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Social media director vs media manager

The differences between social media directors and media managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a social media director, becoming a media manager takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a media manager has an average salary of $96,475, which is higher than the $70,846 average annual salary of a social media director.

The top three skills for a social media director include facebook insights, instagram and twitter. The most important skills for a media manager are digital marketing, kpis, and media planning.

Social media director vs media manager overview

Social Media DirectorMedia Manager
Yearly salary$70,846$96,475
Hourly rate$34.06$46.38
Growth rate8%10%
Number of jobs39,016110,888
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 80%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Average age4239
Years of experience410

What does a social media director do?

Social Media Directors are responsible for the promotion of an organization's brand, services, and products through social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. They are responsible for implementing a social media strategy, tracking social media presence, keeping abreast of social media trends, and adopting new social media channels. Other duties include measuring Twitter activity, analyzing traffic patterns, assessing Facebook comments, and inspecting reception levels of social media messages. They contribute to creating progress reports, providing feedback to management, and contributing to strategy improvements.

What does a media manager do?

Media managers oversee the department that works on the different communication needs of the company. They execute the communications strategies of the company. They are expected to be updated with the current trends on media platforms. They should also be very familiar with the company and are attuned to the company's brand and image so that they can create relevant communications campaigns. Media managers oversee content creation on different media platforms. They manage the research related to the content they are working on. They develop materials and ensure that these materials are engaging and relatable to the target audience.

Social media director vs media manager salary

Social media directors and media managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Social Media DirectorMedia Manager
Average salary$70,846$96,475
Salary rangeBetween $40,000 And $124,000Between $66,000 And $140,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateIdahoPennsylvania
Best paying companyAccentureMeta
Best paying industryInternetAutomotive

Differences between social media director and media manager education

There are a few differences between a social media director and a media manager in terms of educational background:

Social Media DirectorMedia Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 80%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Most common majorCommunicationCommunication
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityUniversity of Georgia

Social media director vs media manager demographics

Here are the differences between social media directors' and media managers' demographics:

Social Media DirectorMedia Manager
Average age4239
Gender ratioMale, 42.8% Female, 57.2%Male, 51.7% Female, 48.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage16%10%

Differences between social media director and media manager duties and responsibilities

Social media director example responsibilities.

  • Manage client Facebook accounts to increase their sales/promotions.
  • Perform administrative duties including ordering photography supplies, managing expenses bookkeeping, updating photography inventory and archives.
  • Determine KPIs and metrics for success across platforms and develop strategies to meet client ROI expectations.
  • Create addiction and recovery relate blog posts for fifteen hours each week through a WordPress account.
  • Negotiate SmartPlus, Arbitron and Nielsen contracts.
  • Engage and nurture social media communities using HootSuite.
  • Show more

Media manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage B2C media campaigns from inception to reporting.
  • Evaluate, select and manage relationships with PPC technology vendors.
  • Lead intranet and internet maintenance, content, development and marketing.
  • Execute vendor fund campaigns to achieve KPIs base on each individual brand s needs and drive ecommerce sales.
  • Utilize CRM software to maintain contacts, leads, ad sales, sales reports and advertisement run sheets.
  • Manage search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for several B2B and health care clients.
  • Show more

Social media director vs media manager skills

Common social media director skills
  • Facebook Insights, 10%
  • Instagram, 9%
  • Twitter, 8%
  • Social Media Marketing, 7%
  • Digital Marketing, 6%
  • Web Content, 5%
Common media manager skills
  • Digital Marketing, 19%
  • KPIs, 5%
  • Media Planning, 4%
  • Media Management, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • Google Analytics, 3%

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