With the rise of the internet and social media, new jobs and their corresponding tasks are emerging. It is not surprising that, if you don't know much about the different functions of each worker, you may confuse some jobs with others.
is Social Media Strategist the same as Community Manager? If you keep up to date with the job offers published on Linkedin and other platforms, you probably know that these are different positions. However, how do they differ?
In this post we will talk about both positions and the tasks performed by the professionals who work in them. If you want to know what differentiates a Community Manager from a Social Media Strategist, don't miss it!
what is the role of each one?
We are in the middle of the digital era, in which new jobs related to the internet, social networks and online marketing have appeared. Often, due to companies' lack of knowledge, tasks that in theory should be performed by different profiles end up being carried out by the same person. However, the ideal is to hire different professionals and define well the tasks that occupy them.
We will start by defining both positions (Social Media Strategist and Community Manager) to understand the keys to each of them and how they relate to each other.
Social Media Strategist
The Social Media Strategist (or Social Media Manager) leads the social strategy of the company. This is the professional in charge of designing the global strategy of the brand in social networks. His function is to set the action plan, with the different campaigns and publications that will be carried out in all the communication channels. For the development of his work, the use of calendars is fundamental, as well as the establishment of milestones, which will mark the path towards a main objective.
The functions of the Social Media Strategist, as we have already mentioned in another of our posts, are as follows:
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- To carry out market research
Knowing the market will serve to better understand the public we face in each social network, the interests of users and general trends that could affect our potential customers.
In addition, analysing the evolution and presence on social networks of competing brands will help us to set our own strategy and decide what we need to change so that customers end up choosing us.
The Social Media Strategist is in charge of defining where the company's social strategy is heading, that is to say, he/she must establish a goal and set objectives that lead to it. These objectives may be to change the values with which a brand is associated or to improve its notoriety within the sector, among others.
In addition, when setting the goal and objectives, it is essential to know the brand's target audience and act accordingly .
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- Defining KPIs
The KPI's (Key Performance Indicator) refer to a set of metrics used to measure the performance of the actions carried out in a business. In this way, it is possible to determine which decisions have been effective and which have not, and it will be easier to make the right decisions in the future in order to meet the objectives set.
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- establishing an action plan
The action plan will group the steps to follow in order to meet the objectives set. The Social Media Strategist is in charge of defining the campaigns to be carried out on social networks, the phases of the strategy, the channels to be used in it, the necessary resources and the calendars that will mark the timing.
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- Supervision of the Community Management team and monitoring of results
The Social Media Strategist sets the tasks to be carried out by the Community Manager, so his role is to ensure that the right path is being followed and toanalyse the results obtained in the different actions carried out. He will have to analyse the audience data, statistics and visualisations, as well as interpret them and assess how to improve them.
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- Develop a crisis plan
Although ideally it should never have to be implemented, it is essential to have a crisis plan. If the brand, for example, is affected by the appearance of negative comments on networks, the Social Media Strategist must have a crisis plan ready to solve possible problems as soon as possible .
Community manager
The Community Manager is the professional in charge of managing the brand's social networks. Therefore, he or she must know the mechanisms and trends in networks perfectly and must know how to deal directly with users through them. His or her actions on the different platforms and the responses he or she provides to users will have an impact on the brand'sonline reputation.
The functions of the Community Manager are as follows:
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- Keeping abreast of the social media landscape
The Community Manager must be aware of everything that is happening on social networks. He /shemust know the trends and must know how to recognise the opportunities and threats that may appear. Inaddition, he/she must keep an eye on the competition. Knowing how our competitors behave on networks is fundamental when it comes to knowing how to behave ourselves .
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- Communicating information about the company
This person is in charge of transmitting the information that the company wants to convey to users. He/she disseminates content with the aim of making internet users aware of the brand. In addition, he/she transmits the information gathered through his/her research on networks to the different departments.
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- Carrying out interaction with users
The community manager is the voice of the brand on the internet, responding to unfortunate comments or doubts about the functioning of the entity or concerns about the goods or services it offers.
It is important that the tone chosen is adapted to the values that the brand wants to transmit.
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- Follow routines and identify opinion leaders
Acquiring routines in the publication of content will benefit our notoriety in networks. In addition, to acquire certain relevance it is essential to identify who are the opinion leaders and influential figures within the network and establish relationships with them.
what differentiates them?
As we have seen, they are closely related positions, but they are not the same, nor do they share functions. The main difference between the Community Strategist and the Social Media Manager is that the latter is in charge of developing the business' network strategy and establishing the way in which the brand communicates. The Community Manager, on the other hand, is the professional who executes the previously developed strategy.
Both positions complement each other and, in fact, in some companies they tend to be occupied by the same person. However, if it is a medium-sized brand, the ideal is to have two different professionals who can carry out their tasks efficiently.
We hope you have understood the difference between Social Media Strategist and Community Manager. See you in the next post.
