Job Roles (U24: P4)

Learning Outcome 2: Understand the behaviours, skills and attributes necessary within the advertising industry.

P4: U24 - Explain the behaviours and attributes required for a specific job role.

Social Media Manager - This was completed as a group task with Sam Nadarajah & Adam Marks.

A solid understanding of the use of a range of social media platforms, particularly in relation to advertising/branding and customers. This is important for this role as it means they will know how to utilise the social media platforms and use them effectively for the business to promote their brand as well as be able to engage with customers and clients. By having this skill will mean the person can carry out their duty well as they understand the way social media can be used to reach the companies target audience and customers. They will also know how to use the social platforms to expand the brand awareness of companies. A responsibility of the Social Media Manager. 

Strong editing and writing skills suitable for each platform, from knowing how to write a successful tweet to using effective storytelling techniques. They will need strong editing skill to edit images and videos which can be posted on company social media platforms, these will need to be edited well to look professional and get the attention of the target audience. Writing posts will also be a task for this role so correct grammar and punctuation is needed. The skill allows the person to carry out their responsibility of being the social media face of the business as they need to write grammatically correct  statements and messages as not to embarrass the business. 

Another attribute includes an eye for detail and the ability to work accurately. They will need an eye for detail as they can spot mistakes in posts before posting otherwise it could cause problems. By being able to work accurately the person can manage the accounts properly and post suitable material. This mean the person can carry our their responsibilities as it means they can select ways to respond or engage with their customers and clients over different social media accounts and will get the details on these posts correct which will engage this target audience, by working accurately it means the details in content created with be right for the selected target audience and the viewers of the content bringing the best engagement possible for the business. 

One professional attribute that will aid the social media manager in their role, is the attribute of retaining a public image, this is important for the role as they are managing the public image of a possibly large company so this skills will mean they will have the know how to make sure content on social media accounts will not offend people and keep the businesses reputation in tact and their label as a respectable business is maintained as a whole across on social media platforms. This will mean when their is a public image issue the social media manager can quickly and swiftly respond and this already built up reputation can be used to repair any damage done by the issue and customers and the public can see the business cares about its reputation as a respectable establishment.   

A personal attribute that a social media can use their advantage to carry out their responsibilities is the attribute of being respectful. This is definitely important for this role as they will be dealing with a lot of members of the public daily and being respectful is an important part to keeping the businesses reputation whole and showing members of the public the business respects everyones opinions and views. For example if someone on social media platforms such as twitter sends a mean tweet about the business the social media manager can coordinate a appropriate response to this tweet and remain respect to the person. They can then find out  the reason behind the persons anger and even solve their problem.   

One attribute that a social media manager will need to successfully fulfil their role is to be able to work with a team effectively. As the manager of a business' social media strategies and pages, they will be required of monitoring and supporting the lower roles in the social media area such as social media assistants and executives. The work that the social media manager will need to complete with their staff includes teaching and educating their staff on the use of social media and its importance in the advertising industry as well as teaching their assistants and junior staff on how to operate in this area, by passing their knowledge and skills to them. They will also monitor and manage the work of their junior staff to ensure that the correct work is being outputted and to support them in their work. For them to complete these roles effectively, they will need to possess good teamwork skills and be able to cooperate with their peers so that the best work possible will be created. To teach and support their peers, their teamwork skills will be required so that they can communicate with their peers efficiently and ensure that their junior staff are receiving the correct information and therefore completing their work correctly.

Another attribute that a social media manager will need to complete their role is data analysis skills. The role of the social media manager will include analysing data and statistics. The analytics of the social media pages will be used to gain an understanding on the success, popularity, and overall awareness from the public of the social media pages of a business. This is used to help in monitoring how the business, specifically their social media marketing, is performing and if improvements can be made. The social media manager will need to use these analytics and monitor their performance. When monitoring these analytics, the social media manager will need to have good data analysis skills so that they can effectively analyse the statistics and make necessary changes upon reacting to these statistics. Data such as likes, follows, views and others that will indicate the success and general feedback of a social media strategy will all be used so that the social media manager can gain an understanding of the public reception of their social media campaigns.
Using their data analysis skills, they will be able to analyse the data to the best they can and make the most suitable decisions that will benefit the business the most.

Another attribute that a social media manager will need is organisational skills. As the social media manager will need to be able to work across multiple projects that vary in the work they require, they will need to have good organisational skills when doing these tasks and also managing the social media marketing of a business. To work in these conditions productively, the social media manager will need to work in a systematic manner to which they work according to plans and schedules, with work being completed to deadlines and to a high standard that will achieve them their objectives. Working over different social media platforms which will involve different marketing campaigns and strategies, the social media
manager will need to utilise their organisational skills so that they can complete all of these projects at the same standard.

One attribute that a social media manager will need to fulfil this role is the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines. this is important for a social media manager as they will be working in a fast moving workflow environment and will therefore be under a lot of pressure to be able to complete individual projects on time. A social media manager is responsible for a team team and will therefore need to be able to motivate and organise that team to complete work as efficiently as possible. they are in charge of a businesses social media campaigns, and these need to be updated on a regular basis which proves that this attribute is necessary when undertaking this role.

Another attribute that a social media manager will need to fulfil this role is strong verbal communication skills. This is a managerial role and will therefore need this attribute in order to successfully articulate ideas to colleagues and clients. they are responsible for the work produced in the social media marketing department for the business so they need to be able to ensure that their team knows clearly what has to be done and what is expected for each individual project that is undertaken. if the social media manager is unable to communicate effectively with their team it will result in people not knowing exactly how to go about things in order to achieve tasks as efficiently and correctly as possible. therefore deadlines will become overdue, the quality of work will decline.

Another attribute that a social media manager will need to fulfil this role is creative skills. they will need this for contributing new and innovative ideas to the group and the business as being a social media manager they are responsible for the businesses social media marketing and online presence. it is important that a business always has a fresh new flow of social media marketing posts in order to keep potential clients/customers interested and aware of the business and its activities. If a social media manager is a creative person themselves, it will make it easier for them to communicate to the rest of the social media team what the business wants and how it will be helping the business.