The Social Media Manager - Internet Marketing's Most Wanted Professional

Who Is Your Media Manager?

The social media manager has become one of the most important titles in internet marketing because of the impact social sites are having on business. In the last year and a half the starting salaries for this position have jumped significantly.

If you haven't heard the term 'earned media' it refers to consumer information sharing or advertising. Objectively your business brand, reputation, product or service is shared over social networks and the social media manager ensures that the discussion keeps going and the crowd keeps growing.

An advertising budget dedicated to increasing social recognition through paid ads on social sites yields a much higher ROI because the real growth is all freely spread between friends online. This is why businesses can budget a salary or hire someone to handle the daily management of their social networks; advertising costs less and is extremely targeted.

Then and Now

Before the internet marketing specificity was almost impossible unless you were marketing to existing customers. Reaching new customers through radio or TV was hit or miss.

The explosion of cable and satellite channels meant people rarely had to watch or listen to commercials. Recording devices could actually skip them. Hit or miss became mainly miss.

The internet gave consumers the option to find exactly what was of interest to them and business owners were now able to speak only to the people who had an interest in them. Earned media is the explosion of friends across networks like Facebook who keep sharing the message your social media manager introduced.

Why People Buy

Buying is an emotional activity and social networks are ideal for sharing the stories and experiences friends have with new purchases. Nothing is more motivating toward making a decision to buy than a friend's recommendation.

Interruption marketing (paid media commercials) can't make the emotional connection. Sharing information among friends about a new product is natural; it's also contagious. The only thing we like more than hearing new information for the first time is telling it to someone who hasn't heard it yet.

Even when someone isn't ready to buy, hasn't even considered buying something or never had any intention of buying, hearing a story from a friend about a great deal has the potential to change that. Even if the second person never makes the purchase, if the story was good enough they're bound to repeat it.

Sharing Is Emotional

Social sites are all about emotion and conversations that get passionate also get noticed. Earned media is the objective but the initial goal of the manager is to touch a few nerves by connecting on a personal level.

This isn't advanced marketing and you don't have to select your audience or sell them anything. Simply enter the virtual world of people who share an emotional connection to your products and services. Then let them do what your media manager does; share.

This information is valuable for home business owners because of the potential for creating another income stream while benefiting your team or network. It's also valuable to traditional business owners because the social media manager is becoming the lynch pin between businesses and the online business world.

Are you ready to learn how to be a social media manager or are you looking to hire the perfect manager for your business? I'm preparing the material now for an upcoming webinar that will be helpful whether you want to manage your own social media or help someone else.