What makes a successful social media director? That’s not an easy question to answer. A lot of it depends on the culture, the goals, and the audience of the church that you’re serving. However. there are traits that every successful social media director needs to have.
These traits are universal and can be applied to any social media director no matter what organization they work for. Now of course, everyone will run social media in their own unique way, but there are fundamentals every social media director needs. Below, you’ll find what I believe are five key traits in a successful social media director. If you’re a social media director, examine these traits and ask yourself if you exhibit them. If you’re about to hire a social media director for your organization, you can use this list to help you find the right candidate for the job.
1. Understands Metrics, but Tells Stories
I love metrics. Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the numbers of social media than it is to tell a story. Please understand, metrics are important. In fact, you should have a good grasp of your metrics to understand what works and what doesn’t.
A successful social media director understands that while numbers are important, they aren’t what builds a relationship with your audience. Human-driven stories help build relationships. Stories that focus on real people experiencing life changes are the content that will connect.
A successful social media director understands that while numbers are important, they aren’t what builds a relationship with your audience. Human-driven stories help build relationships. Stories that focus on real people experiencing life changes are the content that will connect.
2. Flexible
If you spent any time on social media, you’ll know that social media really shines in capturing real-time events. Whether it’s national tragedies, sporting events or big life events, social media is made for this type of real-time coverage.
A successful social media director understands that those events listed above can radically alter their pre-planned social media posts. Let’s say they have a big promotion scheduled to go out and all of sudden there’s an international incident that takes over social media. What does a social media director do?
Well first, social media director has to learn to be flexible and understand what they can and cannot control. They can’t control what the conversation is on social media, and if there’s a major event taking place they’ll need to be flexible enough to take a moment and reconfigure their strategy.
Of course, this does not fit neatly into 9-5 job type scenario, and often it can happen when they’re at dinner or about to head out for the evening. So, they need to be flexible enough to stop, pause their current plans, and reschedule their content accordingly.
3. Understands Your Church’s DNA
Every church is different. Yes, churches should have the same set of core beliefs, but there are certain things about each church that sets them apart. Some churches thrive on tradition and liturgy while some churches try something completely new each week. (I think that’s part of the beauty of Christianity.)
Whether it’s traditional church or a church that tries the latest trend, a successful social media director understands what their church’s DNA is and how that needs to be reflected in social media. For example, if their church is very traditional, they probably wouldn’t try Vine clips of the church secretary doing the robot dance. (Wait, on second thought, you should try that and then send me the link). A successful social media director understands the church’s DNA and the best way to represent that DNA.
4. Maintains the Big Picture
We can all get down in the weeds of social media. Tweak this setting, change what time your posts go out, but understand the big picture is crucial to a social media director’s job.
When a social media director has a big picture view, all of their social media is organized around that picture. If the church’s big picture is to reduce poverty in their city, then the church’s social media needs to emphasize that point and engage people. The big picture is the theme that needs to run throughout their social media.
A successful social media director should be able to answer this question; if a stranger was to scroll through your social media right now, could they tell what the big picture was?
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5. Focuses on the Essentials
There’s a lot of buzz over the latest tools and networks. Some are great and can really help you. Others are just a flashy way getting things done that you really don’t need. A successful social media director doesn’t get caught up in the latest and greatest. Instead, they focus on the essentials.
A social media director needs to determine what the essentials are. What are the essential social media networks? What is the essential content that I need to get out in front of our audience? A successful social media director understands that if the essentials are taken care of, everything else will take care of itself.
What traits do you think it takes to be a successful social media director? Click here to share below.