SMM manager: who is it, how much do they earn, and why is the profession among the best

The development of digital technologies and the increasing popularity of social networks have created a new market for professions, where the SMM manager has become a key figure in brand promotion. Companies no longer view social networks as entertainment tools – they are now full-fledged business platforms that generate revenue. A skilled specialist helps businesses build communication with the audience, increase sales, enhance brand recognition, and foster customer loyalty. Understanding the details of the profession will help you grasp what an SMM manager does, what tasks they perform, and what is needed for a successful start in the profession.

Who is an SMM Manager, What They Do, and Why Businesses Need Them

An SMM specialist is involved in the strategic management of social networks, develops content strategies, optimizes advertising campaigns, analyzes effectiveness metrics, and interacts with subscribers. Businesses require professional promotion on social networks because modern consumer habits are formed here.

By 2024, around 4.95 billion people will be actively using social networks, with the average user spending 2 hours and 31 minutes on them daily. Brands understand that without a quality presence in the media, they lose a significant market share. Companies of any scale need professional management of their accounts: small businesses use social networks for direct sales, medium-sized businesses for building long-term relationships with customers, and large corporations for shaping their image and managing reputation.

What does an SMM manager do? They:

1. Increase audience reach and engagement.
2. Develop engaging content that encourages interaction from subscribers.
3. Set up targeted advertising to attract new customers.
4. Manage brand reputation and respond promptly to crisis situations.
5. Analyze metrics and adjust promotion strategies.

What an SMM Manager Does: Key Tasks

A promotion specialist is responsible for a wide range of functions that require not only creativity but also analytical thinking. The work is based on several key directions.

Development of Promotion Strategy

Before starting work on social networks, it is necessary to define goals: increasing sales, enhancing loyalty, attracting new audiences, or strengthening reputation. An SMM manager analyzes the market, evaluates competitors, defines key metrics (KPIs), and develops a strategy. For example, when working with a clothing brand on Instagram, goals may include a 20% increase in engagement over three months, gaining 15,000 new followers per quarter, and a 12% increase in average purchase value.

Content Creation and Management

Quality content is the foundation of successful promotion. The specialist develops a plan, determines publication formats (texts, photos, videos, stories, Reels, podcasts), monitors trends, and analyzes audience reactions. For a fitness brand, content may include workout videos, expert posts from trainers, customer reviews, engaging marathons, and challenges.

Setting Up and Managing Targeted Advertising

Targeting allows for attracting a paying audience. The employee segments customers, tests creatives, and analyzes ad effectiveness. For instance, when launching ads on Facebook for a cosmetics online store, audience sectors are created: women aged 25-35 interested in organic products, and men aged 30-45 looking for gifts.

Engaging Subscribers and Reputation Management

Communication with the audience is key to increasing loyalty. An SMM manager responds to comments, handles negativity, participates in discussions, organizes contests, and engaging activities. For example, in an IT company’s Telegram channel, polls, discussions, and AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions are conducted.

Metrics Analysis and Reporting

Working on social networks requires constant data analysis. The specialist tracks engagement indicators, reach, conversion, ad campaign effectiveness, and adjusts strategies. For example, if there is a 30% decrease in activity on Instagram, content audit is conducted, new formats are tested, and posting schedules are changed.

Skills Required for an SMM Manager

Successful specialists combine a creative approach with the ability to analyze data and manage advertising budgets. Important skills include:

1. Knowledge of social network algorithms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram).
2. Copywriting and storytelling (ability to write engaging texts, create viral content).
3. Working with graphics and video (Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, CapCut).
4. Advertising setup (Facebook Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, Google Ads).
5. Metrics analysis (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Yandex.Metrica).
6. Crisis management (handling negativity, reputation restoration).

Becoming an SMM Manager

The profession does not require a university degree but demands a deep understanding of digital marketing. Training can be obtained through online courses, internships, and practical work on real projects.

Where to study:

1. Courses: Netology, Skillbox, GeekBrains, Coursera, Udemy.
2. Certifications: Facebook Blueprint, Google Digital Marketing.
3. Practice: working on small projects, managing personal accounts.

How to gain initial experience:

1. Create and manage a personal blog to test strategies.
2. Participate in volunteer projects and intern at small businesses.
3. Complete tasks on freelance platforms (Fl.ru, Upwork, Kwork).

Career Prospects

The digital marketing market continues to grow. By 2025, the social media market volume will exceed $200 billion, and advertising budgets will increase by 12% annually. The outlook creates a stable demand for specialists capable of promoting brands online.

