In a recent post at Social Media Today, Jeff Nolan described what he thought was the role of an ideal new social media manager, having recently hired a person for this role at NewsGator.

Many companies think hiring someone to write a blog will open the flood gates of the new media world. However, this effort is no guarantee of success; it requires the company to create content that is important to their user, constantly pursuing the topics they express interest in.

But blogging is one of many things a social media manager should be responsible for. After the blogs are written, it’s important to build interaction, and show how the company is newly adapting to the tools of the blog. Then other social media tools must be brought on, for example, LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube. Each must fulfill the direct interest of your audience, showing them that you are truly listening to what they have to say.

The role of the social media manager is to create rich interaction between the company and the customers. Whether it’s bringing in industry insiders to write on blogs or creating content on various social networking sites across the web, the key role of a social media manager is to understand what your audience desires and supply the content across these particular tools.