10 Skills You Need to be a Good Director of Social Media Marketing
The demand for social media marketing skills is growing with the increase in social media usage for business marketing.
More and more companies are now looking for social media marketing professionals, including the director of social media marketing, to help them set and achieve marketing goals according to the company’s main objectives.
If you want to be a good director of social media marketing, you need to have the skills and abilities that we have described below. But before we get into the ‘skills section,’ let’s first see what roles a director of social media marketing plays in a company.
Key responsibilities of a director of social media marketing
A director of social media marketing is expected to deal with the following responsibilities.
Defining social media marketing goals
One of the most important roles of the social media marketing director is to set achievable and measurable marketing goals. These goals help him and the entire marketing team to stay focused and measure their progress.
Creating social media marketing strategies
After setting goals, the director of social media marketing creates an efficient game plan for achieving those goals. In this plan, he outlines responsibilities of the social media marketing team, the content type that will be posted on business profiles, marketing techniques that the team is going to use, and much more.
Analyzing the performance of social media activities
The director of social media marketing regularly evaluates all the marketing efforts to see how they are doing. And then, he makes adjustments to them to improve their performance.
Forming performance reports
He is also responsible for creating an easy-to-understand performance report. He presents it to top-level employees and stakeholders so they can see how marketing activities are helping the brand grow. This report also helps the director make evidence-based decisions while creating the next marketing strategy.
Giving feedback to social media teams
He leads the social media marketing team and gives feedback to each team member to help them improve their focus, performance and results.
Finding new ways to improve marketing efforts
He combines his knowledge with creativity to come up with innovative ideas and ways of attracting potential customers and converting them into regular customers.
Maintaining social media marketing staff
The director of social media marketing assigns tasks and duties to all members of his team according to their capabilities. He analyzes their performance and provides guidance whenever help is needed.
Key skills of a director of social media marketing
A director of social media marketing is expected to possess the following skills and abilities.
Knowledge of popular social media platforms
There are hundreds of social media platforms, but the most famous sites are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube. Among them, Facebook is the most widely used platform by marketers (93%).
The director of social media marketing must have an interest in and an understanding of all the popular social media channels. He should know which social media platform aligns well with his business goals and is popular among his target audience.
Social media marketing skills
It may seem obvious, but the director of social media marketing must have exceptional social media and digital marketing skills. If you want to beat your competitors, you should know:
- How to optimize your content and business profile
- What is your target audience, and what are their preferences
- What kind of content does your audience like the most
- What is the most suitable time to publish content on a particular platform
- How to keep your audience engaged
Having all these points clear in your mind is necessary to formulate a successful social media marketing strategy.
Behavioral psychology
Behavioral psychology is about understanding the behavior of your audience. It tells you how you can shape their thoughts and decisions through certain actions.
The director of social media marketing uses marketing methods and strategies that are proven by behavioral psychology. He studies analytics and uses different tools to understand why his target audience is attracted to certain kinds of content or why they are sharing certain posts the most.
Once he has figured out the reason, he uses the knowledge to build social media marketing strategies around it to attract more people.
Ability to understand marketing analytics
Marketing analytics help social media marketing experts track and analyze data to measure the performance and ROI of their marketing activities. Some important social media marketing metrics that they check are:
- Audience growth rate
- Conversion rate
- Engagement rate
- Video completion rate
- Amplification rate
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score
- Social share of voice (SSov)
A good social media marketing director understands each metric’s value and knows how it can help him form and improve his social media marketing efforts. He uses advanced social media analytics tools to get the work done fast.
Strong communication skills
As a director of social media marketing, you will have to represent the company on a global stage and engage with its customers. To do this, you must have exceptional oral and written communication skills. These skills will also help you get along with your colleagues and share your thoughts and ideas without any difficulty.
Problem-solving skills
A lot of times, social media marketing strategies do not produce the expected results. It can happen for multiple reasons, such as targeting the wrong audience, using an inappropriate form of content or marketing method, etc.
Whatever the cause may be, a good director of social media marketing will be able to identify it and resolve the issue before it causes any significant loss.
Organizational skills
Since the director of social media marketing oversees the efforts of different teams (such as social media management, social media marketing, social media communication, etc.), he must have good organizational skills so he can stay focused on multiple tasks and make the most of his time, effort, energy, and mental capacity.
These skills help him to do more in less time by prioritizing tasks and maintaining order throughout a workday.
