Being a social media manager is not easy in 2025. For many in that role, the work seems never-ending, and because of that, they struggle to keep up. With one report saying that 64% of the world’s population is on social media, with an average daily usage of almost two and a half hours, it’s no wonder those who are at the helm are feeling stressed.
In fact, a study showed that 42% of social marketers think they will leave their roles within the next two years, with 63% saying they are burned out. The problem is that over time, the social media manager role has become such a complex position that it’s almost unrecognisable from the equivalent job a few years back. These days, it requires a unique blend of skills, including strategy, creativity, data analysis, and a deep understanding of consumer behaviour.
The job has been further complicated by the way social platforms have changed – they have gone from being primarily about content and conversation to a much more commercial angle. Reflecting on these developments, this article covers everything you need to know to be a social media manager in the ever-changing social media world.
Making a strong start with a strategic foundation
Like most roles, the first step in succeeding as a social media manager is getting to grips with the broader picture. That means studying the company’s mission, vision, and overall marketing goals. Once you have internalised these – along with the key business objectives – you are in a position to start thinking about how this impacts your role.
From there, you need to define your goals. This might take the form of brand awareness, generating leads, or driving sales. It could also be about boosting community engagement, or establishing the company as a thought leader. In all cases, you will need to leverage data to identify your target audience, ensure you are speaking to the right demographic, and adapt your strategy to their behaviour and preferences.
Finally, it’s about understanding where your audiences are online, deciding on the right platforms to target, and focusing your efforts where your audiences are most active.
Creating content that resonates
Content is still king. That hasn’t changed. It’s the lifeblood of social media. It can take many forms, including graphics, videos, carousels, live streams, photos, animations, and so on. For instance, a small café could use shoppable posts on Instagram to link daily specials directly to its online ordering system, boosting lunchtime orders. So even simple content that is timed well can drive measurable business outcomes.
While the possibilities are almost endless, a consistent brand voice must always be in place. In the end, that’s what’s going to tie the content together and ensure that your messaging is consistent on the platform as well as across all platforms where you are active.
With content, a calculation must be made to get the right balance between entertaining and educational versus pure selling. In addition, a good social media manager is not just aware of trends but is at the cutting edge and understands which are relevant to the brand and which will feel forced and inauthentic, and will therefore push customers away. A good manager is able to anticipate challenges before they arise and pivot when algorithms or trends shift.
Using the power of social commerce
Today, platforms are becoming shopping destinations as well. That means social media managers must understand how to turn engagement into transactions while still retaining an authentic voice. It’s a tricky balance to strike.
Success in social commerce can come from a variety of approaches – this includes shoppable posts so users can discover and purchase directly on the platform itself and in the process reducing the likelihood of drop-offs in the purchasing funnel. There can also be interactive elements within live streams that showcase products that move the customer towards the purchase in a friction-free way. Knowing which platforms dominate locally is critical when creating a social commerce strategy - in our region, TikTok Shop is gaining traction as a direct-to-consumer sales channel, with LinkedIn still very important in the B2B space.
There is also the potential of using partnerships with influencers. When you have trusted creators on board they can drive sales through their communities. This is a key component of any social commerce strategy.
Social is still about community engagement
Anyone who has approached social media as a type of broadcasting knows that this path leads nowhere. It’s not just about you shouting at the world. Social media is about interaction, and that means active participation. So, it’s important to reply to comments, respond to messages, and join conversations.
Listening also plays a critical role, and using social listening tools can help track brand mentions and customer sentiment which you can feed back into your strategy.
Encouraging content generated by users can help strengthen those community ties, with your customers sharing their experiences in a way that is unmatched in terms of building trust with prospects.
Paid social and performance marketing
An effective paid social strategy starts with a solid understanding of advertising platforms. From there, it’s about developing ads with the kind of visuals and copy that capture people’s attention and then leading them towards converting.
We have talked about audiences before, and paid is no different: precise targeting is crucial, using tools like audience segmentation and retargeting strategies to reach the right people. Tracking ROI can be done through analysing cost-per-click, conversion rates, and return on ad spend, checking that your campaign is delivering ROI.
Using data in your decision-making
Social media managers must interpret analytics so they can make their case to the marketing department and the wider business. To do this, you must track key metrics such as engagement rates, impressions, reach, click-throughs, conversions, and audience sentiment.
You can also benchmark performance against your competitors to give some context for the results. Strategies can be optimised through A/B testing of content formats, posting times, and creative direction.
A good social media manager can then present these results in various forms, depending on the internal audience, from marketing experts through to the C-suite.
New tools are also changing the way managers approach their work. AI can now generate captions, suggest creative variations, and even predict the best posting times. This kind of automation – as long as the human hand is still involved in the process – can free up time for strategic thinking.
Creativity meets commercial awareness
Ultimately, social media management is a balancing act between creativity and business. On the creative side, it’s about keeping audiences engaged, but at the same time, commercial awareness means your campaigns have a real impact that can be measured and then assessed.
A great social media manager knows how to sell without appearing overly promotional and can balance short-term campaigns with long-term brand building. They are able to use cultural moments – knowing which are relevant and which are not – and, where suitable, they can then connect them to commercial opportunities.
Going forward
It’s an intense job and the work is never truly done, but a social media manager is critical to the marketing department and the wider business – and because of that, it requires close collaboration across departments from product teams to HR.
The modern social media manager wears many hats, from content creator to strategist, and excelling in this role requires creativity and a love of data. By mastering the full range of responsibilities, from content creation to commerce integration, managers have the opportunity to transform a company’s channels.
In a world where brand perception and business performance are increasingly linked, the social media manager is becoming a key role in the success of a modern business.
