Speaker 1: For many people, becoming a social media manager is their dream job. People talk about this job, career or business all across the Internet. And so many people want this for themselves, but they have no idea where to start. They don't know the skills they need. They don't know the tasks of a social media manager. They don't know how to write a resume and they don't know how to get a job. But I'm going to help you with all of those things in this video. This is your beginner's guide to becoming a social media manager and everything that you need to know and get right to get your dream job. So let's not waste any time. Let's get right into turning you into the world's best social media manager. What's going on? It's Ben here from Flick. And we here at Flick are massive social media nerds. It's all we do. And myself personally, I've been working in the social media space for six or seven years now. I'm getting really old. But with all that time, I have a ton of experience and for a few of those years, I was actually a social media manager myself. And I currently work with a ton of current social media managers. So I know exactly what it takes today to become one and be a great one. And we're going to help you do that. So first I want to start with what the tasks of a social media manager will actually look like because they can vary really dramatically depending on who you're working for and the focus of that brand or agency. So here are some of the common tasks that you can expect to see as an SMM. And that's how I'm going to say it moving forward to save my own breath. So first building content calendars is a huge one. Scheduling and publishing content and Flick can actually help you do that. We have a social media scheduling tool that makes it super easy to schedule out content to multiple different platforms. It's a game changer and SMMs love it. Writing copy for social media posts, writing copy for newsletters, putting together influencer marketing campaigns, community management like responding to comments and messages and keeping an eye out for any problems to then relay back to the team, creating weekly or monthly reports based on analytics, creating content like taking photos, making graphics and sourcing UGC which stands for user-generated content and overseeing all social media platforms for the brand or business. Those are some of the very common tasks that you will have as an SMM. But the core principle I want to get home here is that you should expect to wear many different hats because the list could be even longer. Those are just some of the ones you can expect to see very often. So since the specific skills that you will need will vary based on your role, here's how you can go about acquiring platform-specific skills. Online courses are a fantastic resource and a lot of these big players and platforms like Google and Facebook, they have their own free courses and certifications that you can take to become an expert with using that tool. Also, if you're looking for the best certifications that you should get as an aspiring SMM, we have a blog post with a list of them that we've linked in the description box down below. So go ahead and check that out after you've watched this video and I highly recommend taking advantage of these, especially the ones that give you a certification because once you've completed that course, you can then add it to your resume or your LinkedIn and it actually shows you know what you're talking about. So that's a fantastic place to start. I strongly recommend starting with those and taking advantage of all the free courses that you can. And of course, we here at Flick have our own courses in our Academy that can help you make better content, write better captions, all that good stuff. And you can access our courses in the description box down below. You can also go to college to become a social media manager and you could study marketing in university, but as someone who has a university marketing degree, I wouldn't advise that as the best route if you do want to become an SMM. You learn a ton of stuff that's not relevant, that won't help you and it's very, very expensive. Whereas you can get all the skills that you need completely for free from online courses, certifications, and if you really want you can invest into some paid courses that are very platform-specific and will actually help you in your SMM role. So that's how you acquire the platform-specific skills that will actually allow you to perform as an SMM. Here are some more general skill sets that you should look to develop and if you already have these, you're going to be fantastic at this. The first thing is creativity. The more adaptable that you can be because you're wearing so many different hats is huge for how successful you're going to be. And being an SMM will give you a ton of opportunities to be creative. Second is copywriting and this is probably the most slept on skill in all of social media marketing. Being able to easily deliver a message via written word in a clear and concise way is a massive skill that not many people have. So definitely focus on building out your copywriting skills and improving your ability to relay information or tell a story. And in our Academy, we have a free 30-day caption course that can help you become a better copywriter by writing out captions for your content and that's linked in the description box down below. Go ahead and go through that course if you're looking to improve the skill of copywriting. And I strongly suggest that you develop that skill because there are so many bad copywriters out there. This can be one a massive thing that sets you apart. Third general skill that you should have is design or the very least an eye for design. Luckily with tools like Canva, anybody can really get the job done but having an eye for what looks good or the vision that you have for that piece of content or the brand is massive. Fourth is analytics or the ability to interpret them. Luckily with a lot of the courses that you're going to go through and the certifications that you will get, you will learn how to interpret these numbers. Nothing is too crazy. You don't need to be a data scientist or a math wizard but having an understanding of what looks good, the kind of trends that you should expect to see or want to see is a very helpful thing, especially when communicating with non-social media people. If you can deliver what's happened or what's going to happen in easy to understand numbers, they're gonna be far more likely to actually listen to what you have to say and let you do your thing when it comes to social. And the last thing is one that I almost hear no one really talking about but I think it's the biggest differentiator between decent SMMs and great ones and that is the pulse on the platform. Any sort of social media platform that you're looking to show up on for the brand, the business or the agency, you will do so way better if you understand the culture and the pulse on that specific platform because what resonates on TikTok is different than what resonates on Twitter or even Instagram and your ability to understand the little nuances of each is a cheat code for success on that platform. That's gonna bring you way more results and your boss will love you for it. So start paying attention to the little differences and nuances between the different platforms and make sure to use those when communicating or creating for those platforms for your