Strategic thinking
Social media may seem easy and all fun, but effective and profit-making marketing requires proper data analysis, calculation, and planning.
A competent director of social media marketing does a proper analysis before he takes any decision. He considers different variables and factors to set smart marketing goals and design a marketing plan.
Creativity
Social media has become very competitive over the years. Facebook alone supports more than 50 million small businesses to connect with their customers and increase their global reach. If a business wants to stand apart from millions of other businesses on social media, it must use innovative marketing tactics.
A director of social media marketing should consistently come up with engaging content and campaign ideas to keep the company’s potential customers hooked.
Relationship building skills
Healthy working relationships with both internal and external partners help the director of social media marketing be more productive and efficient. They allow him to connect with different teams so they can work collectively to help the company expand.
How much do the directors of social media marketing make in the US?
Jobs in social media marketing are growing as more and more people are joining these platforms, providing businesses an easy access to them. Today, there are over 3.9 billion social media users across the world. This number is expected to rise to 4.4 billion in 2025.
Zippia data analysis shows that the average salary of a social media director or social media marketing director is approximately $70,846 per year or nearly $34.06 per hour in the US. The top 10% of social media marketing directors make around $124,000 per year.
The data also specifies that the top 5 highest paying US states for the director of social media are Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, and New York.
How to become a director of social media marketing?
Here is a simple 4-step guide to becoming a successful social media marketing director.
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Complete your education
You should have at least a bachelor’s degree to apply for a director-level job. The degree should be in a relevant field. Some examples of relevant fields for this post are:
- Social media management
- Social media marketing
- Marketing
- Advertising
- Business administration
- Public relations
- Communication
- Journalism
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Learn social media marketing skills
You must polish your social media marketing skills before applying for the director post. You should know about all the popular social media platforms. Many businesses use Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, but your hirer can also ask you to use Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and WhatsApp based on who his target audiences are.
You should also know how to use beneficial social media marketing tools that help find trends, analyze performance, boost ROI, and reduce digital risks.
Google and YouTube are the best places to learn social media marketing skills. You can also create your social media business profiles to test and sharpen all the skills through practice.
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Explore different entry-level opportunities
Entry-level jobs generally have fewer requirements and don’t demand years of experience. Some examples of entry-level titles that you should try are social media marketing intern, social media analyst, and social media coordinator.
You can also start freelancing to gain some experience as a beginner. Create professional profiles on freelance websites like UpWork, Fiverr, and Freelancer and start sending proposals to your potential clients.
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Grow your professional network
Networking is a great way to learn about your field from experts and find new job opportunities. There are different ways to build relationships with professionals in your industry. You can attend seminars and workshops to meet new people or simply join a social media group specially made for professionals.
FAQs
Why do the responsibilities of a director of social media marketing vary from company to company?
It can be due to the following reasons.
Company size: In larger companies, social media marketing directors mostly have to oversee the marketing efforts of multiple teams. In contrast, in smaller companies, the employer may ask the director to manage and maintain the company’s social media presence on different social media sites.
Industry type: Different industries have different social media marketing requirements. For instance, the software industry focuses more on educating its audience; therefore, its social media marketing team will have to work more on creating informative posts every day. On the other hand, the fashion industry focuses more on glamorizing and selling its products; therefore, its social media marketing teams will work more on running social media campaigns to gain new customers and retain old ones.
Marketing aims and objectives: Social media marketing goals of each company are unique. Some companies focus more on influencer marketing, while others give more importance to building community. So, your company’s goals will also define your responsibilities.
What is the difference between a social media marketing director and a social media marketing manager?
In most companies, social media managers oversee their respective teams, while social media directors oversee managers. The director-level post is higher and requires more skills and experience comparatively.
Social media marketing managers generally manage their teams and analyze their day-to-day activities. On the other hand, social media marketing directors set marketing-related goals and build strategies to help teams achieve them. The salary of the director is also higher than that of the manager.
How to list social media marketing skills on your CV?
You should mention both your soft and hard skills on your CV. Write your job-related hard skills at the top of the list and soft skills at the bottom.
Summing it up
The director of social media marketing is creative and knowledgeable. He is always eager to explore new ideas. He is good at developing marketing strategies according to the company’s goals and tracking its performance to get good results.
If you want to be hired as the director of social media marketing, you need to have the skills mentioned in this article. You can get formal training to be a good director of social media marketing and sharpen your skills over time.