Directors of Social Marketing and Brand Communications
Directors of social marketing and brand communication plan and execute social media marketing and communication strategies to strengthen a company’s relationship with its customers and facilitate its partnership with other companies.
Many of their duties are related to social media marketing and public relations professionals. That is why they may also be referred to as social media marketing directors, social media directors, social media communications directors, or public relations directors.
In this article, we have discussed the common duties of social media marketing and brand communications directors. We have also talked about their skills, expected salary, and much more.
Roles and responsibilities
A director of social media marketing and brand communications mostly has the following responsibilities in an organization.
Maintain external and internal communication
Internal communication focuses on communication within a company, while external communication is all about establishing new relationships with other companies/customers and retaining the old ones.
The director of social marketing and brand communications forms strategies to improve the company’s communication efforts. He makes sure all teams have a shared understanding of company goals so they can perform well. He uses effective marketing and communication tactics to connect with his target audience and convert them into long-term clients.
Design social media marketing strategies
He also forms a game plan for targeting the right audience with content that appeals to them. He knows how important a strategy is to reach goals, so he takes his time to form one and then puts effort to make it successful.
Develop a marketing budget
If you are planning to form a marketing strategy, you must also create a marketing budget. It will help you find how much you are spending, whether you are spending more than you need to or you can spend more.
The director of social marketing and brand communications considers different elements, including the social media marketing goals, net operational costs, current marketing trends, etc., to create a marketing budget. He ensures his team sticks to the budget to achieve new marketing goals.
Track performance of marketing strategies and campaigns
Tracking metrics of strategies and campaigns allows the director to get information about what is working for the brand and what is not. It also helps him stay competitive and understand the changing behavior of his target audience.
Supervise different teams
The director of social marketing and brand communications oversees marketing, social media management, and social media communication teams to ensure all are on the same page and cooperating well. He uses different approaches to build trust among team members. He turns to collaboration software and technology to direct different teams effectively.
Establish and improve partnership with influential personalities
The right business partnership with important people is crucial to improve the ethos of any brand. So, the director forms a communication strategy to reach industry experts and influential people and forge meaningful relationships with them. He arranges meetings with industry experts to discuss business deals that are beneficial for both parties.
Skills of a successful social marketing and brand communications director
If you want to be a director of social marketing and brand communications, certain hard and soft skills can help you excel at your job. You can develop these skills through industry experience, practice, and certain skill development courses.
Here are the key skills that employers want their director of social marketing and brand communications to have.
- Social media marketing: You should know all the important traditional and modern marketing techniques to enhance the company’s sales and revenue. You should also be able to manage multiple social media profiles simultaneously, write/edit perfect copies, manage ads, and boost sales.
- Data analysis: Learning how your current marketing strategy is performing can help you make a better strategy next time and even improve the performance of your current strategy by making a few necessary tweaks to it. So, you should be able to understand important metrics and form a report to discuss their performance with others.
- Communication: As a director, you will have to manage and direct all aspects of internal and external communication. For this, you should know how to share your views, thoughts, and ideas with precision and clarity. You should also be a good listener, so others feel confident while discussing business-related matters with you.
- Customer service: Around 3 in 5 customers believe that good customer service is one of the crucial factors that determines whether to trust a brand or not. Therefore, you should know how you can help your customers improve their experience with the company so they can turn into loyal, long-term customers.
- Budgeting: As a director, you will most probably be allocated a budget to manage all tasks. You should know how to prioritize each task and spend money on it according to its value. Your monthly expenses should not exceed the assigned amount.
- Top-notch organization: The director has to manage and direct many important tasks every day. So, you should know how to handle numerous tasks altogether without reducing your productivity and efficiency.
- Adaptability: Social media channels are constantly evolving. You need to keep up with all the changing trends to beat your competitors and catch your target audience’s attention.
Expected salary in the US
The salary of any occupation is determined by different factors, such as the candidate’s qualifications, experience, and skills, and the company’s size and location. Still, the director-level post in any company is one of the highest paying posts.
According to the American job review website Glassdoor, the expected pay of a social media marketing or social marketing and brand communications director is around $88,470 per year, consisting of $67,069 base pay and $21,401 additional pay. The website shows that the most likely pay range is $68,000 to $117,000.
Tips to improve social marketing efforts
If you are looking for ways to boost your social marketing efforts, these expert tips will tell you exactly how to do that.
