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What is a social media specialist?
The job title “social media specialist” might lead you to believe that it’s someone who specializes in a specific aspect of social media marketing, like paid ads or influencer marketing. That’s rarely the case.
According to the job descriptions we reviewed, a social media specialist is someone who specializes in social media itself. They cover a wide range of activities related to social media, with a special focus on managing brand presence on specific social media platforms, as well as content creation. While they might have a certain "specialty," their strength is based on having a broad range of expertise in social media so that they can handle a variety of tasks.
The job level depends on the size of the marketing team, the scope of responsibility, and the compensation but a social media specialist is most often an intermediate level role requiring 3-5+ years of experience. The big distinction is that it does not include supervisory responsibilities — this hire won’t be managing anyone. Instead, it’s an individual contributor role in which most work is done solo or through collaboration with peers.
This role is also common at social media or digital marketing agencies. An agency-based social media specialist is usually assigned to a client or multiple clients to help them create content and manage their social media presence. This role will report to a manager or executive on the agency side, but they’ll also interface regularly with clients.
A social media specialist’s specific job responsibilities depend on the job level they’re being hired at. Regardless, social media specialists are usually individual contributors, so they need to demonstrate a broad understanding of social media and the ability to execute strategies and produce work on their own.
Content creation: Across the board, the most common skillset for a specialist is content creation, including designing content, writing copy, and filming and editing video for multiple social media platforms.
Audience building: A social media specialist needs to be able to understand their brand or platform’s target audience and create a strategy and content that properly resonates with them.
Implementing strategy: A specialist might create a social media strategy, or they may take over implement a strategy that someone like a social media strategist or social media manager put together.
