With the active development of the Internet, many speci alties have appeared that are related to online marketing, social networks, programming, etc. Since such professions are only gaining popularity, it is impossible to get such an education at universities. Therefore, those who wish go to courses and webinars to get any information on this speci alty.
Development of social networks
Social networks play a special role in our lives. Once it all started with VKontakte. This social network was a meeting place for friends and acquaintances. Here we talked and found new acquaintances.
Over time, VKontakte became a platform for commercial activities, but still remained a social network for communication. The advent of Instagram and the widespread use of the program has led to the fact that commercial activity has smoothly flowed there. Many entrepreneurs have created accounts to promote their business on the social network.
The sameThe same thing happened with Facebook. Of course, hundreds of people still communicate in it, but it was thanks to him and other social networks that it became clear who an SMM specialist is.
Internet Marketing
This speci alty began to be talked about after the development of marketing, which moved to the Internet. Here, SEO-specialists began to deal with it, helping entrepreneurs develop their business on the Internet.
SEO began to optimize sites. This became necessary after many companies began to develop their resources on the web, working with content, target audience, a huge amount of statistical data, etc. To promote a site on the web and raise its position in search results, you have to work on many aspects. Now the processes are all shared among specialists, so even more speci alties have appeared that are connected by one thing, but each has its own niche.
Thus, web designers who work on website design, programmers who write codes for a resource, copywriters who work on texts, web analysts who parse statistics, and many others have become popular.
Over time, an SMM specialist joined them. Who is this person and what does such a person do?
New speci alty
Social media marketing has become a major offshoot of internet marketing. Experts realized that one site for selling goods and services was not enough. It was important to be in touch and in social networks. This is how the culture of maintaining commercial accounts and interaction withpotential customers.
SMM is Social Media Marketing - what we call social media marketing. Social platforms made it possible not only to promote goods to customers, but also to collect data on the target audience, work with feedback, and solve other business problems.
Tasks
Before you figure out who an SMM specialist is and what he does, it is important to understand the tasks of social media marketing.
Of course, the mission of the SMS in this case is extensive and directly depends on the subject of the resource and its tasks. However, the main thing to do is to create messages of a textual or visual nature. At the same time, the post should interest the person so much that he will share it on his page. Thus, the message itself will be distributed on the social network, without the help of the creator.
What is it for? As practice shows, a post that has been reposted is more credible than the post itself on the company page. The recommendatory scheme works here, which just underlies the interaction.
Marketing in social networks plays an important role primarily in the process of influencing the target audience. It is extremely important, thanks to the characteristics of your target audience, to collect data that would help you find the most successful platform, the right style of communication, and also try not to affect those who are not affected by advertising.
The main tasks of SMM should also include work on the brand. This is an extremely important process in the development of a company, increasingloy alty and increased attendance.
Tools
Of course, an SMM specialist primarily works with messages and posts, but this is not his only tool. Equally important is communication in the comments, as customers always want to see reactions to their feedback and questions.
Also in marketing they use the work with forums, if any. Viral marketing and direct advertising are often used. All this should be well thought out.
Creativity and analytics
Knowing who an SMM specialist is, you will be able to understand what is needed in order to become one. This profession involves complex and multi-purpose work. You must be constantly in touch and involved in communication with customers. Someone might think that it is very simple, but in reality it will be psychologically difficult, because you will have to adapt to everyone. And as we know, there are not only polite and kind people in the world.
Of course, often SMM is a creative job that requires you to show your imagination and attract people by any means, including jokes and jokes. But in addition to creativity, you will also have to face analytics. It will be necessary not only to collect statistics, but also to interpret them correctly.
Requirements
You can find out who an SMM specialist is by going to any page of the company on Instagram. All posts and answers under them are written by him. Hence, it is extremely important that the smsman be able to:
- Writing and speaking correctly. And no less important will be not only the competent writing of texts, but alsocreating interesting content.
- Develop your account and attract followers. You may have come across some pages on social networks that are not at all interesting for you regarding the product being sold, but are extremely exciting due to the work of an SMM specialist.
- Set up ads. To do this, you will have to understand special programs, as well as in the relevant sections of the social network.
- Understand web analytics. She will also be encountered as she collects data and helps to analyze it.
These are the basic requirements that are most often found in job descriptions. But there are also unspoken ones that are not mentioned, but having them would be an advantage. For example, it will be important to have work experience and a portfolio of completed projects.
Since the creation of posts often requires not only textual information, but also graphic information, it will be good if you understand graphic editors, know how to create pictures and infographics.