clients and the brands you're working with. So those are the skills that you need to have and the things that you need to know that can make you a great social media manager. But how do we actually find jobs to become a professional SMM? A great place to start is internships. A lot of people will create roles in the social media space for interns and this can be a great way to get your foot into the door into the space if you don't have any experience at all. There are pros and cons to this. Of course, the pros is typically they can't demand much experience, but the con is a lot of times people try to make this internship the solution to all their social media problems. So they kind of throw you to the wolves and expect a lot. So do a little bit of vetting to make sure you're gonna have some support to help you be successful and actually learn what you want to learn. That's the biggest thing with internships is the ability to learn and you can find these internships on job boards. If you're in school, check your school job boards and tools like LinkedIn and other social media platforms, even through cold outreach. Some brands don't know that they need an SMM so you could potentially create your own internship by DMing a brand or a business that you love. And if you're trying and you can't get yourself an internship and you have no experience, a great place to start is to offer to work for free for a brand that you know or love. I know that sounds crazy, but when you're trying to break into a new space, you need some track record of success and this can be a great risk-free way for the brand to help you get some more experience. So if all else fails, offer to work for free, get some experience and learn on the job. It's going to help you get that internship or that job you want later. The next and most obvious way to become a social media manager is to find a open job that you can apply to and then take over that role. And to find these, I recommend the same sort of tools, leverage LinkedIn, job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, all that good stuff and leveraging your network is a great option here too. But to get an established role or even an internship, you're going to need to have an awesome resume to stand out from all the other people that want to become an SMM and we've got you covered there too. Let's break down how to actually put your SMM resume together and give you some do's and don'ts. The first do is to include metrics to prove your skills. Using these metrics shows that you know what you're talking about and it shows a proven track record of success and recruiters and hiring managers are looking for this kind of stuff. And here's an example of a few metrics that you can use. Brand awareness growth, how much you increased monthly impressions, Facebook reach, Instagram engagement, whatever made sense for your previous experience. Follower growth, here you can show off the improvement of the social media followers from your work and successful campaigns. If you ran your own campaign for a previous client that went really well, be sure to give those stats and figures. It'll go a long way in capturing attention and if you do get an interview, it's a great thing to talk about. The next do is to utilize words from the job outline or spec. It's always a good idea to customize your resume specific to what the person or employer is looking for because this shows that you've taken the time to actually read through what they want and shows that you're a good fit to fill that role. And a huge pro tip here is sometimes these companies or brands are using software to scan through resumes looking for keywords. So if you're not including that kind of language within your resume, you may be skipped over entirely. So don't skip this step. It may be exactly what gets you that interview and the job. Next, be sure to add your certifications to your resume. Like we've already talked about, you can get a ton for free from awesome places like Google, Facebook, and here at Flick. Make sure to highlight those in your resume to show your understanding, your ability, and desire to learn and the fact that you're staying on top of the latest things. Social media moves so fast, so your ability to understand and want more information is gonna help you out a ton and employers will love that. Next thing to include is experience, experience, experience. Experience will go such a long way in the world of social media management and the more diverse kinds of experiences that you have, the higher likelihood you will get the role you want. Because things change so fast and because SMMs have to wear so many different hats, you proving your ability to do that previously will definitely capture a hiring manager's attention. So share your hands-on experiences, the different things and challenges that you've taken on and been successful with, and leverage the time that you invested into that internship or working for free to prove you've done the thing and that you're gonna be successful with any challenge they give you. So those are all the do's. Now we're on to the don'ts of a social media manager's resume. First, don't overdo visuals. This is a great rule of thumb for any resume, but especially here. Even though being a social media manager is a heavily visual-based career, you don't wanna overdo it. Hiring managers are looking at your resume for seconds at a time and you wanna come across very professional. Having too many visuals can be very distracting and take away from the substance of your resume that highlights you as a great candidate. So simple is always gonna be better. Clear, concise and easy to read and understand. The next don't should be one that is super obvious, but don't forget to check your spelling and your grammar. Since you're very likely gonna be communicating with a mass audience as an SMM, any brand or agency is gonna wanna make sure that you have a strong attention to detail and a solid understanding of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Making stupid spelling errors or mistakes is a very quick way to kick yourself out of the running for a potential job. So definitely don't do that. So those are the do's and don'ts to keep in mind when putting together your SMM resume. So definitely invest some time into this because it can be make or break. And since you wanna become a social media manager, Flick is here for you. This channel is completely dedicated to helping you do social media better. So don't forget to hit that bell button to help you become an even better SMM. And like I said, you can access our academy in the description box of this video to give you a ton of free and valuable resources. And you can experiment with all of our different social media tools, including our scheduling tool, completely for free for a week using the link in the description box and the pinned comment of this video. We're here to make your life as easy as possible. So definitely stick around. And since you're becoming an SMM, you're gonna have to work with a ton of brands. And brand content can be tough, which is why we put together our favorite brands that are crushing it on TikTok right here. So go ahead and click this. You're gonna get a ton of creative inspiration that can help you get a ton of ideas and crush it for your current clients or future ones. So go ahead and click this. I will see you over there. You're gonna love it. Congrats on becoming an SMM and let's keep talking shop.