What do social media managers do?

Social media workers used to be derided as mere button-pushing Facebook jockeys, but they’ve become indispensable communications professionals.

What are they doing all day? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Meltwater has created an infographic showing the array of responsibilities social media managers shoulder and the variety of skills they employ. Their work touches every organizational nook and cranny, whether it’s PR, crisis communications, marketing, graphic design, human resources, PR or data analysis.

The infographic offers insight into a typical day for a social media boss, which might include crafting editorial calendars, defusing online criticism, writing a blog post, editing video, looking for leads, offering customer service or testing a new platform—oh, and finding time to strategically tweet, snap, share, hashtag, “like” and poke as needed.

[RELATED: Join for the Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit at Microsoft.]

Today’s social media leaders must have a broad skill set. As the graphic notes, they incorporate the dexterity of a journalist, data analyst, customer service agent, PR pro, marketer, account executive, human resources coordinator, graphic designer and media strategist. It’s all in a day’s work.

Social media managers carry a heavy, often thankless burden. They are the mouthpiece of your organization—and their work affects everyone—so it’s in your best interest to treat them well. After reading through the graphic below, you might want to give the social media pro closest to you a hug—or at least a retweet.

from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2sS924E