The Death of the Social Media Manager

Hootsuite Recently wrote a blog article declaring that the title of Social Media Manager is pretty much dead (read here).  Even the strongest social media advocates are waving the white flag.

Is it true?

My response on Twitter: “Title: yes.  Job function: Absolutely not.”

Now don’t be confused:  Hootsuite is only referring to the title of Social Media Manager as being “dead”.

Why?

1.   The title is just too broad – At Silverback Social alone, we have six people alone that manage various different aspects of social media – from community management, to content strategists to brand strategists and beyond.  In today’s competitive market, if you’re a medium sized business to a corporate Fortune 500 company, you need to have more than one person working on your social media.  (Don’t want to deal with it?  Hire us.)
2. Any social media manager worth their salt will hate being referred to as a social media manager.  It’s yesterday’s buzz-word job title.  A cliche if you will.  Set your company apart and look for a digital or social media marketing professional.  Or better  yet, take the point from above and look specifically for a community manager or digital content strategist.
3. It’s an inaccurate description of what function this person fulfills – Today’s social media manager doesn’t, as the title would imply, manage social media for a company.  They talk, they engage, they solve problems, they identify new opportunities, they set the company’s voice and tone, they leverage culturally relevant events and news and strategize how their company can leverage this information, they plan campaigns  – this goes beyond the scope of simply operating Twitter and Facebook.

…And all of the above is exactly what makes that’s this job function so important.

So there you have it: while the social media manager title is disposable, the job function is certainly not.

What do you think?  Has the “Social Media Manager” title met it’s demise?  Tell us in the comments below!