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How to Become a Social Media Consultant in 2024

Social media consultant

Want to learn how to become a social media consultant? Want to know what a social media marketing consultant is supposed to do? Learn answers to these questions and much more in this article.

First of all, let’s be clear about what is social media consulting.

Here’s a brief social media consultant description: “Social media consulting is the process of reaching out to and engaging with the customers using social networking channels, on behalf of a brand”.

Social media consultants can work full-time within companies or they can provide freelance marketing services for Social Media. Anyway with the growth and boom in social media users in India and the increase in online shopping, social media consultants are always in demand.

Let us see who is a social media consultant and why businesses need to hire a social media consultant in the following sections-

Who is a Social Media Consultant?

A Social Media Consultant is someone who helps businesses create and maintain their social media presence.

This can include developing strategies, creating and managing content, scheduling posts, analyzing data, and more. There is a variety of Social Media Consultants out there, each with their own set of skills and services.

Finding the right Social Media Manager for your business can significantly impact your social media success.

Social media marketing consulting services can provide your business with the expertise and guidance it needs to succeed on social media.

A good Social Media Consultant will have a strong understanding of all the major social media platforms and how to use them most effectively for businesses.

They will also be up-to-date on the latest trends and changes in the social media landscape.

Social media virtual assistant services are another popular option for businesses. They can help with a variety of tasks, including content creation, scheduling posts, using email marketing, analyzing data, optimizing lead generation, and more.

They often work with a team of Social Media Experts to provide a comprehensive social media marketing strategy. Social media entrepreneurship is a growing field, and there are many Social Media Consultants out there who are looking to start their businesses.

Why Hire A Social Media Consultant

Just posting some content on social media consultancy channels can be done even by a small kid. But, planning and strategizing and then intelligently crafting the copy of each update to get the desired results on social media is an art.

And social media consultants are expected to be experts in this art. The following image shows not just the benefits of social media marketing but also of the social media consultant because consultants are supposed to do all these activities.

Benefits of social media marketing
Benefits of social media marketing

Businesses that are really concerned about leveraging social media need to hire a social media consultant for the following reasons (which by the way, are also the skills that a social media consultant must possess):

a. Strategy and Planning

Beginning with strategy and planning is the right way to conduct business. Social media strategy consultants help businesses in crafting an actionable social media strategy.

The right strategy helps keep things in focus for the long term and enables any course correction if required.

b. Content Creation and Posting

Content strategy forms a very important part of effective social media campaigns.

Creating a yearly calendar in advance, allows social media consultants to plan campaigns and create content well in advance, and execute campaigns effectively.

Some of the digital content types which are popular worldwide can be seen in the image below. Social media posts, Videos, blogs, and podcasts are some areas where social media consultants can contribute.

Social media consultant
Hubspot consumer behavior survey, q1 2016.

c. Community Building

Community building is essential from the business point of view. Having a decent number of relevant fans and followers on different social media channels helps, first of all, to establish a strong brand, and secondly, it helps brands reach out to these fans and sell their products to them.

Social media consultants help brands develop strong and relevant communities on different social networks both by organic (without Ads) and inorganic (Ads) means.

d. Analyzing and Measuring the Results

Analyzing and measuring the results of social media campaigns helps businesses understand the ROI, i.e. what profit or benefit they are getting from the time and money being spent on social media marketing by them.

Almost all social networks provide their own native analytics, which is good enough to get a decent picture of one’s social media efforts. Social media consultants measure different social media metrics and analyze results to share actionable business insights with top management.

So, businesses need to hire social media consultants for all these benefits, and consultants need to develop these skills if they want to get hired by the brands.

Apart from these core skills, some of the bonus skills that social media consultants should develop are:

e. Copywriting

Copywriting is both an art and science.

Can you write such a copy to convince customers to purchase your brand’s products on social media?

Can you make them share your social media post with their friends?

Copywriting skills are a great asset for social media consultants.

f. Basic Graphic Designing

So many images and video clips have to be shared on social media these days.

If social media consultants have basic graphic design skills, it can go a long way in establishing them in the business or making them desirable for businesses.

For basic designing, free tools like Gimp (I highly recommend it), Canva, and Pablo.

Social media consultant
Social media consultants should develop these skills (image: smartinsights. Com)

g. PPC Advertisements

Generating sales, leads, or traffic by running Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertisements is an essential skill for social media consultants.

As the organic reach keeps on decreasing with each passing day, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are pushing brands to spend money on PPC Ads to generate desired results.

