What does a social media professional do?

A social media professional plans and executes content and campaigns that support business goals. Tasks often include creating editorial calendars, writing captions, designing visuals or coordinating with designers, running paid social ads, and analyzing performance. In smaller organizations one person may cover content, community management, and reporting; larger firms often separate strategist, creator, analyst, and paid media roles. Professionals also coordinate across teams — PR, product, and customer support — to ensure messaging is consistent and that social insights inform broader marketing decisions.

Which platforms should you know?

Different platforms serve different audiences and content styles, so familiarity with several is important. Core platforms commonly used by employers include Facebook and Instagram for broad consumer reach, LinkedIn for B2B networking and recruitment, Twitter/X for real-time conversation and public relations, TikTok and YouTube for short- and long-form video, and niche communities for specialized audiences. Understanding platform-specific best practices (posting frequency, video length, hashtag use, and ad formats) and how to adapt content across platforms helps demonstrate versatility to hiring managers.

How does community management fit in?

Community management focuses on building and maintaining relationships with followers and customers. It covers moderating comments, responding to direct messages, resolving customer issues, and facilitating conversations that reinforce brand values. Effective community managers detect sentiment shifts, flag potential reputation risks, and work with customer service or legal teams when escalation is needed. Community management also harvests qualitative insights — common questions, feature requests, or content ideas — that can guide product decisions and content strategy. Empathy, clear communication, and consistent moderation policies are key to sustaining healthy communities.

What belongs in your social media portfolio?

A social media portfolio should showcase both creative work and measurable outcomes. Include content samples (images, video links, carousel posts), campaign summaries with objectives and target audiences, and performance highlights such as engagement rates, reach trends, or conversion outcomes. Short case studies that explain strategy, tactics, tools used, and lessons learned are particularly valuable. If metrics are confidential, consider redacted screenshots or summarized percentage improvements. Also include examples that demonstrate platform range, paid media experience, and any content or community management templates you maintain (calendars, style guides, crisis scripts).

What skills does the social media industry value?

Employers typically look for a mix of creative, analytical, and project-management skills. Strong writing and storytelling help craft captions and scripts; basic design sense or familiarity with tools like Canva, Photoshop, or video-editing apps supports visual production. Analytical skills include interpreting platform analytics, using UTM tracking and conversion data, and running A/B tests for ads. Paid social knowledge — audience targeting, bidding, and creatives testing — is often sought. Soft skills such as collaboration, time management, and the ability to adapt to platform changes are equally important. Familiarity with scheduling and monitoring tools, basic SEO principles, and an appetite for continuous learning will make candidates more competitive.

Social media roles can be entry-level to highly specialized. Early-career positions often focus on content creation and community tasks, while more senior roles emphasize strategy, measurement, and cross-channel integration. Building a clear portfolio, staying current with platform changes, and developing both creative and analytical capabilities position candidates to grow within the industry.

Conclusion

Social media jobs combine creativity, data, and relationship-building across a variety of platforms and contexts. Whether you aim to create compelling content, manage communities, or analyze campaign performance, a practical portfolio and a balanced skill set will help you meet employer needs and adapt as platforms and audience behaviors evolve.