25 Skills to Master Going Into 2025
2025 is right around the corner and it’s time to start setting those New Year goals (#NewYearNewMe, eh?). But fear not - the year isn’t over just yet, so there’s still time to get a head start on those goals!
Working in the social media industry isn’t just about tactics and talent, it’s about having an artistic eye, being on top of all types of news, customer service, a strong knack for writing… and the list goes on. That’s why having a tool belt of lots of different skills works well in your favour in a field like this.
We’ve rounded up 25 social media skills to master as we move into 2025 - so make your list, check it twice, and work towards completing as many as you can:
Finding trending audios
Trending audios are what largely help push your content further into the algorithm, especially when you’re hopping on an audio while it’s still an early trend.Understanding basic copyright rules
Especially if your brand doesn’t have a legal team, knowing basic copyright rules to ensure you’re staying within safe zones is crucial. You always think “who would hit my brand with a lawsuit,” but you’d be surprised by the likelihood of it happening if you’re not careful with music, images, and plagiarism.How to film and edit a simple video
Content creators are often separated out as a different job, but a great social media marketer will understand the importance in being able to throw a video together when there’s breaking news or a trend - especially when there’s so many free apps out there to help you!Build a hashtag strategy
You might have heard that hashtags are dying out… and that’s not entirely true. While hashtags aren’t as effective as they used to be, you’re missing out on so many eyeballs on your content if you don’t use them. Mixing in niche (5K+ uses) and mega hashtags (100K+ uses) will give you a wider range to work with.Create copy with SEO in mind
Related to the above, making your content “search engine optimizable” means giving your content the best chance at popping up in search results. Using keywords, alt captions, hashtags and on-screen captions are all easy ways to accomplish this.Draft a pitch template for future clients
Let’s face it, most people have to work to find their clients. If you’re really good at what you do, sure, brands will come seek your help, but having a template handy for when business is low (and when it’s not, just to build your clientele) will be a lifesaver in sending out quick pitches. Put your business out there and tell brands exactly why you should be in charge of their social strategy, community management and/or content creation.Plan content ahead of time
Having to make, write, and schedule content all together on a tight timeline is the absolute worst. It takes up more time, runs your creative battery dry, and sometimes leads to more mistakes being made. Stay ahead of your content and plan in advance so you’re not on the fritz later.Learn how to use a scheduling tool
We know manual posting feels safer, but just like the above, it can get time consuming - particularly when life gets in the way and you get too busy to post on time. Do yourself a favour and sign up for a scheduling app like Later, HeyOrca or Hootsuite.Understand basic in-app analytics
All that social strategy, posting and design has to amount to something, and the only way you can keep track of that is monitoring your analytics to see what is and isn’t performing. While you get started, in-app analytics are a completely reasonable place to be checking your stats.Stay up-to-date with industry news
Watching and reading the news isn’t fun for everyone, but staying on top of headlines to some degree is crucial. Not just pop culture trends that can be relevant to your social calendar, but worldly news that can indirectly impact your strategy - for example, say something horrible has happened in the world today. It’s not in good taste to be posting something super light-hearted or potentially make a certain joke that won’t land well with whatever has occurred. Make sense?Identify micro versus evergreen trends
Trends pop up everyday on TikTok, and it can become overwhelming trying to make every one of them work for your brand. Pick the most relevant ones, and divide them out by “micro” (trends that are very likely to die down quickly) vs. “evergreen” (trends that have a greater life span on social) to decide what gets posted immediately, and what can wait a couple of weeks.Establish your tone of voice
Especially when it relates to managing different clients on social, because the way one brand “speaks” to their audience could be very different from how another one does. Figure out if you, as the social media manager, need to be speaking professionally, be making more unserious commentary, or whichever route (hint: it helps if you establish who your audience is - Gen Z language is SO much more different than other generations).Stay consistent with posting schedules
It’s not the end of the world if your posts are super spaced out, but you know when you go on to a brand page and their latest post went live 2 days ago, and the one before that was like… a month ago? Looks weird right? Take notes!Research cultural moments and dates
Not only does this help you fill out your social calendar, but it also helps you connect with your audience - for example, Diwali just passed. If you’re trying to have your brand be inclusive of traditional holidays/moments, posting about that would have been a great choice. On the other hand, American Thanksgiving is coming up and there are lots of brands who don’t want to be involved in this holiday because of the cultural controversy. If that’s the case, it’s important to note the date so you avoid posting the same day.Consistently engaging with your community
You’ve posted a fun, relatable graphic to encourage engagement - now what? If you’re not responding to your community, they’re not going to feel empowered to continuing to do so on future posts. People LOVE becoming “friends” with the unknown social media manager, and we know that from experience.Saying “no” when something doesn’t fit your bandwidth
Social teams very often consistent of 1-5 people - a small team to handle a lot of work! It’s important to remember that even though getting business is the goal, spreading yourself too thin not only puts you in a tough spot, but takes away time from your other clients. Remind teams what is and isn’t within your scope and set boundaries or timelines to help manage expectations.Taking advantage of tools available in-app
Polls, music features, question stickers… all there for your use (for free) and there to help build your audience and drive engagement.Building your brand kit to keep your graphics consistent
Going onto a brand page and seeing all the posts fit cohesively against one another feels so right. Taking the time to establish your brand’s colour schemes, fonts and relevant graphics/logos will help you achieve that same vision across your content and make your posts easily recognizable while scrolling a feed.Practicing formats you’re not familiar with
We can’t be amazing at everything, but we can certainly try to be decent enough at lots of things. Jot down those things you’re having a hard time getting the hang of, and spend the time researching, watching tutorials and practicing until you feel confident enough to say “yes, I can do that.”Brushing up on your customer service skills
While you’re likely to be behind the screen, not having to talk to people face-to-face (or even voice-to-voice), you are a representation of whatever brand you’re interacting from. You need to be able to handle customer concerns and questions politely, giving them genuine solutions and answers.Practicing calm in the face of a crisis
Ever wonder why publicists receive so much crisis communications training? Because they need to know when to say the right thing at the right time, and handle negative press. Crises can happen even on social, and the social media manager is typically the first person to pick that up - it’s important to know how to calmly handle it (keeping in mind that on the internet, anyone can screenshot and post a negative response for the world to see) and escalate when necessary to the correct people.Being more personable in order to build relationships
No one is going to want to work with you if you have an unapproachable attitude. Building relationships wherever you can - networking, adding industry fellows on LinkedIn, outreaching to people you’ve worked with in the past for mentorship - are all easy ways to relationship build. This also comes in handy when you’ve got someone in your corner who will consider you when the brand they work for is looking for a social expert!Honing your writing skills
Not all writers are social media experts, but all social media experts should be good writers. Whether it’s a long form blog post, drafting ad copy, or writing captions for a social post; knowing correct grammar, punctuation and having a robust vocabulary ensure that your writing doesn’t look repetitive or incorrect (because when ad copy feels super incorrect, we often think it’s spam, so… there’s that).Tapping into your inner project manager
Two words: time management. For yourself, and also if you’re managing a team of social media experts! Knowing how to stay on top of deadlines, managing multiple projects at once and designated assignments are all part of project management, and social media management.Learning how to build a budget tracker
Don’t spend against your budget if it can be avoided, especially if you’re running your own business. Make a simple tracker to know where and to what your money is leaving your account, and help you keep up with client invoices to make sure money is coming in when it should.
Still finding it difficult to keep up with these skills and need the professionals to step in? Get in touch with the Super Duper team so we can kickstart your social strategy for you, hand-in-hand!
