Every company and celebrity has multiple social media accounts that require constant attention. It’s a crucial part of communication that cannot be left unchecked, as in the wrong hands, it could do more damage than benefit. That’s why there’s a lot of work to do and money to earn for social media managers.

If you enjoy communication and can scroll social media endlessly, this job might be for you. A successful freelance career in social media management will help you build a comfortable life with flexible working hours. Achieving it isn’t easy, but the first steps are quite straightforward. This article will cover them.

What is professional social media management?

Social media management is the continuous process of crafting and posting social media content. The aims of your communication might differ depending on the brand you work for and the channels you use. However, in most cases, social media experts, at least partially, aim to create and care for the target audience.

Many beginners fail to understand how different brand communication is from your personal one. Social media channels create an impression that everything is personal. Sometimes, influencers and businesses play on this as a strength, but the general aim of professional communication is a bit different.

Social media managers must think of the overall media content strategy of a company, its reputation, and how the investments in social media pay off. Often, this is associated with the reputation of the company. Relatable posts about current trends while promoting the brand can be wildly beneficial in terms of reach and

What’s more, social media is usually just one channel through which a company can reach its audience. Most companies have other tools to build their reputation. Social media has to follow an already established tone of voice or branding guidelines. In some cases, it might be a leading voice for a company.

However, if you want to become a freelance social media manager, expect to follow existing rules instead of creating new ones. This requires a specific set of skills that social media managers must have.

Skills you need to be successful

Basics of marketing

Social media management is a subset of general marketing. You don’t necessarily need a degree in marketing to be successful, but understanding marketing strategies is definitely helpful. Afterall, your communication will have to fit into the general marketing strategy of the company.

Content creation

Most of the hands-down work of social media managers is creating posts. Sometimes, there are dedicated copywriters or designers who do it, but most beginner social media managers will need to create their own posts, not just schedule them and create strategies. Having a strong background here might help you stand out from the competition.

Data analysis

Don’t worry. There’s no need to become a mathematician. However, you still need to learn how to track and analyze the performance of your posts and other actions. It’s the best way to measure whether your strategy has any effect. Tools will make most of the calculations; you just need to learn how to use them.

Understanding of social media and its trends

Being a user of TikTok, Facebook, or X is not the same as knowing how to use it professionally. In fact, many social media managers do not use these platforms in their personal lives. You must understand how they work as a TOOL for promoting brands and people.

Unfortunately, it takes away much of the satisfaction that comes from using them personally. After some time, you will see the trends, reach statistics, and start appreciating the work of your colleagues.

Tools every social media manager needs to master

Social media analytics

Tools like Agorapulse, Hootsuite, and even Google Analytics can give you a lot of insight into how your posts perform across different platforms. They all have different functions, and there’s a lot of debate about which is the best. The best strategy is to choose one and master it entirely.

You will need to learn how to search by keywords, hashtags, and other various metrics. This is crucial for analyzing competitors and looking for trends you could use for your own advantage.

Anti-detect browsers

When it comes to making actual posts, you cannot simply log in to your customer’s account and perform them. This will get the account banned, which might be an asset worth thousands of dollars. Professional social media managers use anti-detect browsers to spoof their fingerprints and ensure that the account doesn’t get banned.

Technical details aside, setting up anti-detect browsers, like Dolphine anty or Incogniton, is fairly easy. You can make multiple different profiles with different device settings. Make sure to dedicate one profile to only one account, and you will be able to make posts without getting blocked.

Many anti-detect browsers also have functions for profile sharing, importing cookies, and social media automation. The latter is especially important since it will help you to schedule posts, likes, and other actions precisely when you need them.

Proxies

Anti-detect browsers are of little use alone. The main factor that detects multi-accounting is the IP address. So, you need to use proxy servers to change it. They act as intermediaries routing your network requests. All good anti-detect browsers have proxy server support in the software. You’ll simply need to input proxy credentials.

When it comes to proxy types, I recommend looking for residential proxies, as they will be the best for showing you are a regular visitor. This is because they are based in regular households. Worth noting that for some platforms, you will need to use mobile proxies hosted on smartphones because platforms might ban you otherwise.

Wrapping up

You don’t need to become a master of all of the skills and tools, but it’s crucial to have some understanding. The rest can be learned in practice after you find your first client. So don’t wait, and head to Upwork or another platform to become a social media