Now many SMM-specialists work in the English-speaking segment, so a sufficient level of English is required. Finally, it will be a plus if you are familiar with marketing and understand its basic concepts.
Specialist Tasks
They practically do not differ from the tasks of the SMM itself, however, they can be described in more detail depending on the topics and goals of the company. Who is an SMM specialist and what does he do?
- Creates content for social media and blogs. To do this, you can use the help of thosewho knows how to make infographics and write interesting texts. Sometimes he himself deals with these processes.
- Maintains accounts on several social networks. Now the most popular are Instagram and Facebook. But you can also add Twitter, VK, YouTube, etc. to them.
- Attracts followers, collects likes, reposts and saves. Increases audience interest in a product or service.
- Conducts targeted advertising, and then works with analytics and reporting.
- Communicates with followers and monitors their behavior.
- Engages audience through contests, giveaways, quizzes, polls, games, etc.
- Creates a progress report and plans for a new milestone.
What is an SMM specialist in simple terms? This is a person who runs social networks and advertises the company through them.
Field of activity
Now almost every large office, no matter what it does, has its own SMM department. Social networking pages have appeared in large and small online stores, government organizations and private entrepreneurs.
SMM-specialist can also work in a special company that is looking for clients to promote in social networks, and can lead several projects. Typically, such companies do not have the opportunity or do not see the point in creating an SMM department in their office, so they buy services on the side.
Training
How to become an SMM specialist and where to start? There is no such direction in higher educational institutions yet, so those who want to work in social networks shouldyou have to look for courses or take self-study.
Now online courses are becoming extremely popular. On the one hand, this is a good opportunity to get an education at home, on the other hand, there are pitfalls that inexperienced users may not know about. What is it about?
Online courses are a pig in a poke. You have probably heard and seen how many schools on the Internet help you find your dream profession. But, most likely, you also heard how people pay for classes, but they do not receive either classes or their money back. That is why many do not know how to become an SMM specialist.
If you don't trust online courses, try finding in-office classes in your city. Now there are many such IT schools and they all offer good education, program and cost. The only thing you should not forget to check the documents, license and certificates. Read reviews and find social media.
SMM specialist receives training in different ways, it all depends on the school itself. For example, you can come to courses several times a week, receive theoretical material and practice. In addition, you will have the opportunity to repeat the material at home using a special website or group on social networks.
By the way, many of these schools offer distance learning. An SMM specialist can attend the lesson while being at home (this is convenient if you are sick or, in principle, you do not have the opportunity to go to the office). At the end of the course, a diploma or certificate is usually issued, which indicates thatthat you have successfully completed the training.
Self-learning
SMM-specialist courses help even the laziest start learning. But some of us don't need a kick to get going. Since the speci alty is new, many novice specialists used self-study. To do this, I had to read a lot of specialized literature (fortunately, this is now available everywhere), as well as to understand the possibilities in practice.
Those who already work in this area are recommended to study all modern books on marketing at once. For example, Jona Berger “Contagious. The Psychology of Word of Mouth” or Andy Sernowitz “Word of Mouth Marketing”. Of course, if you are interested in learning this profession, it is better to "absorb" as much information as possible. Do not forget about useful blogs and articles.
When you get the position of an SMM specialist, you should not stop training on this. Almost all speci alties that are associated with the Internet are constantly changing. Updating technologies leads to the fact that trends and trends are changing. You need to constantly be in trend, know the latest news and find new ways to promote.
The main thing is to start
If you decide to become an SMM specialist, where to start? Decide for yourself whether you are ready to perceive all the information around the clock that will pour on you from a laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc. Some recommend starting with your own account. For example, everyone now has Instagram. Tryindependently engage in its promotion, read books and recommendations from experts. Only with practice can you feel everything.
A novice SMM specialist should:
- be a strategist - it is important to study the target audience and develop a promotion strategy;
- be a tactician - constantly be aware of news, memes, movies, etc.;
- to be a moderator - to respond correctly and politely to the negative;
- be a diplomat - adapt to the audience and speak “the same language” with them;
- to be a specialist - in addition to creativity, you will have to understand statistics and analytics;
- be literate - follow not only grammar and punctuation, but also style, vocabulary and relevance.
To finally become an SMM specialist, you just need to start. Don't be afraid that you won't succeed. This is a new speci alty, which, although it has algorithms and requires knowledge, still largely depends on creativity, non-standard thinking and self-improvement.
