Skills For A Social Media Specialist (Definition And Examples)

Updated 30 September 2022

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A social media specialist helps create a solid and impactful online presence for brands and businesses. It is a lucrative profession in the technology-driven world of business marketing. Knowing more about the skills of a social media specialist can help you prepare for several roles in this domain such as a marketer, copywriter, designer, strategist, campaign manager and social media analyst. In this article, we discuss what skills for a social media specialist are, list examples of relevant skills, explore how to improve them and examine how to highlight them on a resume.

What Are Some Important Skills For A Social Media Specialist?

The important skills for a social media specialist include both soft skills that are inherent and hard skills that an individual may develop through practice, education or on-the-job training. By mentioning a wide range of relevant skills on your resume, you may be able to secure a creative and lucrative work opportunity at a reputed firm. An ideal social media specialist is good at data analysis, copywriting and customer relationship management.

If you are a fresher, you can improve your expertise in some fundamental domains to progress in your career. A social media specialist typically has the responsibility of driving result-oriented outputs for businesses. By cultivating the expertise and knowledge of an experienced social media specialist, you may be able to promote brand awareness and improve audience engagement for a business.

9 Examples Of Common Social Media Specialist Skills

The duties of a social media specialist make a significant contribution to the success of a business. Companies and the hiring managers they employ typically prefer competent individuals who possess the potential, knowledge and skills to boost brand awareness and achieve scalability. These are some important skills that are beneficial for a social media specialist to develop:

1. Storytelling abilities

Social media and content marketing are essential for establishing a consistent image for a brand in a particular market. A social media specialist guides the social media activity and online presence of a company. A significant part of your responsibilities in this role may include educating an audience about a brand and its offerings. Strong content creation, storytelling, writing and editing abilities enable social media specialists to precisely represent a company's image using activity and engagement on social media platforms.

2. Visual design skills

Visual presentation of content plays a significant role in drawing the attention of social media users to a brand's offerings. In a social media specialist role, you benefit from not only from being good at storytelling but also from being able to create or guide the creation of compelling visual material to compliment online content. You may consider developing:

A keen eye for design aesthetics
Basic conceptualisation skills
An objective colour sense
Working knowledge of graphic design tools

3. Understanding of KPIs

As a social media specialist, you may benefit from demonstrating a good understanding of the KPIs that your employer considers or monitors periodically. KPIs or Key Performance Indicators determine a company's success in attaining organisational growth and success. In this role, you may review business development plans and social media strategies periodically and customise KPIs to track progress on an organisational level.

4. Knowledge of SEO

Incorporating search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media algorithms to drive organic traffic is vital for lead conversions in the domain of marketing. Social media specialists typically know how to integrate interfaces and external inbound links to increase a brand's content rank on the results page of search engines. SEO knowledge helps professionals in this domain ensure that content is dispersed, discoverable and easily shareable. Apart from employing keywords, you can also optimise content posting to cater to popular search queries.

5. Analytical skills

An in-depth understanding of analytic tools helps social media specialists measure and evaluate the performance of social media platforms using raw data. It is crucial for professionals in this domain to analyse the information from large volumes of data, draw inferences and provide suggestions that businesses can realistically implement. Consider KPIs to make informed and effective decisions to cultivate different strategies and tactics for improving social media engagement.

6. Working knowledge of social media advertising channels

In this role, you benefit from knowing how to utilise social media advertisements to attain greater scalability for a company's marketing efforts. Paid social media advertising has the potential to help businesses reach out to more target customers. Social media specialists identify the best platforms to run ads on, with an intent to achieve organisational marketing goals. Social media advertising can boost sales and conversions with lower acquisition costs when a potential market aligns with user demographics on social media channels.

7. Knowledge of social media algorithms

You can explore different social media platforms available in your target market segment to study how their interfaces and algorithms function. This can help you identify correct and relevant channels for a brand's marketing content. For instance, a post that performs impressively on a text-based social media platform might not do well on an image-based social media platform. Most social media platforms comprise diversified target markets. Recognising a company's potential audience and identifying algorithms that can cater to their varied requirements is necessary for obtaining consistent results.

8. Time-management skills

While working as a social media specialist, you may address a range of responsibilities and perform a variety of duties on a routine basis. Managing time efficiently to maintain a healthy work-life balance is important for avoiding burnout and for attaining job satisfaction. To optimise your usage of time, consider:

Creating and following daily and weekly task lists
Generating social media post schedules ahead of time
Utilising technological tools for social media marketing

9. Knowledge of latest industry trends and practices

Successful social media specialists work to stay updated on the latest events, news, technological developments, tools and social media practices. This practice can assist you in coping with the requirements of a dynamic industry. Consider:

Opting for a well-suited analytics tool to search relevant terms alongside social media conversations
Following industry news outside social media platforms
Engaging with new platforms as and when they establish

Ways Of Improving Skills For A Social Media Specialist

Having knowledge and expertise may not be enough to stay competent in this field. It is vital to improve your competencies periodically to gain a competitive edge over other professionals with similar credentials and qualifications. To become a successful result-driven social media specialist, consider:

Consuming relevant content. You may be able to reproduce or gain inspiration from what you read, so reading well-written and relevant content is beneficial in this role. You can read leading news portals and blogs to consume content that has the potential to enhance your vocabulary and written communication skills.
Starting blogs. Becoming a social media specialist requires a comprehensive understanding of the working of various social media platforms. Selecting a niche and creating blogs on different social platforms can help you understand social media algorithms and audience engagement metrics better.
Sharing compelling content regularly. Craft compelling content with appealing visuals once you start your own blog or social media initiative. By sharing compelling content regularly, you may develop the ability to sustain audience response and engagement.
Determining suitable posting measures. You benefit from staying consistent while communicating with an audience on social media. Identify the time when your target audience is most active on social media platforms and gauge customer engagement with your content or posts through metrics like likes and shares.
Exploring different tools. Try out various tools available on social media to monitor page traffic and activity. Many professional tools aid in promoting the reach of content across potential audience groups.

Highlighting Social Media Specialist Skills On A Resume

Consider these pointers while highlighting social media specialist skills on a resume:

Opt for a functional resume

If you have switched careers or have little or zero experience, list your skills at the top of your resume. Create a dedicated section for skills that incline your expertise with the crucial skills related to the job profile. If you have completed an internship or apprenticeship, list it along with your work experience below the skills section.

Be creative

Since you are applying for the post of social media specialist, it is important to show your creative insight. You can select a simple yet effective resume template with subtle colours to appear professional. You can be creative with the text to illustrate your prowess in creating and using engaging content.

Add a short description of each skill

Include a precise description along with each skill or skill set group. By doing so, you can explain the level of expertise you have with respect to each competency. The skills of a social media specialist typically indicate versatility and expertise alongside creativity and determination. Review the job description to understand the preferences of the employer and use relevant keywords on your resume, if they apply to you.