“Oh you just mess around on Facebook all day”
That is what my mum thinks I do on Social Media all day
So what does a social media manager do all day long inbetween messing around on Facebook all day
Here’s an average day in the life of a social media manager
6.45am ::: Check Breaking News & Trending Subjects
Before you’ve even left bed you check the news and trending subjects which can suddenly change the sentiment of your posts and your clients post
A lot of what will trend early in the morning will be content that is planned months in advance – often content for national awareness days
But it’s unplanned stuff you’re looking out for
You don’t want a cheerful jokey post going out when overnight a national treasure has died or a terrorist attack has happened
Similarly it could be a positive news story or subject that it feels right for a client to be involved in
It’s important that you glance at social media within minutes of waking up – even it is a 2 minute glance
7am ::: Breakfast, Emails and 1st Social Media Updates of The Day
If this sounds like a list of how not to have a healthy work life balance you’ll start to realise that being a social media manager is actual work rather than messing around on social media
Breakfast is had at the PC and is usually a pot of fruit and a couple of slices of toast whilst staring at a screen
It’s at this point you clear out the spam emails that have come in overnight and look at any serious emails that need replying to along with the handful of mailing lists you’ve stuck with post GDPR because they actually add value to your life
It’s usually around this time a client will send you photos or news around the national awareness days. They were asked for 2 months ago, but often it lands on the actual day of the national awareness days and the posts need to go out by 8am
8am ::: Gym & Podcast
The gym isn’t something that happens every day, but it something that sets me up for the day
I’ve never been one of those people who is going to be in the gym at 5.30am – it just isn’t going to happen
But that release of endorphins from pushing myself to the limits each morning believe it or not is a pleasurable experience
I like to leverage my time so whilst I’m at the gym I put the headphones on and listen to a podcast which usually inspires a piece of social media content for later that day as well as fundamentally helps grow my business
Health and education are vital
9.15am ::: Engagement
I know some social media managers will avoid this part of the day – but it’s the most important part of social media
If you’re not taking time out of your day for social media engagement, you’re either not being proactive on engagement or the content you’re putting out isn’t attracting engagement
I honestly think our levels of engagement is one of the major reasons our business has grown so much – we genuinely care about people and want to talk to them
Whatever else happens in the day in my business life or personal life there is always time for engagement
10am ::: Social Media Training
I train about 2000 business owners, marketing managers and members of staff each year
When I’m not managing other people’s social media it’s Social Media Training that I do the rest of the day
If you have the knowledge you should pass it on and I do believe that social media training is the best option for some businesses
The only way we can deliver social media training effectively is by being involved deep in the social media trenches for social media management
It means the content we deliver in training is updated like a fluid document based on the changes we witness in real time
1pm ::: Lunch & Engagement
It’s ironic that for our foodie clients the message is often “Get away from your office and come and dine with us” – whereas as a social media manager it’s lunch at my desk most days
Dropping back into our clients accounts it’s engagement engagement engagement time
Engagement is one of the reasons clients often outsource their social media to a company like us. Between family time, business time they simply don’t have the spare time to take away from the business to see what is going on in the outside world and to chat to people on a smart phone
Time can often be an excuse for businesses, but I 100% understand that when you have customers stood in front of you, you can’t simply say “Hang on 2 minutes I’m just sending a tweet”
2pm ::: Content Production
Graphic Design, Blogs, Photos, Videos
For at least 2 hours a day we spend time producing content for ourselves and for our clients
Even when clients provide the content to us it often requires and element of editing so that the content hits home
To be a Social Media Marketer is be a sexy creative geek and it’s these 2 hours that we get sexy and creative and liaise with our partners to finalise the best content possible
4pm ::: Social Media Education
By 4pm America has well and truly woken up and it’s usually by late afternoon that any social media changes have filtered through to the UK
Social Media never stays still and the platform changes keep a social media manager on our toes
The average member of the public simply rolls with the changes and doesn’t overthink it
A social media marketer looks at the changes and thinks how is this beneficial to ourselves and our clients and could there be any detrimental impact
At this stage of the day we also look at great viral posts and social media faux pas brands have made so we have a catalogue of examples of best practice and what not to do on social media
5pm ::: Social Media Analytics
Remember how we mentioned being a social media marketer is being a Sexy Creative Geek
Social Media Analytics is 100% in the geek camp
We have indepth analytics sections at least once a month, but we’re looking at the results each day so that we can further optimise our posts and analyse why posts performed well or not as well as expected
6pm ::: Break
I’ll let you into a little secret here I still watch Neighbours and Home & Away and it’s been a long time since I was a student
It’s my one little switch off and my escape from reality
It’s also the only meal of the day where I actually have food and I’m not working at my PC at the same time
We all have our guilty pleasures – what’s yours?
8pm ::: Schedule Social Media Updates
Towards the end of the day we sit down and schedule clients social media updates for the next day
Don’t worry scheduling updates on social media is absolutely fine as long as your present in real time and are adaptable to any last minute changes / trend jacking and so on
Scheduling allows us to get updates out for multiple clients at the optimum time for each of the individual clients
10.30pm ::: To Do List
You get more done when you plan ahead so at the end of the day I write a to do list for the next day
It’s kept very simple in bullet points
It’s therapeutic and allows me to fully switch off when I go to bed later rather than running ideas through my head
11pm ::: Reading
20-30 minutes of reading a physical book before bed is key
The most successful business owners read every day
Often the books I read are related to business, health or music and I tend to alternate between each of the 3 subjects to give a little variety in my life
11.30pm ::: Client Checks
And one last check of clients before bed and it’s lights out
Disclaimer: I do actually have a life outside work and if you follow us on social media you’ll realise as well as all the above I run, go to gigs about 10 times a month and enjoy dining out often
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services Or Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk 
