The status quo of social media management as a professional field: An empirical investigation of challenges, objectives and measurement strategies of social media managers

The advent of social media has led to radical changes in the marketing and communication activities of companies, with social media management emerging as a key professional field. Although social media management is now established as a standard practice for companies, there has been little research into the specific job profiles of social media managers (SMMs). This study attempts to fill this gap and presents empirical findings from a survey of 225 SMMs. The results show that the fast pace of social media is seen as a key challenge by SMMs. Building brand awareness is their most important communication objective. The majority of SMMs rely on user comments, likes and shares to measure the success of their activities. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.