Not sure if you’re a social media manager? Here’s a simple test. Do you spend a large part of your time jumping between Tweets and Facebook Pages, Instagramming your lunch while running though the latest review of analytics that have just popped up on your dash?

Yeah. You’re definitely a social media manager.

Even if you’re not social media manager by title, you’re definitely social media by nature!

Now, here’s the real question. What do you need to do to be a really, really awesome social media manager? That’s what I’m going to help you out with today, so read on and check out these great tips!

Know what social media managers do

‘Social Media Manager’ sounds like one of those fuzzy job descriptions which aren’t really clear. The truth is, what you actually do will depend on you and your company’s needs, and not all social media managers are going to need to do the same kind of activity.

That said – it doesn’t mean that you don’t all share some common ground! And it can be super useful to see what others do, and how they go about it.

So what do social media managers really get up to?

Let’s start off with a look at this brilliant infographic from the guys at Socialcast, who put together a “day in the life” chart of what you might be doing.

Starting off with a morning review to catch up on everything that’s been going on overnight (because as they point out, the social media world never sleeps!) an email check is essential.

Next stop: Twitter. A really useful point on this schedule is using this time to check for any negative issues. These need to be dealt with – ASAP! After that, spend time retweeting, liking and favouriting.

You’ll also want to spend time scanning current media to see what’s going on around you. From checking out some of your favourite blogs to amazing videos that might be going around – you want to stay on top of what’s hot.

It’s also a good time to follow up on previous stories. That brilliant testimonial video you’ve been promised? Yeah, you’ll need to chase the team to get onto it!

But being a social media manager is about more than just checking out hilarious kitten videos and retweeting. You’ll also need to spend time being creative – thinking up your next brilliant blog post (and writing it up), networking with other people – in person, by Skype or whatever else rocks your boat, and educate your other team members on the importance and role played by things like RSS feeds and Facebook.

And to top it all off, you’ll also need to invest regular time in reviewing all the stats about your performance. Analytics can give you lots of valuable data – but it’s only valuable if you actually spend time thinking about it. Get stuck into the nitty gritty – check out bounce rates, traffic volume, referrals, popular pages and anything else that’s available.

Phew! Day’s not done yet though. End it all by scheduling tweets or posts to go out overnight – ready for the start of a bright new day!

One thing’s obvious from all that – there ain’t no time for sitting around and snoozing – being a social media manager definitely means you’re charged up and ready to fire all day long!

But having a clearly organised schedule can definitely help you stay on top of everything that needs to be done – and help you to stay awesome.

Work smart – use these brilliant tools

As you can tell from the crazy busy schedule above, being a social media manager means that you’ve got to be ready to roll with the punches – all day long.

If that’s making your jaw drop at the amount of work you’ve got to do, don’t worry. Chill. Relax! I’ve got some cool tools that you can use.

1. Google Analytics 

I can’t stress enough how totally essential this is to your biz. Like the folks at Google say, it’s all about turning insight into action – and that’s a pretty good definition for the role of social media manager. Using Analytics will help you get a pretty clear picture of what’s been going on with your site – and your audience, and help you respond better.[

2. Twitter management tools

There are a few of these out there, and they’re all really cool. Try Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to help you manage your Twitter feed, and get a quick overview of what’s going on in an instant. Hootsuite is especially useful as you can use it to track multiple social media accounts – everything from your Facebook page, to LinkedIn, Fouresquare and more.[

3. Sproutsocial

Want a little more from your social media tool? Try Sprout Social – this is like an amped up version of Hootsuite. While it’s not free, you do get great value for money – in the form of a clean, clear interface that gives you excellent insight into what’s going on, immediately.

This is the one to go for if you’ve got a really hectic pace and you need to respond to things as fast as humanly possible.

4. Buffer

This one is a really great tool for anyone who is juggling their social media manager hat with other roles – small biz owners who are trying to stay on top of everything – I’m looking at you! If you ever feel overwhelmed with posting on Facebook, Twitter, and managing a blog – Buffer helps you to schedule bulk posts ahead of time.

The great thing about this is that you get to develop a well-maintained online presence –and don’t need to attach yourself surgically to your feeds to do it.

5. Social Mention

A definite essential. Social Mention lets you scrape content across the internet to find information on any company, product or a search word or phrase. Why use this? It’s a great way of keeping tabs on relevant information about you – and your competitors, checking out how frequently you’ve been mentioned, and keep tabs on how people are feeling about you. Definitely valuable information to have!

So those were just a few tips to help you out as a social media manager. I’ll be sharing more over the coming weeks – so stay tuned and check them out! In the meantime – do you have any burning questions? Want to get something off your chest? Give me a shout and let me know!