These additional skills will go a long way in making you a successful social media consultant.

What does a Social Media Consultant do?

Social media consultants help clients by making their social media presence better, usually through optimizing and growing it.

What a consultant does day-to-day varies depending on what services they offer, which can be just one or many different ones. We’ll go over some of these possibilities later.

But first, here are some of the more common duties of a social media consultant-

1. Social media audits:

This is where you examine a client’s social media presence and analyze what they’re doing well and where they can improve.

This usually includes a report with recommendations.

2. Social media strategy:

After the audit, you’ll work with the client to create a social media strategy that meets their goals.

This will involve developing goals, target audiences, content themes, and more.

3. Social media management:

This is where you help a client with day-to-day tasks, such as creating and scheduling content, responding to comments and messages, monitoring data, and more.

4. Social media training:

You can also train clients on how to use social media effectively themselves or teach their employees.

This usually involves creating resources, such as guides and tutorials.

5. Social media ads:

If a client wants to run social media ads, you can help with planning, designing, targeting, and optimizing them.

These are just some of the many services that social media consultants can offer. As you can see, there is a lot of overlap between these services, and many consultants offer multiple services to their clients.

Social media consulting is a very flexible field, which is one of the reasons why it’s so popular.

Businesses of all sizes need social media help, and there are a variety of ways that consultants can provide it.

If you’re thinking about becoming a social media consultant, or if you’re already one, then consider what services you could offer to businesses.

Creating terms and conditions, privacy policies, service lists, rates, etc are also the tasks of social media or digital marketing consultants.

There is a lot of demand for social media help, so there’s a good chance that your services will be in high demand.

Social media consulting is a great way to make a living while helping businesses grow and succeed.

How to become a Social Media Consultant

If you’re interested in becoming a social media consultant or digital marketing consultant, then there are a few steps you can take to get started-

1. Get experience:

The best way to learn about social media is to use it. Start by creating your accounts on all the major platforms and become active. Use social media for your own business or personal brand.

And, if you can, get a job or internship working in social media for another company. This experience will be invaluable when you start consulting.

2. Learn the basics:

In addition to getting hands-on experience, you should also learn the basics of social media marketing. There are a lot of resources out there, such as books, blog posts, and online courses.

Social Media Examiner is a great place to start. Once you have a good understanding of the basics, you can start offering your services to clients.

3. Build your portfolio:

As a social media consultant, your portfolio is your most important asset. It’s what will show potential clients what you can do and whether you’re a good fit for their business.

Start by putting together some case studies of your best work. Include metrics, screenshots, and testimonials from clients to showcase the results you’ve achieved.

4. Find clients:

Once you have a strong portfolio, you can start finding clients. Social media is a great place to start, as you can use it to connect with potential clients and market your services.

You can also use job boards and freelancing websites, such as Upwork and Fiverr.

5. Grow your business:

As you start to get clients, you can grow your business by hiring employees and offering additional services.

You can also use your experience to create social media training courses and resources, which can be another great source of revenue changes.

Social Media Consultant Jobs

In an Indian context, there are a significant number of consultant jobs. I made a quick search on Naukri.com for social media marketing-related jobs which showed results of more than 10,000 jobs in this sector.

This means there are lots of options for social media consultants to get a desired job or project. Remember that social media consultant and social media marketing jobs are almost synonymous with each other.

Social media consultant
Social media consultant jobs

To search for these jobs, I recommend the following sources:

  • Naukri.com
  • LinkedIn.com/Jobs
  • IIMJobs.com
  • Shine.com
  • Timesjobs.com

Just develop the important skills mentioned in the previous section and fine-tune your resume by including these skills. Then create profiles on these websites and start applying for the desired jobs.

Social Media Management Consultant Job Description

Here is an actual social media consultant job description that I came across on Naukri.com (posted by PivotRoots Digital Pvt Ltd, Mumbai):

Social media consultant
Social media management consultant job description

In this job description, you will notice that they have emphasized on:

  • Creation of social media strategy
  • Creation and posting of social media content
  • Analyzing and report creation
  • Engagement with Audience

Of course, they have laid down many more points but these are the core that every hiring company will expect out of you as their social media consultant.

More or less, all the job descriptions by different companies ask for these same skills. So, if you have mastery over these skills, you will have lots of options to choose from!

Social Media Consultant Rates

As per payscale.com, the average social media consultant rate in India is Rs. 329,090 per year. The higher pay range for a social media consultant shown by them is Rs. 760,000 per year.

