Social Media Day: How to Become a Successful SMM in the Age of AI

30 June is Social Media Day, an event created by the multimedia platform Mashable to reflect on the impact that social media has on the way we communicate, stay informed and build networks. This year, the day finds these platforms in a state that is not exactly healthy, amidst allegations of causing addiction among young people and laws banning access to minors, AI that risks making it harder to distinguish between what is true and what is false, and a trend towards turning away from social media that began with younger people but seems to be spreading to older age groups as well. Let’s look at a few figures that give us an overview of the situation: worldwide, there are over 5 billion social media users, with over 41 million in Italia. The recent Reuters Institute report on the relationship between young people and information tells us that 18–24-year-olds are increasingly turning to social media for news, particularly Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, as well as podcasts: the figure stood at 21 per cent in 2015; today it has risen to 39 per cent. For these young men and women, who feel increasingly under-represented by traditional media, news is therefore becoming ever more ‘social first’. And this entails a growing responsibility on the part of those providing news on social media. On the other hand, there are those who would like to steer well clear of these platforms: according to Censis 4 in 10 Italians have felt the need for a digital detox, a period of disconnection, at least once in the last year. So, in such a complex landscape, how is it possible to communicate effectively on social media today, whilst capturing the attention of one’s audience? How can we use these platforms correctly?

Riccardo Pirrone, social media expert

Riccardo Pirrone, a social media and communications expert, who rose to fame for creating Taffo’s hugely viral social media campaigns, as well as for founding the National Association of Social Media Managers (ANSMM), of which he is president, explains that ‘this is the first Social Media Day we are celebrating with artificial intelligence now firmly established in the day-to-day work of social media managers, and for many professionals, AI is already an operational tool for analysing data, organising processes, developing ideas and producing content’. However, he adds, “artificial intelligence is also showing a clear side effect: we are increasingly inundated with bland, similar and characterless content,” he says, “because automation makes it easier and faster to produce large quantities of content”. But “without a strategy and a human perspective, this ease risks progressively lowering the quality of communication, favouring standardised, repetitive and less authentic messages,” explains Pirrone, helping to swell the ranks of those seeking a digital detox. And this is where the work of the association founded by Pirrone comes in, to represent and promote the role of social media managers: “They are professionals who do not just publish posts,” he explains, “but combine strategy, creativity, analysis, community management and a focus on reputation. And in the age of automated content and digital saturation, those who communicate to create meaning – not just to take up space – are the ones who succeed.” The social media expert explains that ANSMM has contributed to the inclusion of the role of social media manager in the National Collective Agreement for Editorial Graphic Designers, “an important step towards professional recognition and the protection of those employed under this contract,” he says. The association has also submitted a request to the relevant authorities to introduce a specific ATECO sub-category for social media management activities.

Il sindaco di Roma, Roberto Gualtieri, e il suo capo comunicazione social, Daniele Cinà

But why are we fed up with social media? “People aren’t fed up with social media; they’re fed up with pointless content,” says Daniele Cinà, who has been Head of Social Media Communications for the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, since 2022 the mayor has become the star of Reels and short videos that showcase the work of the Rome City Council and the city’s transformation in an engaging and accessible way, racking up a massive 25 million views a month across all profiles. Gualtieri’s social media strategy has given rise to one of the most widely followed and studied examples of institutional communication in Italia and abroad, says Cinà, explaining that ‘Today, users continue to spend hours on these platforms, but they have become much more selective. They scroll quickly, and only pause at something they consider useful, interesting or genuine’.

To curb scrolling and capture the audience’s attention, Cinà offers social media managers five practical tips. Firstly, ‘focus less on the algorithm and think more about people’; secondly, ‘get straight to the point’, without long introductions, because ‘attention has become a scarce resource’; thirdly, ‘show, don’t tell: people trust evidence more than statements, especially when it comes to politics – says Cinà – so a report on a construction site opening or a service being improved conveys much more than any slogan or empty propaganda’. Furthermore, the fourth piece of advice is to “build trust with your community, not just engagement”, because whilst it is true that “likes and views are important, they are not enough; in the long run, those who build credibility come out on top”. Last but not least, “accept that your competition isn’t other brands”: Cinà explains that a social media manager’s competition is never simply a direct competitor, but rather ‘everything that appears in the user’s feed – namely creators, sport, entertainment, news and friends, even if the latter are becoming fewer and fewer – and so, to stand out, you must learn to communicate even complex topics using the language of the platforms’.

Over 830,000 followers on Facebook and 631,000 on Instagram, where some Reels have racked up between 6 and 7 million views, to the extent that they have become a Meta case study. These are the figures recorded by the social media accounts of the Carabinieri following their decision to move away from traditional language and experiment with memes, viral audio clips and quotes from popular video games to connect more closely with their audience. This bold move has been rewarded by the figures. What is the secret behind this success? “We have struck a balance between the importance of our heritage and the need to communicate in a language suited to the times,” explains the head of the Carabinieri’s press office, Colonel Andrea Corinaldesi, ‘We sought a new way to tell our story, without, however, distorting our identity: that of an institution with 212 years of history, which moves in step with the life of the country’. According to the Colonel, in a climate of media overstimulation such as the one we are experiencing, “it is not those who raise their voices who capture attention, but those who have something useful to say: the content must provide value, concrete information and a service”. “This is the path we are following through the Carabinieri’s official social media profiles, where we aim to offer content that meets real needs,” added the head of the press office, “and one example of this is the format through which we provide practical advice on how to protect oneself against scams and other crimes. In this way, we are extending our traditional prevention work into the digital sphere as well.”