and services, and creating advertisements. All of these things can be done by most anyone if they know how to use a computer.

Who should do marketing?

As mentioned before, marketers handle all forms of communication for your business including social media. But what is really important to recognize about this role is that it varies in size. Some years you have a very active marketer, while others are more laid back.

Some people feel that social media managers take advantage of their status as well as power. It can even create an uncomfortable work environment if employees don’t feel like they’re part of the team.

As a leader, you need to make sure that everyone is feeling supported and confident in their position. Yours includes making sure that individuals who report into you understand the value they bring to the company and supporting them professionally and personally.

At times, professionals may not feel like they're being listened to or asked the right questions. This can be frustrating at best and detrimental to productivity at worst. Make sure those around you are informed and understood so that they can help promote engagement and teamwork.

What are the different types of marketing?

While some people may use the term social media management to include all forms of advertising, most definitions of that term exclude one major thing: marketing. That’s because marketing is defined as “the process of creating awareness of a product or service by providing information about it to potential customers.”

In other words, when you manage someone else’s account, you’re not doing direct-marketing. You’re not spending time developing relationships with others who might buy your products or services, nor are you investing in advertisements or creative campaigns to promote them.

Instead, what most refer to as social media management includes things like keeping an eye on comments, replies, and conversations to make sure everything goes well, managing accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on, and possibly even designing logos and banners. Some also include helping create content for various platforms (yay, you!).

It can be tricky to tell whether something online is marketed or not, though. For example, many companies advertise on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and so on, but those sites are part of what makes up our increasingly digital and interactive culture.

So how do we know if this person was actually engaged in the marketering process?

Well, there are two main ways: either through testimonials or indirect indicators.

What are the different types of social media?

As we have seen, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow you to create an account that gives you access to all sorts of functions.

Some give you more functionality than others, but they all share one thing: features for creating conversations or interactions with other users.

These conversations can be about anything – from sharing videos or links, to talking about your daily life or politics. They can even become very interactive!

That’s what makes them unique. You not only use their service, you develop relationships with people who use it.

By adding people to your friend list, you make online chat easier because you already know some of the characters behind the profiles.

It also helps promote trust as well, since people tend to believe those who they know in real life. Even if you don’t know them yet, at least you feel comfortable reading what they say.

What are the different social media sites?

As mentioned before, there are many ways to manage your online presence using various social media platforms. Some of the most well-known ones include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

While some people still think that “marketing” means making an advertorial splashy video or buying expensive ads, creating content for these websites is actually another way to market your business.

By posting pictures and videos, updating your website, engaging in conversations, and responding to comments and messages, you can create an interactive stream of information and features for your followers to access.

This is referred to as engagement marketing. By adding value to the conversation, you can draw attention and eventually new customers.

Running a social media account is not the same thing as doing marketing though – staying within budget, keeping posts relevant, and sticking to a schedule are all better strategies than just trying to push out more content.

What should I post on social media?

As we mentioned before, staying focused is one of the biggest challenges for marketers online. With the ever-increasing amount of content being published daily, it can get overwhelming trying to find the right balance between producing engaging messages and filling your time with things that people will want to read.

That’s why some brands decide to use a service to handle all their social media marketing for them. The service takes over the work of creating posts, responding to comments, sharing links, and promoting the brand so you have more time spent doing what you do best — market products and services.

There are many ways to manage a social media account through a third party tool, but they all share two important functions: posting content and gathering feedback.

Content includes anything form an update about your company or product to an interesting link or picture. Feedback comes in the form of comments under the posted material as well as replies to direct messages (DM).

By using a social media management system, you will be able to focus less on publishing content and more on developing relationships with other users of the platform.