Social media consultant
Social media consultant salary in india (an estimate by payscale)

If you are a freelance social media consultant, you can have multiple projects at the same time and thus you can earn a handsome amount of money.

Generally, as per my observation, at a beginner level, you can command payments of Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000 per month.

Social media consultant business can be started by building your personal brand. You should create a website where you blog about social media best practices and case studies of your successful projects.

To hunt for new projects you can use freelance websites like Upwork, Guru or Freelancer, or any other website of your choice.

You can also choose to have a full-time job with a social media consulting firm. At a senior level with over 6-7 years of experience, some firms pay even more than Rs. 15 lakhs per year. We will discuss social media consulting firms in the next section.

NOTE: Here is a detailed article on social media marketing salaries, which you may like.

Social Media Consulting Firms

Working full-time with social media consulting firms is a safe and secure option for social media consultants.

There are a plethora of social media consulting firms in India, ranging from single-person firms to large MNC firms with multiple teams. In another article on Digital Vidya, the author has listed the top 15 social media firms in India, which are:

  • Pinstorm
  • WATConsult
  • Gozoop
  • BCWebWise
  • Sparrowi
  • Brainwork Technologies
  • Media2Win
  • Dentsu Webchutney
  • New Media Guru
  • Resultrix
  • sunStrategic
  • ICubeswire
  • Webmaffia
  • Poised Media
  • Mind & Matter

All these are top-quality agencies executing high-quality social media campaigns for a large number of clients.

If you want to manage social media for consulting firms of your choice, you may apply for the jobs directly with them.

Conclusion

I am sure this article will help you to prepare yourself to be a Social media consultant in India.

The information in this article in terms of required skills, the job description, social media firms, etc., will help you to prepare yourself accordingly.

Have you handled any projects as a social media consultant or not?

If yes, what has been your experience yet? What challenges have you faced in your professional journey so far?

We recommend you enhance your skills by taking a social media certification course to gain expertise. What are you waiting for? Do it now!

Image Credit: Socialmediaexaminer, HubSpot, Smart insights, Naukri.com

FAQs

1. How to create a Social Media Consultant Website?

The best way to create a website is to use a platform like WordPress. WordPress is a content management system that makes it easy to create and manage a website. Once you’ve set up WordPress, you can use a theme to get started. A social media consultant theme will have all the features you need to showcase your work and attract clients.

2. How to work as a Social Media Consultant Freelance?

If you want to work as a freelance consultant, then you can use a platform like Upwork or Fiverr. These platforms allow you to connect with potential clients and market your services. You can also use social media or your website to attract clients.

3. What Social Media Consultant Services to offer?

There are a variety of social media consulting services you can offer, such as-

  • Social media account management
  • Social media strategy
  • Social media training
  • Social media marketing
  • Social media advertising
  • Social media content creation, etc

4. What Social Media Consultant Tools to use?

There are a variety of social media consultant tools you can use, such as-

  • Social media management platforms like Hootsuite or Sprout Social
  • Social listening tools like Mention or Brand Watch
  • Social media analytics tools like Google Analytics or Socialbakers
  • Content marketing tools like CoSchedule or BuzzSumo

5. Who Is social media Advisor?

A Social media advisor is a person who provides guidance and advice on social media strategy and usage. A social media consultant is a person who provides services to businesses to help them improve their social media presence. Social media coaches are people who teach individuals how to use social media more effectively.

6. How to find a Social Media Consultant near me?

If you’re looking for a social media consultant near you, then you can use a platform like Upwork or Fiverr. You may also search on Google or use professional networks like LinkedIn.

7. How do I become a social media expert?

To become a social media expert first get a bachelor’s degree in digital marketing, then get some professional marketing certificates, then do an internship in marketing or any entry level job in marketing.

Then try to explore social media thoroughly so that we understand each and every feature of it, make a social media account and practice all the feature in social media, like run an ad campaign etc.

Then look for higher job profile than executive level then by practice and experience one can become a social media expert.

8. Is a social media manager a consultant?

No, social media manager and consultant are two different profiles. A consultant gives suggestions to any people or organization who visits the consultant and needs assistance from him.

The consultant is not limited to any particular company but social media manager is a full time job inside one particular company, consultant and advisor is same but social media manager is different from them.

Avatar of dr. Harmanjit singh
Dr. Harmanjit Singh
Dr. Harmanjit Singh has executed a wide variety of Digital Marketing campaigns across different companies and marketing agencies in the last 10+ years. After working full-time with different organizations, he is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak. His interests include reading books and taking a walk amidst greenery.

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