Average Salaries for SMM Managers in 2025

The specialist’s income depends on competency level, experience, and work region. In Russia and the CIS, average figures vary based on qualifications:

1. Junior (novice, up to a year of experience) – 40,000-60,000 rubles. Main tasks include social media management, basic analytics, and content work.
2. Middle (2-3 years of experience) – 80,000-120,000 rubles. This level involves in-depth analytics, setting up ad campaigns, and developing promotion strategies.
3. Senior (3+ years of experience) – 150,000+ rubles. It includes team management, developing large-scale marketing strategies.

Conclusion

Understanding what an SMM manager does allows you to assess the prospects of the profession. Demand, flexibility, and growth opportunities make the specialty attractive for those willing to develop in digital marketing. Mastering the profession requires practice, learning advertising tools, analytics, and content work.

Remote format in SMM has become the norm. Companies trust texts to freelancers, experts hire copywriters on a permanent basis, and bloggers scale content through outsourcing. In this context, copywriting for SMM remotely requires special accuracy, attention to context, and result orientation. Competition in the feed is growing, so one unsuccessful paragraph — and attention shifts to the competitor.

Basics: how to write texts for social networks with a focus on results

Before creating a catchy post, it is important to understand in what format and for what purpose it will appear in the feed. Content on Instagram, VK, Telegram, or Facebook requires adaptation. There is no universal formula, but there are basic pillars that simplify the launch:

1. Focus on emotions, not informativeness. Users do not come for articles — they seek quick meanings, images, reflections of their desires and fears. Therefore, copywriting for SMM remotely should evoke a reaction: joy, anger, worry, inspiration.
2. Structure and rhythm are mandatory. Even the most powerful offer loses its power in a solid block of text. Paragraphs, markers, rhythm, broken lines, pauses — this is not just visual. It is an attention-holding tool.
3. Consider the platform. For Telegram — conciseness and usefulness. For Instagram — storytelling and emotions. For VK — a mix of formats. For Facebook — expertise. Copywriting for SMM remotely requires adapting the style to the platform’s mechanics.

AIDA model: how to use it in social networks

One of the most effective algorithms is the classic AIDA structure. It is suitable for posts aimed at selling, persuading, engaging, or prompting action.

Scheme:

1. Attention. The headline solves everything. It should cause a stop effect: an unexpected fact, contrast, question, pain, number. Example: “Spends 4 hours a day — earns less than a schoolboy on a marketplace.”
2. Interest. Mini-stories, pain, insights help maintain attention. Format: “When the client didn’t show up, I thought — it’s a failure. But it turned out, that’s exactly how stable growth begins…”
3. Desire. Offer. Problem solution. New path. Bullets, benefits, “before/after” comparisons are appropriate here. Format: “In 7 days — a client base. Without targeting. Without investments. Text only.”
4. Action. Call to action. Simple action: “Write + in DMs”, “Download template”, “Go to the bot”. Copywriting for SMM remotely requires clear steps, without phrases like “if interested, write”.

Mistakes: what kills engaging texts for social networks

A copywriter may know the rules but lose in the details. Mistakes are found not in logic but in liveliness of presentation:

1. Dry style without visuals. Without images, metaphors, and “pictures in the mind,” the text does not engage.

2. Too long warming up. If the reader doesn’t grasp the essence in the first 4 seconds — they’re gone.

3. Common words instead of triggers. “Just,” “clearly,” “convenient” — do not work. Better: “launched in 2 evenings,” “works even from scratch,” “responds for you.”

4. Lack of a problem. Without pain and a request, the text turns into a note without reason.

Sales texts: hacks and formulas

Copywriting for SMM remotely includes a hybrid of formats: stories, benefits, cases, instructions. It is important to quickly deliver the essence, convey value, evoke a desire to save or share.

Formulas and techniques:

1. PAS (Problem – Agitation – Solution). Description of pain → Aggravation of the problem → Solution through the product or experience. Example: “Lack of clients → You think it’s all because of the crisis → In reality — a weak offer. Here’s what worked for three students in a row…”

2. Before – After – Bridge. What was → What became → How to get there. Example: “Blog grew for 3 years to 10,000. Now — +1200 per week. Method: video + stories with viral delivery.”

3. 4U (Useful – Urgent – Unique – Ultra-specific). Benefit → Urgency → Uniqueness → Clear specificity. Example: “3 phrases that will make viewers watch stories to the end. They work even on a cold audience.”

4. Storytelling + offer. Real story where the reader sees themselves. In the end — a solution. Example: “Every morning she started with coffee and anxiety. After 2 months — subscriptions for $10,000. How it all started — in the first lesson.”

