Career profile · live from the Careermash careers engine
Career profile

Social Media Manager

A social media manager runs an organisation's social media - planning posts, creating content, replying to followers and growing the audience. It suits creative, organised people who are comfortable online and enjoy mixing writing, design and a bit of data.
No degree needed for many routesApprenticeship route
Apprenticeship route
0
AI impact
how much AI is reshaping it
Robin · your guide
Curious about being a social media manager? Here's the honest picture - what you'd really do, what you'd earn, and every way in. No need to decide anything yet.

What you'd actually do

The work is planning content calendars, writing posts, making images or short videos, replying to comments and messages, running campaigns and tracking what works. Creativity, good writing, an eye for trends and some comfort with numbers matter, since you build a brand's voice and have to show that your work brings results.

It can be office-based, hybrid or freelance, usually weekday hours though social media never really sleeps, and pay starts modestly and rises with experience and results. The work mixes creative tasks with admin and reporting, and keeping up with fast-changing platforms is part of the job.

You can get in without a degree, often through building your own social presence, an apprenticeship or a marketing course, with a portfolio mattering most. Many start by managing socials for small businesses and grow from there, and freelancers handle their own tax.

1Plan content calendars
2Write posts and captions
3Create images and short videos
4Reply to comments and messages
5Run and monitor campaigns
6Track engagement and report results
7Keep up with platform trends

Degrees that lead here via Communications and Media

Apprenticeships that lead here

How to get in - your routes

Careermash · your kind of work, the careers in it, and every route in - all in one place.

Career data: role, pay and progression profiles built for Careermash's careers engine; AI-impact estimates from Anthropic's observed AI-usage telemetry and OpenAI's AI Jobs Transition Framework. Course data: HESA / Discover Uni, including Graduate Outcomes, LEO and the National Student Survey. Apprenticeships: IfATE-published standards, approved only.

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