Content Strategist vs. Social Media Manager: What's the Difference?
Content may be king, but is there one platform that reigns above all?
Social media has had its glory days as one of the most relevant pieces of the marketing mix for a long time now. From TikTok and Instagram to Twitter and Pinterest, these apps have a way of keeping users hooked and entertained for hours on end.
For brands on social media, this means carefully strategizing the content that goes on their accounts. But what about their other channels?
If you’re looking to establish an online presence and grow a community with original, organic content do you need a Content Strategist or a Social Media Manager? What’s the difference? Let’s break it down:
(DISCLAIMER: I am not saying one is better than another. The decision to hire a content strategist vs. a social media manager depends on the specific needs of your business.)
What is a social media manager?
A social media manager handles the day-to-day activities around maintaining a social media account. Typically, they specialize in one or two platforms but will also have a well-rounded knowledge of all major social media platforms.
Social media managers are responsible for ensuring that their clients show up consistently on the platforms that are best-fit for the brand, as well as for maintaining positive customer relationships by responding to incoming comments, direct messages and mentions.
A typical workday for a social media manager might include completing tasks like:
Content creation
Scheduling
Publishing
Reporting
Community management
Influencer relations
Paid advertising
And more
In other words, if you are looking to build a community around your brand on social media through quality content without necessarily having a hands-on approach (i.e. showing up on Stories, doing Lives, etc.), social media managers are an incredibly valuable resource.
While social media managers are responsible for the activity and maintenance of a given social media account, they do not necessarily have a role in other channels of communication, such as email marketing, blog content, etc.
In this sense, you will need to have a clear and direct line of communication with your social media manager to ensure that they are aware of cross-channel campaigns and any events happening in your business.
A social media manager is not always a social media strategist. Most of the time, they are – but not always.
They may know the best way to post about your product on Instagram, but they may not always know how to best piece together a campaign for a brand new product launch. This is where strategists come in.
What does a content strategist do?
Your social media is a major pillar of your marketing, but there are other equally important and even higher-converting content pieces for a business to consider.
Email Marketing
Blog Writing
Lead Magnets
Sales Pages
All of these marketing components require content that strategically works together. For instance, if a customer purchases a matcha tea powder, how can content play a role in making them buy more?
Maybe you got this purchase from a “matcha girlie” video on TikTok, so you send a follow-up email sequence that ultimately asks your customer to subscribe and save on their monthly matcha purchase.
Or maybe this customer purchased directly from your website, so you give each purchase comes their own digital recipe book that features user-generated photos and Instagram accounts. So, you invite your customer to share their own content on the ‘gram for a chance to be featured themselves.
Long story short: a good business marketing plan has one story running at every customer touchpoint.
Telling this story over and over in different forms of without actually sounding obtusely repetitive requires you to strategize how you create, distribute, and reuse content.
Content strategy is about how you can work smarter, not harder, to create content and repurpose it across all the channels you have in a way that allows you to build a strong overall digital brand presence.
Think of a content strategist as the playmaker or the choreographer. They direct how content is created and published across different platforms so the same piece of content can be used repeatedly.
Content strategy services help to:
Direct how you establish organic presence online
Maximize the value of one piece of content
Manage the content creation process across different mediums: writing, graphic design, video, etc.
Optimize and distribute content for each respective channels
Organize and repurpose content across channels
And more
What is the difference between a content strategist and a social media manager?
There is a lot of overlap between a content strategist and a social media manager, but there are key differences to note.
A content strategist manages content planning, creation, distribution, and repurposing across channels, including social media while a social media manager manages content, engagement, growth, and paid advertising on social media platforms.
In recent years, platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become major pillars of the small business marketing strategy. As a result, many business owners begin with social media before branching out to additional channels, such as blog and email.
For that reason, social media managers are typically the first line of defense.
However, many brands have also started asking the question: What happens when Instagram gets shut down? Or the Facebook servers are offline?
Incidents like a blackout, data breaches, and more have made it increasingly more obvious that small businesses need to branch out beyond social media and establish a deeper connection and presence on owned channels, such as website blogs and email lists.
Content strategists, therefore, are a great long-term investment as they can advise you on your social media strategy alongside other channels. While they may not handle the day-to-day of your social media account, they give you a great big-picture view of what you need from a content perspective.
Do I need to hire a content strategist or a social media manager?
Deciding between a content strategist and a social media manager is a matter of breadth versus depth.
If you are looking to go all-in with your social media efforts, a social media manager that offers month-to-month strategy as part of their packages will be the best, most cost-effective option to grow your accounts.
If you’re looking to have a cohesive digital brand presence across channels like your email, social media, and blog, a content strategist is the best person to have on your team.
Ask yourself:
Which marketing channels are most important to my business? (If your answer is more than social media, consider a content strategist.)
Which marketing platforms do I want to prioritize? (If most of these platforms are social media, consider a social media manager.)
What is my bandwidth to address these needs myself? (If you want overall guidance, consider a content strategist. If you want someone to take social media off your plate, get a social media manager.)
Work with Kavya Creative Co. for your content strategy needs
Content strategy tightens up the narrative you want your audience to hear and weaves it through your content across channels.
A set of content strategy guidelines will help you easily understand that story and apply it to your different marketing channels – email marketing, social media platforms, blog posts, etc. – in a way that makes you magnetic to your customers.
To hire a content strategist and get a custom content strategy booklet for your brand, contact me today.
