Social Media Manager Job Description and Skills

Social Media Manager Job Description and Skills

Social media manager job description: what the role involves, the skills and competencies to assess when hiring, and how to test candidates.

Marketing


7

mins

Social Media Manager Job Description and Skills

Social media manager job description: what the role involves, the skills and competencies to assess when hiring, and how to test candidates.

Marketing


7

mins

/

Social Media Strategist

About the role

A Social Media Strategist job description covers planning and running the organization’s social media presence to grow brand awareness and web traffic. The role connects the brand to customers daily and shows whether social activity supports business goals. Hiring managers should assess social media and brand marketing, strategic communication, metrics analysis, and AI fluency.

Employers also publish this role as a Social Media Manager job description. If you are defining what a social media manager does, the work comes down to building a social strategy, publishing content daily, and reporting ROI. Key responsibilities include:

  • Strategy. Design and implement social media strategy to align with business goals.

  • Reporting. Set specific objectives and report on ROI.

  • Content. Generate, edit, publish and share engaging content daily.

What are the essential Social Media Strategist skills?

The essential skills are social media and brand marketing, strategic communication and writing, web traffic and campaign metrics analysis, multitasking and prioritization across channels, and AI fluency.

Skill

Why it matters

Bryq assessment and level

Social media and brand marketing

Drives brand awareness and web traffic across channels.

Marketing Roles

Strategic communication and writing

Shapes posts, replies, and messaging aligned with other teams.

Strategic Communication (intermediate)

Web traffic and campaign metrics analysis

Shows whether social activity supports business goals and ROI.

Data Analysis (intermediate)

Multitasking and prioritization across channels

Keeps channels, campaigns, and replies moving at once.

Time Management (intermediate)

AI Fluency

Speeds content and analytics work while keeping outputs accurate and on brand.

AI Fluency Assessment (functional)

The core work is building a social strategy, publishing content daily, and reporting ROI. Marketing knowledge, strategic writing, and metrics analysis make that work effective. Juggling several channels, campaigns, and replies at once makes time management essential.

Levels are a starting point. Bryq lets you set the level each role needs.

Which nice-to-have skills help a Social Media Strategist stand out?

Customer engagement and relationship building, creative content ideation for promotions and contests, presenting ROI reports, and web design and publishing basics add value but are not needed on day one.

  • Customer engagement and relationship building. Strengthens follower connections and responses to queries.

  • Creative content ideation. Fuels fresh ideas for promotions and contests.

  • Presenting ROI reports. Makes results clear to stakeholders.

  • Web design and publishing basics. Helps with account design and blog layout.

Use these skills as tie-breakers between candidates who are equally strong on the essentials. Never screen out candidates who can learn them on the job.

Which competencies predict success as a Social Media Strategist?

The essential competencies are Communication and Learning Agility.

  • Communication. Writes posts, answers followers, and aligns messaging with marketing, sales, and customer service.

  • Learning Agility. Keeps up as platforms, algorithms, design tools, and trends change.

The optional competencies are Empathy, which helps with customer queries and reviews, and Leadership Potential, which helps when influencing other teams.

What AI skills does a Social Media Strategist need?

A Social Media Strategist should use AI for social content and performance analytics, because AI fluency now shapes daily content creation, scheduling, and analytics.

AI matters here because these tools already sit inside everyday social media work. The strategist needs to prompt well and check every output for accuracy and brand fit. Using AI output without checking it risks errors and off-brand posts.

  • Post copy. Draft and adapt post copy and captions for different platforms, then edit for brand voice and accuracy.

  • Audience sentiment. Use AI to summarize audience sentiment from comments and customer reviews and flag recurring issues.

  • Performance analysis. Analyze engagement and web traffic data to spot trends and generate recommendations for content timing and format.

How do you assess Social Media Strategist candidates with Bryq?

Bryq measures all the essential skills and traits for a Social Media Strategist in one integrated candidate profile: cognitive ability, personality traits, soft and hard skills, including AI fluency. Bryq builds an ideal profile for the role and matches candidates against it.

All Bryq assessments are validated by I/O psychologists. Profile Fit is independently bias-audited under New York City Local Law 144 (code4thought, April 2026). The AI Fluency Assessment is built on peer-reviewed and subject-matter expert research. A person makes every hiring decision.

