Social Media Skills Are for Pros

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

The Essential Skills that Separate Professional Social Media Managers from Amateurs

In today’s digital world, social media plays a critical role in brand growth. Yet, not all social media managers are created equal. There’s a vast difference between amateur marketers and seasoned professionals—a gap that can make or break a brand’s online presence. While amateurs may inadvertently hinder a brand, professional social media managers build a powerful, value-driven online presence.

Going Beyond Simple Posting: The Strategy Behind Professional Social Media Management
Social media management is more than simply posting on a platform. Yes, most people know how to post on Facebook, tweet an image, or apply a filter on Instagram, but this alone doesn’t make someone a qualified social media manager. Professionals stand out because they first invest time to understand their client, then the client’s target audience, and finally the unique dynamics of each platform.

Professional social media managers know that a successful strategy begins with a deep understanding of their client’s goals and audience. They avoid the trap of posting off-brand or sensational content and instead develop a carefully crafted plan that delivers consistent value to their client’s followers. This strategy takes time to formulate and requires patience to execute effectively, but it’s what sets the pros apart from the novices.

Tailoring Content to Each Social Media Platform’s Unique Audience
Every social media platform has its own user demographics and engagement trends. Professionals recognize that certain platforms are more popular among specific age groups and that each offers unique advertising options and targeting tools. A skilled social media manager not only masters these technical aspects but also communicates how each platform aligns with the brand’s goals.

The worst outcome for a client is a social media presence filled with off-brand posts and irrelevant messages that fail to engage the right audience. Professional social media managers ensure that their strategy aligns with the client’s brand, providing them with confidence in their social media investments. Poorly managed social accounts often leave businesses cleaning up the mess left behind by previous managers, whereas pros build a lasting, positive reputation.

Understanding the Responsibility of Social Media Management

Social media managers carry a high level of responsibility. At Gotcha!, we’ve seen countless instances where untrained social media managers left behind chaos on company platforms, proving that brand management is not the same as managing a personal account. Business accounts need to be handled with professionalism, precision, and a strategic approach that promotes sustained growth.

Key Skills Every Successful Social Media Professional Must Master

1. Community Engagement
Social media is ultimately about connection. Effective social media managers understand the importance of engaging authentically with the community. It’s not enough to simply post content; you need to respond to comments, address feedback, and engage with followers to build a real community. Acknowledge comments, answer questions, and respond to criticisms openly. Transparency fosters trust and loyalty, two essential elements for long-term success.

2. Creating Engaging Video Content
Video has become essential for social media success. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn have seen a rise in video engagement, and followers now expect brands to embrace this format. Professionals should invest in learning basic videography skills—even a smartphone can create impressive videos. By incorporating video, brands can differentiate themselves and increase engagement.

3. Leveraging Each Platform’s Unique Features
To be an effective social media manager, you need to understand the nuances and hidden features of each platform. From Instagram Stories to Twitter threads, each social platform offers unique ways to connect with audiences. Mastering these platform-specific tools and hacks can greatly improve a brand’s reach and engagement.

4. Automating and Scheduling Content
Consistent posting is essential for engagement, but social media managers also need time for strategic planning and analysis. Automation tools like Hootsuite and Buffer enable pros to schedule posts across multiple platforms, allowing them to maintain a strong presence without being online 24/7. A well-managed social media schedule keeps content timely and helps maintain a brand’s relevance.

5. Writing Skills and Content Quality
Social media managers are, in essence, digital storytellers. Good writing skills are vital for creating engaging captions, informative blog posts, and concise tweets. With blog posts now averaging around 1,500 words for optimal SEO, professionals need to write in a way that resonates with audiences and keeps them engaged from start to finish.

6. Curating High-Value Content
Creating original content is essential, but a well-rounded social media strategy also includes content curation. By sharing valuable articles, industry news, and relevant posts from trusted sources, social media managers provide additional value to their audience and build a well-rounded presence that followers appreciate.

7. Implementing SEO Best Practices
SEO skills are no longer optional for social media managers. Optimizing posts with strategic keywords, quality backlinks, and SEO-friendly formats helps content rank higher on search engines, boosting visibility. Understanding SEO essentials allows social media managers to enhance a brand’s reach beyond social platforms, ensuring that valuable content reaches a wider audience.

Conclusion: Building Expertise for Lasting Success

Developing these social media skills is essential for any digital marketer looking to make an impact. True professionals go beyond basic posting—they develop a strategy aligned with the brand’s voice and goals, engage authentically, leverage every platform feature, and ensure content is optimized for maximum reach. By mastering these skills, you can position yourself as a top-tier social media expert, ready to elevate any brand to new heights.

5 Tips on How to Use Snapchat as a Marketing Tool

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Nowadays, our smartphones have become an important part of our lives. This is why more and more business owners are looking for ways to reach their customers through mobile. In more recent years, Snapchat has become a widely used app for smartphone users. It has become such a successful app that it has over 10 million views each day. Because of this, marketers have decided to share their brand through Snapchat.

If you’re wondering how you can make use of Snapchat as a marketing tool for your business, here are some useful tips that can help you:

Tip #1: Offer Exclusive Content

Why do you want people to follow you on Snapchat when they could easily find the same things on your website and other social media pages? You have to give them a reason why you are someone they need to follow on Snapchat. When you decide to use this medium as the first venue where you will publish new products or give away freebies, you have to know that this is what will help you stick out.

