There are plenty of vacancies for SMM-managers, there seem to be a lot of specialists themselves. Indeed, there are a lot of courses, guides, training videos, paid and free webinars on the network, through which beginners are trying to learn a profession.
"If I run my own pages on VKontakte or Instagram, then I understand something about SMM," most beginners reason. But once these candidates show up for interviews, 99% of them fail.
As a result, employers complain that Instagram women live in a different dimension and do not realize what tasks a business needs to solve in social networks. And the candidates are surprised why, after 10 interviews, they did not call anywhere.
We will tell you what you need to know if you want to become a really good specialist.
11 friends of a real smm man
To answer the question of how to become a cool specialist, let's first figure out who is an SMM specialist? Let's give a specific definition, agree on terms.
An SMM manager is a person who has the skills and tools of social media marketing. Namely:
Knows classic marketing, knows how advertising works. Has an understanding of consumer behavior and purchasing decision mechanisms.
Knows how to set up targeted advertising on Facebook / Instagram, VK, MyTarget.
Understands what is influence marketing, knows how to work with bloggers.
Has community management skills - knows how to attract subscribers to the discussion, how to handle negative comments.
Can choose a design for a community or an account, knows how to work in photo editors to make pictures for publications, knows how to do editing, high-quality stories.
Knows how to write texts - collect and structure information, interview experts, write in the tone of the brand. Spelling and punctuation should be of a high standard.
Can create a content plan and generate ideas - what to write about and how, when is the best time to publish posts.
Knows how to track and analyze the results of his work. He is able to adjust campaigns based on analytical data.
He knows how to work in a team - listen to other people, offer his ideas and get along with strangers, has discipline and responsibly approaches tasks, is attentive.
Knows the features of all social platforms, follows new trends, studies successful and failed cases, is always up to date.
An impressive list, isn't it? And now let's compare it with what many people still understand by the duties of an SMM manager: "Well, this is someone who posts pictures and ready-made texts on a schedule, bans trolls in the comments."
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Why unfortunate courses spoil your career path
Why do low-quality courses attract people and sell well? Because people always want easy money. Rather, there are much more of those who want it than those who are ready to grow professionally and master serious skills that are in demand on the market. And if you promise mountains of gold with a minimum investment of time and money, and even without straining your mind - “great, wrap up two!”.
As a result, after several webinars held on their knees, graduates receive hastily cobbled together "certificates" and set sail, proudly calling themselves SMM specialists. They go to hh.ru, see a lot of vacancies and start responding. But they simply do not have the necessary skills, there is no understanding of what the job of an SMM worker really is. Therefore, they are indignant and write in the comments under the vacancies: “Are you crazy, the described job is for ten people! I just want to schedule posts once a day and get 60 thousand! ".
Yes, a large company can afford to hire a person separately to create accounts, separately to set up targeted advertising, and separately to moderate the community. But they do this not in order to simply recruit more employees and give them money for easy work. In large companies, there are more tasks, and the requirements are higher. Again, our new "SMM-specialist", who was promised a heavenly life, is not ready for this.
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So it turns out that there are many job seekers, but it is difficult for an employer to find a suitable candidate. Initially, a completely different understanding of responsibilities and competencies.
What conclusion can we draw from this? A truly versatile specialist with all the necessary skills will be able to find a job. Woe-seekers are not competitors to him.
Well-grounded specialists are waiting for real development prospects - SMM is a constantly developing field, it will not be possible to stand still.
Literate SMEs can significantly increase their income. If at the initial stages the salary is on average 50-60 thousand rubles, then having experience and skills, you can reach a salary of more than 120,000 rubles a month.
In the international market, wages are higher, for example, in the United States, an average specialist earns 60-70 thousand dollars a year. High-paying jobs are also offered by foreign companies with branches in Russia.
How to properly start a career in SMM in order to grow into a real one
about specialist
What to do to become a high-level specialist? You need to start correctly. Let's share a few tips.
Explore the responsibilities of an SMM manager
This is the very first and most important step. If you are still sure that a good salary can be received for postponing posting of cats, then it's time to leave such misconceptions in the past. Look at the situation realistically - find out what employers want, what they are willing to pay money for. So at the start you will take off your rose-colored glasses and you will understand in what areas you need to collect knowledge and gain experience.
Say goodbye to everyone who promises you quick money under the palm trees
Even if you understand that for a successful career in SMM you will have to master a lot of knowledge and skills, it can still be tempting to do it quickly and easily.
Do not waste your time looking for workarounds, tune in to learning from trusted specialists, continuous improvement and practice of skills. Only these components will lead to the desired result.
Get a quality knowledge base
Since the range of skills of an SMM specialist is quite wide, for a start it is worth getting a solid foundation, on which more applied knowledge will later lay down much easier. If you sign up for disparate courses, for example, for training targeted advertising, copywriting and design, then you will spend a lot of time, but you will not get a systematic view. You need a well-structured program. Remember the list of skills at the very beginning of the article?
Spend a significant amount of time practicing
SMM specialists are not theorists. You should be able to do everything with your hands, even if you strive for a position where you only need to set tasks and control other people's work.
Don't stop only with professional knowledge, develop soft-skills
An important skill for an SMM specialist is the ability to communicate with the client and / or project manager, as well as build healthy working relationships within the team. This greatly facilitates employment and the work process itself. Few people want to get involved with a brilliant, but conflicting specialist.