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Tell your brand’s story
Your brand’s story is a valuable marketing asset. It allows you to tell how your brand came into being and what made it recognizable from the beginning up until now. The story connects a brand with its prospective customers on an emotional level, making a lasting impact.
Choose the right platform, words, and content type for sharing your brand’s story.
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Try different social media marketing tools
Social media marketing tools can help you simplify and effectively manage multiple marketing operations. They are the secret weapons social media experts use to up their marketing game and boost their sales.
You can handle numerous marketing operations, including performance analysis, post engagement, and product advertisement, using both free and paid marketing tools.
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Promote your brand with the user-generated content
In this digital era, where people are now more aware of marketing gimmicks and tricks, it is not easy for brands to convince them with claims that brands make themselves. You need something more powerful, something more effective, like user-generated content (UGC), to gain your potential customer’s trust.
Give your customers opportunities to share stories and experiences about your products. Encourage them to tag you when they do so. Share their reviews in your Instagram stories or make a dedicated section for them.
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Keep abreast of trends
Do you want to stay on top of your potential customers’ feeds? Then you should keep up with the emerging social media trends. These trends will help you create content on topics that are likely to gain your target audience’s attention and make them take a desired action.
One of the new social media trends is authenticity. Instead of talking about their products all the time, brands need to share genuine stories about their products to gain customer trust and create an emotional connection with them.
Data also shows that 76% of consumers buy a brand’s product over a competitor’s when they feel connected to it. So, you should try designing your social media marketing strategy around this trend.
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Target audience with relevant hashtags
Hashtags are a powerful tool you can add to your marketing efforts to improve their performance. They increase the visibility of campaigns and help people find brands.
Do some research to identify hashtags that are relevant to your target audience. Make a list of hashtags and use them as it is on all social platforms. This will make it easier for your audience to find the brand on multiple social channels.
Tips to improve your brand communication strategy
Here is how you can build a better brand communication strategy to make a better impression on your audience.
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Create a customer avatar
Before deciding anything about the communication strategy, you must first understand your potential customers. For this, you should create a customer avatar or buying persona. It will help you identify your customers’ habits, interests, problems, age groups, and many other things that you need to effectively communicate with them.
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Have actual conversations
Conversations play a significant role in the marketing environment. They should not just be about talking to your potential customers but also giving them equal opportunities to share their thoughts. Listen to your followers and respond to their comments, reviews, or DMs to show that you value their words.
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Show your company’s environment
There are many benefits of showing the environment/culture of your company. First, it shows you are who you say you are, and your culture and your brand’s goals match each other. Second, it shows your followers that you all are humans. Portraying real lives or people is a great way to connect with your customers.
You can make small videos, boomerangs, and GIFs of your team working together to show teamwork. Or you can post their photos of celebrating a birthday or a milestone to show you all care for each other.
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Be honest
Today, people don’t give content that is full of dishonesty and self-praise a second look. They now trust brands that are open and transparent. Brands that are ready to show their customers behind the scenes and tell them they have nothing to hide.
So, be that honest and transparent brand. Educate your customers and increase your brand awareness. Confront the public whenever a rumor arises and share your part of the story to state facts and end the rumor.
FAQs
How to acquire this job?
To get this job, you need to have at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject, 6 to 8 years of work experience, and basic field-related skills. Many colleges and universities have now started offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social media. You can find more about them on Google.
To gain experience, you can start working at companies that require little to no experience, or you can start with entry-level posts such as social media marketing assistant, social media content review agent, marketing associate, etc.
Once you get years of experience and social media expertise under your belt, companies will be happy to hire you for a director-level post.
What are the most related alternative careers?
Almost all social media-related jobs are considered great alternative careers for this post. Some examples of these jobs are:
- Social media marketing director: He is in charge of all social media marketing-related activities.
- Digital marketing director: He plans, executes, and measures all digital marketing-related activities.
- Social media strategy director: He builds social media strategies according to the company’s goals. Then he analyses their performance and makes necessary amendments when the need arises.
- Social media communication director: He nurtures lasting relationships between a brand and its customers.
- Public relations specialists: He communicates with the public and maintains the brand image.
Summary
The director of social marketing and brand communications oversees all the social media marketing and communication-related activities, including marketing strategy creation, campaign analysis, relationship building, etc.
It is a high-level post in a company, so you must have years of experience, knowledge, and numerous social media skills to apply for it. If you are a beginner, start with entry-level jobs to gain experience and improve your skill set. With time, you will finally be able to get your dream position in a company.