Your audience in the app will feel like they are insider experts since they are among the first to get updates about your business. This is one big reason why you should offer exclusive content on Snapchat.

Tip #2: Share In-Store Sales and Promo Codes

As mentioned, you have to give your followers a reason why they should follow you on Snapchat. Since the main concept behind the app is that the content you publish is only around for a limited time period, you can use it as an effective tool for your followers to get exclusive content. This will be rewarding to your loyal customers who know when to visit your profile.

Tip #3: Connect with Your Customers

Another way you can use Snapchat is to use it to connect with your customers. Ask your customers to take a selfie with your product or watch a Snapchat story in return for an exclusive promo code. This is a great way you can encourage your followers to learn more about your products or showcase your customers that use your products.

Tip #4: Make Use of Snapchat Groups

Back in December, Snapchat introduced the group’s feature, which allowed a conversation to take place between 16 users and below. Through this feature, the messages in the group are automatically deleted after 24 hours. As a business, you can use this to introduce specials or promo codes. You can also reward the people who are in the group by giving them freebies or exclusive early access when you have an ongoing sale.

Tip #5: Host a Live Event

Live videos have increasingly become vital to online marketing strategies. Since Snapchat supports this feature, it is a great way you can market to your followers. To utilize a live video campaign, one good suggestion is to do a product demonstration. This will give your followers a chance to see how your product works and how it fits their needs.

There are many different things you can do on Snapchat. With its immense popularity, you’ll be sure to get your product across to your followers with little time and money spent.

How to Create Content that Works

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

As a website owner, your content is one of the most important things in your business. Since this is what your website visitors will be reading, you have to make sure you provide articles that are relevant and of high quality. But this does not always mean that your website will be a success. Even though you spend a lot of time writing quality articles, you still have to know how to attract readers to your website so you can get your message across.

Because of this, you have to invest in quality articles. These are articles that will likely get your audience engaging on your posts and sharing your website. Here are some important tips on how you can attract people to your content:

Tip #1: Use Lists 

Do you know what makes websites such as BuzzFeed and Listverse so successful? It’s because they provide articles that are in a list form. Unlike long articles that are difficult to read, articles that are in list forms are small and easily digestible. They will attract the attention of your readers who like skimming through an article to pick up the main idea along the way. This is also useful for readers who don’t skim articles as they will likely stick to the post until they have finished reading it.

A list type of article has a higher tendency of being read and shared by your audience. Not to mention, it’s likely to stick to their memory so you can be sure that your content has been thoroughly understood.

Tip #2: Make it Quick

As a writer, you have to make sure you have understood the psychological power of your articles. Nowadays, many people have a fear of missing out, which is why they want to always be connected with things that are new and fresh.

In order to do this with your content, make sure to keep your audience relevant to today. Your readers don’t want something from yesterday. This is why you need to let them want to read it now.

Tip #3: Work With Influencers

You can make the most out of your content when you partner with influencers. With your website, you can invite guest bloggers to submit an article. This will help boost your website since the followers of your guest blogger will likely visit your website too.

Always keep your options open so you can find the best influencers in your niche.

Tip #4: Know Your Target Audience

If you want to stop writing articles that won’t get you anywhere, it’s important that you fully assess your website and who it aims to speak to. You need to capture the right people so that you won’t end up wasting your time, energy, and resources on content that won’t get you anywhere. Once you know who your target audience is, you can specifically address your content to them.

Creating content for your website can be pretty overwhelming. Once you have the right nuggets of wisdom, you’ll be able to kick-start your website and let people visit it because they are attracted to the articles you have shared.

How Important is Keyword Strategy to Your Digital Marketing Campaign?

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Google continually changes its algorithm to make sure it captures spam websites. Because of this, digital marketers also need to keep improving their knowledge of SEO and other practices to stay relevant and on top of things. One big change that Google has implemented over the past years is the use of keywords. It has since penalized websites that practice keyword stuffing and continues to be strict with how it analyzes websites. With this, one big question that exists today is this—is keyword strategy still relevant in today’s websites?

Before determining its relevance, let’s discuss what keyword strategy is and how it works.

What is a Keyword Strategy?

When you own a website, you need to make sure it is optimized to gain website visits and traffic. The best way you can do this is by using the right keywords. This means you need to do proper keyword research in order to determine the terms your audience is looking for. Before you post anything, you should always run a keyword strategy search so you are able to make the most out of your content.

How to Build a Keyword Strategy

Although it may seem easy, deciding which keywords to use may be a bit of a challenge. You need to make sure that the keywords you use are relevant to your industry and what people are searching for. You also have to make sure that the keyword you use has a relatively low amount of competition so you don’t end up using a dead-end keyword.

Thankfully, there are tools you can use to help you pick the right keywords for your website.

Using Keywords on Your Website

Although it was widely used in the past, it is no longer advisable to pepper keywords around your website mindlessly. Once Google crawls your pages, it takes a look at certain areas to determine what your page is all about. These things include your title tag, URL, H1 tag, body, image tags, and the meta description. If you want your page to rank and not be penalized, you have to pay close attention to these things.

Because of how important keywords are to your website, you need to make sure you are using the right ones that your audience is searching for. This is where a keyword strategy comes into the picture. You need to make sure that your website stays relevant to your keyword so you are able to rank on a search page. At the same time, Google will not penalize your website for keyword stuffing.