What Skills Do You Need to be a Social Media Specialist?

The skills you need to be a Social Media Specialist include writing ability, a strong knack for visuals, and a talent for community management.

Content marketing and social media are crucial in establishing a brand image. Social Media Specialists are the main voice behind a company’s social channels, and much of the job is about telling that brand’s story. Therefore, strong writing, editing and storytelling abilities are crucial to setting the right tone across platforms that truly represent the company.

In social media, the visual aspect is also integral to defining a presence. Storytelling isn’t just about words. You must create a cohesive aesthetic presentation across platforms. So a good eye for design and the ability to create eye-catching content is a must. It’s also good to have experience using content creation tools such as Adobe Spark, Giphy, and Canva.

Another major goal of social media is to engage with a community effectively. But it’s not easy to get people to respond. Discovering how a brand’s audience communicates helps to better understand their comments, questions, needs, and concerns.

Other important skills include trend awareness, determining KPIs, and understanding SEO.

What Do You Need to Be a Good Social Media Specialist?

A good Social Media Specialist needs skills like data analysis, a strong writing and storytelling sensibility, an awareness of key trends, and the ability to create effective social media strategies.

A Social Media Specialist is like a marketer, a strategist, a copywriter, a designer, an analyst, and a customer service rep all in one. That requires Social Media Specialists to develop a number of crucial marketing and marketing-adjacent social media skills. An effective social media professional possesses both hard skills – including data analysis and writing – and soft skills, such as staying organized and having a way with people.

Because really, social media is a communication platform — so as a social media professional, it’s important to have good communication skills that can be applied to fit any platform, form of media, or audience.

The best Social Media Specialists and Managers are also excellent writers who enhance their brand’s voice. You should know how to write concise copy that elicits emotion from your intended audience.

Another crucial soft skill in the social media world is creativity. With a growing number of competing voices, it’s not easy to stand out. Outside-the-box thinking is a must.