Social Media Strategist (Social Media Manager) job description template

Copy and paste this template, then replace the text in square brackets. To write or rewrite your own, use Bryq’s free job description AI skill, which works in Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot.

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Social Media Strategist

About [Company name]

[Add a short description of your company.]

About the role

We are looking for a Social Media Strategist to join our Marketing team. You will develop and carry out a social media strategy that grows our web traffic and brand awareness. You will manage our social presence and keep customer engagement high.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement a social media strategy that aligns with business goals.

  • Set specific objectives and report on ROI.

  • Create, edit, publish, and share engaging content daily.

  • Collaborate with marketing, sales, and customer service teams to keep the brand consistent.

  • Respond to followers and queries in a timely manner and monitor customer reviews.

  • Oversee the design of social media accounts, such as the Facebook timeline cover, profile pictures, and blog layout.

  • Suggest and implement new features that build brand awareness, such as promotions and competitions.

  • Stay current with trends and technologies in social media, design tools, and applications.

Qualifications

  • Proven work experience as a social media strategist or social media manager.

  • Hands-on experience using social media for brand awareness.

  • Understanding of SEO and web traffic metrics.

  • Familiarity with web design and publishing.

  • BSc degree in Marketing or a relevant field.

Skills and competencies we look for

  • Social media and brand marketing knowledge.

  • Strategic communication and writing.

  • Analysis of web traffic and campaign metrics.

  • Multitasking and prioritization across channels.

  • Strong verbal and written communication.

  • Learning agility as platforms and trends change.

  • Comfort working with AI tools.

Working with AI

  • Use AI to draft and adapt post copy and captions for different platforms, then edit for brand voice and accuracy.

  • Use AI to summarize audience sentiment and analyze engagement data, and check the output before acting on it.

What we offer

  • [Salary range]

  • [Benefits]

  • [Work location and arrangement]

Equal opportunity

[Add your equal opportunity statement.]

Frequently asked questions

The essential skills are social media and brand marketing, strategic communication and writing, web traffic and campaign metrics analysis, multitasking across channels, and AI fluency.
Communication and Learning Agility matter most. Strategists write posts, answer followers, and align with other teams, and they keep adapting as platforms and trends change.
Yes. AI tools already shape content creation, scheduling, and analytics, so strategists need to prompt well and check outputs for accuracy and brand fit.
Combine a cognitive ability and personality match with skills assessments for marketing, strategic communication, data analysis, time management, and AI fluency. Bryq brings these together in one candidate profile.
Web design and publishing basics add value but can be developed on the job. They are a tie-breaker, not a requirement on day one.
The essential skills are social media and brand marketing, strategic communication and writing, web traffic and campaign metrics analysis, multitasking across channels, and AI fluency.
Communication and Learning Agility matter most. Strategists write posts, answer followers, and align with other teams, and they keep adapting as platforms and trends change.
Yes. AI tools already shape content creation, scheduling, and analytics, so strategists need to prompt well and check outputs for accuracy and brand fit.
Combine a cognitive ability and personality match with skills assessments for marketing, strategic communication, data analysis, time management, and AI fluency. Bryq brings these together in one candidate profile.
Web design and publishing basics add value but can be developed on the job. They are a tie-breaker, not a requirement on day one.
The essential skills are social media and brand marketing, strategic communication and writing, web traffic and campaign metrics analysis, multitasking across channels, and AI fluency.
Communication and Learning Agility matter most. Strategists write posts, answer followers, and align with other teams, and they keep adapting as platforms and trends change.
Yes. AI tools already shape content creation, scheduling, and analytics, so strategists need to prompt well and check outputs for accuracy and brand fit.
Combine a cognitive ability and personality match with skills assessments for marketing, strategic communication, data analysis, time management, and AI fluency. Bryq brings these together in one candidate profile.
Web design and publishing basics add value but can be developed on the job. They are a tie-breaker, not a requirement on day one.

You can explore more job profiles on Bryq.

Assess your next Social Media Strategist with Bryq

Book a demo to see how Bryq helps you assess skills, competencies, and AI fluency in one candidate profile.

Author

The Bryq I/O Team

Bryq’s I/O Psychology Team is a group of industrial-organizational psychologists who design and validate the science behind our assessments. They write about what research says on hiring, skills, personality, and performance, and how HR leaders can apply it to make fairer, evidence-based decisions.

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