5. Pain – Hope – Plan. Acknowledgment of the problem → Inspiring perspective → Step-by-step action. Format: “If you’re delaying starting a blog — you’re not alone. But you can start with 20 subscribers. Here’s how…”

SMM copywriting and marketing: when text sells

Texts do not work on their own. Content is integrated into the promotion strategy. Copywriting for SMM remotely becomes a link between the product, audience, and platform. Texts work especially effectively in combination:

• post + warming up in stories;

• reels + text + transition to DMs;

• expert post + PDF + bot.

Texts create a flow — attention → interest → trust → action. They do not replace visuals but enhance the message. Therefore, the task is not just to write but to integrate into content marketing.

Emotions and engagement: how copywriting for SMM remotely triggers a reaction

A good text does not just convey information. It evokes emotion, creates engagement, provokes an internal response. This is what distinguishes a post scrolled mindlessly from a text that is saved, shared, and discussed in comments.

A Problem that Resonates

To hook the reader, it is necessary to hit the pain point. And not a global one, but a specific one. Not “poor sales,” but “losing a client at the presentation stage every time.” Not “tired of social networks,” but “burning out after three stories in a row because you don’t know what to say.”

Copywriting for SMM remotely is based on the ability to name these pains directly, without water and abstractions. Then the text becomes a mirror for the reader.

Hope and Plan: Not Just Suffering, but Moving Forward

Engagement is created not through suffering but through a path. It is important not only to identify the problem but also to hint at the solution. Even without a direct offer. Example: “Every third post has zero reach? Start with headlines. Here are three that will definitely work:…”

When the reader feels in control, they continue to pay attention. Trust, engagement, desire to stay close emerge.

Questions and Lively Tone

Open questions in the text engage in a dialogue. Example: “Do you also say ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ but never write a post?”

Even without a response under the post, a question triggers an internal reaction. The reader answers for themselves, mentally engages. Additionally, a lively, “human” tone lowers barriers. Without officialdom, without unnecessary pathos. The style of “sharing with a friend” works.

Texts in the content funnel: from reach to sales

Copywriting for SMM remotely often becomes part of the marketing funnel. Every word leads to a goal: subscription, registration, sale. It is important to understand at which stage the reader is:

1. Cold — knows neither the product nor the expertise.

2. Warm — knows, hesitates.

3. Hot — ready, just needs a final push.

For a Cold Audience

Posts with stories, humor, pain work. The goal is to spark interest, reach, first contact. For example: “What do warming up in stories and first dates have in common? Mistakes ruin everything even before it starts…”

For a Warm Audience

Cases, instructions, examples are important here. The task is to show value, experience, benefit. Example: “Here’s how a newbie with no followers got 9 inquiries in a week — just from the text in stories.”

For a Hot Audience

A clear offer, deadline, social proof are needed here. Structure — specificity, benefits, call to action. Example: “Launch flow: 5 days, 3 lessons, 1 PDF. All free. Only until Thursday. Link in bio.”

Content Style: How to Sound Bright but Not Banal

To write vividly does not mean to simplify. It means to speak precisely, concisely, with character. Copywriting for SMM remotely requires training in style: to be recognized, saved, quoted.

Parameters:

1. Imagery. Not “a lot of work” — but “buried under deadlines.” Not “problems with ideas” — but “brain creaks like an old elevator.”
2. Contrast. Show “before/after,” “thought/turned out,” “everyone does/I — differently.” Example:

3. “When everyone publishes checklists — show how NOT to launch stories. It works better.”

4. Rhythm. Short sentences. Interruption. Pause. Exclamation. All this creates the musicality of the text, makes it lighter.

How Copywriting for SMM Remotely Turns a Follower into a Customer

Without resonance, there will be no transition. Without transition, there will be no subscription. Without subscription, there will be no trust. And without trust, a sale is impossible.

Examples:

1. Post: short story + pain + hint at a solution.

2. Stories: voice, face, emotion, trust.

3. PDF: mini-plan, instruction, benefit.

4. DMs: offer or free consultation.

   

Each text serves a function: hook → warm up → convey → sell. And in this lies the power of copywriting, especially in social networks, where attention span is 2–3 seconds.

Copywriting for SMM Remotely — a profession without which social networks do not work

Copywriting for SMM remotely has become not just a tool but the core of communication. It determines whether a business will be noticed, whether people will subscribe to a blog, whether a product will be purchased. It is the text that connects emotions, meanings, visuals, and conversions. In the conditions of remote work, speed, and competition — skillful text provides not just reach but results.