How to Become a Social Media Marketing Expert

Thorough knowledge about something does not make you an expert; the ability to share it with the world does.

A social media marketing expert lives and breathes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat marketing. Social media today is a broad concept, and Social Media Marketing (SMM) is at its peak.

Social Media Marketing experts must know the nooks and corners of not one, not two, but all the social media platforms. They should be able to leverage all the tools these social media platforms offer.

Thorough passion, along with the fearlessness to try out new strategies, is one of their key traits. It takes perseverance to make it as an expert in the field.

Let’s not forget the role that the audience plays in skyrocketing social media marketing.

SMM experts will have to be audience analysts as well. They should be able to understand audience behavior backward and forward.

To become a social media marketing expert, you have to be a social media marketer first.

As the saying goes, ‘A great reader is a good writer,’ social media marketing experts are usually avid practitioners. They not only hold expertise in the field but also are willing to impart their tools, techniques, and analytics to other social media marketing practitioners.

Who is a social media marketer?

• They perform social media marketing for businesses to elevate their online presence.
• They use a combination of techniques to strategize what platform best suits the business goals.
• They have a natural sense of understanding of audiences’ behavior.
• They study the competition and their social media marketing strategies.
• They create content strategies (engagement, conversion) that can market a business most engagingly.
• They create content calendars and campaign calendars to fall entirely in sync with the brand’s goals.
• They stick to timelines and produce the desired metrics.
• They study the results produced and the success areas.
• Most of all, they are on point with the current trends and practices.

Do you want to become an SMM expert? Start now with these simple tactics listed below.

Tactics to become a social media marketing expert

Let’s divide the route to becoming a social media expert into three stages. 

1. Stage I- Welcome to the world of social media
2. Stage II- Find, You
3. Stage III- Ride to Victory! You are an expert now

Stage I – Welcome to the world of social media

Take up an online/offline course

Some social media platforms or others are releasing new updates. They are growing at a pace like never before. So, you can learn so much by yourself.

The super-speed development of SMM has led to an increase in the number of excellent courses.

Especially in the cities, you can take up a classroom course that offers real-time experience with live projects. If it’s not possible to take a classroom course, then enroll in an excellent online course.

You should be able to get to work by the end of the course.

Gain experience

Much effort goes into learning the subject in deep. The prudent way to do it would be to start working on real-time projects. You can either take up small freelance projects or work with a brand or an SMM agency.

Either way, you should be working towards real-time, measurable results. 

Whether building brand awareness, pulling off ROI, or coming up with new solutions, you should be able to do them all. So, grab the opportunity to learn new techniques and tools from other marketers.

Unless you help a brand reach its goals via SMM, you won’t be able to learn everything.

Get in touch with an expert

Having a mentor or someone to look up to would greatly help. Digital gurus are in plenty today, mainly for SMM. To impart their knowledge, they would share plenty of insights on different platforms. 

Subscribe to blogs written by them or follow their YouTube video channel. If you can, get in touch with any of them via live chat or email conversations, you could clarify doubts, learn tricks, etc.

Start reading- a lot

There are many blogs on the new and innovative techniques businesses use today on social media. You wouldn’t know where to sell what if you didn’t know half of it. 

Reading related blogs is the best way to learn. Subscribe to blogs you find helpful; that way, you can get immediate updates. Some useful blogs would be Social media examiner, Hubspot, TechCrunch, inc.com, and social media today. 

Several books provide the proper guidance. Also, follow successful campaigns and do your case studies. This way, you could learn what works and what doesn’t.

Stage II – Find, You

Think differently

Now that you are a practicing social media marketer, how do you stand out? Social media gives room for a lot of creativity. Use your imagination to create campaigns that are fresh and goal-focused.

Campaigns that can get you awards and recognition in the industry are highly encouraged. 

Viral content is one of the highly appreciated techniques on social media. So, create viral content. Don’t be a trend-follower but be a trendsetter.

A niche within a niche

Find the element that can make you an expert. If lead generation is your strength, do all that you can to do it ten steps higher than the rest of them.

Hone your skills in a single niche or a domain that can set you apart. But don’t forget that social media is a whole entity. You should have a thorough knowledge of all of them. 

What I’m saying is that uniqueness makes an expert.

Preach what you’ve been practicing

As I mentioned in the beginning, an expert never hesitates to teach. Start a blog that talks about your work and what you have learned.

Use a platform like Instagram to inform the audience about different approaches to SMM. Answer questions about various forums such as Quora and Yahoo, which is a great way to widen your perspective.

Attend meetings and conventions

Keep yourself in the loop; if there’s any meetup or a marketing convention, then you should be there. You would become a known person and a part of the social media marketer circle.

Take part in events conducted by platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Talk about your events to your social media audience and open up conversations.

Stage III – Ride to victory! You are an expert after this

Build your body of work

The thing that is going to speak for you is your work. Be sure to keep track of all your tasks from the beginning. The more diverse your job is, the more it says about you as an expert.

Your work should have proved that you are a reliable Social media marketer. Also, building good relationships with clients would be an additional plus.

Update yourself constantly

Knowledge has no saturation point. In the case of social media, it is the age of chatbots and AR. No one knows what is in store next. You can only predict the future up to an extent. So, it’s better to go with the flow and keep updating.

Small case study of a social media marketing expert- Jamie Turner

Jamie Turner is the brains behind 60secondmarketer.com. Thanks to his out-of-the-box thinking, he has helped several businesses reach their goals. Companies such as At &t, Coca-Cola, Holiday Inn, CNN, Cartoon Network, etc., have benefitted from his work.

As an expert in the field, he has written a few books and given valuable lectures worldwide.

• A strong teaching career.
• VLogging, blogging.
• Consistent work.
• A brand.
• Active participation with his audience.

5 Bonus tips that can land you the ‘Expert’ title 

• Don’t just promote yourself as an SMM marketer; do the work to become one.
• Set up accounts on all major social media platforms. Be an audience before a marketer.
• The faster you can grab the interest of an audience, the higher your expertise in SMM marketing.
• Do not practice unethical SMM practices. Trust, once lost, can never be regained.
• Most importantly, never stop learning.

This is a guest post by Sorav Jain. He is the founder and CEO of echoVME. Follow him on Twitter for digital marketing-related tweets. If you would like to write a guest post for Daglega, please contact us.