A social media consultant since several years now, I’ve seen the requirements for this position change much over the last few years. From being a purely text based content creation job, it has evolved into a full-time vocation requiring multi-tasking skills, design thinking and a more holistic marketing approach.
The tools of the trade have, very obviously, evolved over the years from MS Word and blogging sites to include a wide array of platforms. My three favorites, over the years, highs and lows, which have helped me stay on the top:
HootSuite: a social media management tool, which allows you to manage multiple platforms and profiles from a single dashboard. You can schedule your posts, follow-unfollow and interact with followers all from within HootSuite. It’s been a life savior, especially when the holidays are coming up!
Pixabay: who pays for stock images any more? Pixabay has 530000 high quality photos, illustrations, and vector graphics – all free, for commercial use! The site has bailed me out EVERY time I needed an image to illustrate my social media posts. I’ve finally started buying the contributors’ a coffee every now and then as my small token of gratitude!
Canva: the solution to all social media posts. Canva allows you to create designs for web and print: graphics, presentations, social media posts (with customised sizes for each platform), infographics et al. I can no longer imagine being dependent on a professional designer to quickly churn out my social media posts, as is obvious on my Canva profile.
PlainGeets 
Great post. Are you a social media consultant? I also work a lot with social media, I have a bachelor’s degree in communications, PR and media management. It really changed a lot in the past years. Social Media has become a powerful tool, not only for big companies.
Hi Sanny! Yup, I freelance as a social media consultant with startups in Bangalore. You can check out my profile: about.me/Geetanjali.
I totally agree with you about the power of social media. It surprises me all the time how startups ignore it as ‘professional’ marketing tool and treat it like something ‘anybody with a few free minutes’ can do!