Billions of people around the world now use social media, which offers an easy way to stay in touch with friends and family members. Many also choose to follow brands and businesses via platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, providing them with access to information about sales, upcoming events and other valuable news.

Brands and businesses that want to get the most out of social media must be ready to learn, experiment and ultimately satisfy their target audiences. While anybody can throw together a social media presence, managing it effectively requires some important skills. Today, we’ll look at the four most important skills any social media manager needs to truly grow their brand’s presence.

Communication Skills

Arguably one of the most effective skills needed in properly managing a social media presence is the ability to handle communications. While social media obviously involves a social element, social media managers must also be able to utilize a variety of communications skills in order to be good at their jobs.

From content creation and distribution to post phrasing and customer service, pinging users with a solidly-crafted communications strategy is paramount for success.

Marketing Skills

A huge aspect of social media revolves around a brand’s ability to market itself – both to its existing audience and to those who have yet to connect. Social media managers ideally should have backgrounds in marketing, as a variety of day-to-day actions require an understanding of advertising, target audiences, and more. From managing PPC ad campaigns to determining the schedule of social media posts, marketing skills are a must-have in this arena.

Social Skills

Obviously communication skills are invaluable in managing social media presences, but an additional yet related aspect involves being effective at person-to-person interactions. Ultimately, engagement with your audience – in the form of answering questions and replying to comments – is a huge element in proper social media management. Choosing somebody who is intuitive and a “people person” is practically imperative for optimal engagement and management outcomes.

Nobody wants to interact with a cold, generic social media presence. Great managers know that they must provide their audiences with engagement that inspires and elicits positive feelings – and for that, social skills are necessary.

Data Skills

Last but not least, social media managers must be able to understand the data and metrics for their brand pages. Without an understanding of how engagement rates, clicks, shares, likes and other impressions translate into success or failure, everything – from paid ad campaigns to otherwise viral content – will fall flat on its face.

Somebody who is seeking to be an effective social media manager must understand the analytics aspect of social media, turning all of that seemingly random information into concrete strategies for improvement.

Even small businesses need to be diligent in managing social media. When tasked with this responsibility, those in charge need to have a detailed understanding of data, good social skills, experience in communications and a background in marketing. Social media managers with these skills will be successful at pinging users with content and engagement that will resonate with their audiences.