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If you enjoy using social media, you can actually make money from it.
That’s right, you can make a full-time income managing social media accounts for online business owners and bloggers.
Today’s post covers some of these details like – how do you become a social media manager with no experience?
And to help with this I have brought in social media expert Jennifer Leach who explains how anyone can become a social media manager from home in less than 2 weeks!
But first, let’s look at the basics of social media management.
What does a social media manager do?
A social media manager is someone that represents the brand on various social media outlets.
Most companies use Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook to promote their company products.
Usual tasks include creating promotional content and responding to comments left on social posts. Promotional content maybe regular updates about companies products posts on their Facebook business page, or content promotion on Instagram.
As for Pinterest, you will be required to create pin images to circulate on the platform.
Occasionally there might be the need to make graphics to promote content, but that’s something that can be easily learnt.
You don’t need a degree in graphic designing to design marketing images. There are many free online platforms that help with this. I personally use Canva to help create graphics on my site and to promote on my social media channels. It only took a couple of days to get the hang of it.
How to get started?
Here are 4 basic steps you need to take to become a social media manager.
1. First, you will need to have your own social media accounts set up. If you want to be a social media manager, you need to be able to grow your own social following. But that’s something you can build as you grow.
2. Good organisation skills – There are many social media platforms around. Depending on your client’s needs, you will need to focus on different platforms. Organise your daily schedule, to set aside time for each social outlet. For example, you can choose to work on Pinterest for 3 hours and then Facebook the next 3 hours, otherwise, it will be overwhelming handling all the social media platforms at once.
3. Marketing skills – It is important to help your clients be found easily on social sites. SEO is something you need to master for this and its what makes you stand out as an expert. Having said this, SEO for Pinterest is different from SEO on Instagram. While this is something you don’t need to master right away, having this skill gives you a better shot at landing more clients. (More details on how to learn SEO at the end of this post).
4. Create a small website – If you can start a small website, you can use this to promote yourself to potential clients. There are many Facebook groups that have online business owners looking to hire social media managers to promote their business. Imagine if you have your own website that lays out some of your credentials and testimonial from past clients – it’s an additional feather to your hat.
You can start your own website for less than $100, check this step-by-step tutorial for more details.
Expert Interview
I have had the opportunity to interview Jennifer Leach, a work-at-home mom who has been a successful social media manager for over 5 years.
Be sure to also check out her course Supersizing Social, which she created to help stay-at-home moms work at home as a social media manager. Here’s a quick look at what the course offers:
- How to get started
- Where to find clients
- Forming your business
- Making the most money
- Scaling your business
- Putting it on autopilot
- And more!
1. Hi Jennifer can you tell us about your work as a social media manager?
I started working as a social media manager based on my experience managing my own social media for my multiple eCommerce stores.
I was able to grow my social following from zero to 150,000 followers in a short time while getting amazing engagement and the majority of my sales directly from Instagram and Pinterest.
Once I transitioned in my career, moving away from eCommerce, I started helping others grow their following, create a solid brand message, engaging with consumers, and related activities to improve their social presence.
I began taking on clients and formed my social media management business!
2. How much can you earn?
Social media managers can earn up to six figures per year or more.
I know many social media managers (SMMs) that started making five figures per month in less than 6 months of starting!
What’s great about running your SMM business is that you make the rules. So, you can choose how you structure your pay, whether it be hourly or by a package, monthly, etc.
It’s not uncommon for monthly SMM packages to start at $1,000/month so booking a handful of clients can easily provide a full-time income.
3. Where can you find work?
You can find work online or in-person. Online you can look to social media like in Facebook groups, on Twitter, and Instagram.
People have a lot of success with finding conversations of people posting their need for social media management. You can also find our dream clients and contact them directly via Instagram direct message, for example.
You can also find SMM jobs in freelance job banks like Upwork.
In-person provides a great opportunity to find clients through networking.
4. Can you tell us a bit about your course?
The course is called Supersizing Social and it teaches you how to become a profitable social media manager is just 2 weeks.
You’ll learn the strategies to get started, more places I’ve used to find clients, how to make the most money as an SMM, how to scale your business, and much more.
I take you step-by-step through the process for creating your profitable social media management business in 2 weeks!
Additional Resources to Help You Become a Social Media Manager
To become a successful social media manager, its good to know how social media platforms work. You can learn just one or two platforms at a time, and become an expert in say, just Pinterest or Instagram.
Here are some resources that help you become that expert. The online courses listed below are very in-depth and teach you from the very basics and takes you through the advanced level – including SEO.
For Pinterest, I recommend you check out this free workshop.
And for Instagram, I highly recommend this one.
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