Are you looking to hire a social media manager?
If you are you a business owner that identifies the need for social media for your business, but don’t have the time to do it yourself, you might be in the market to hire a social media manager.
A social media manager, or social media marketer, is simply someone who helps get your business online and reach your ideal customers, by using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat to name a few.
What a Social Media Manager does
Are you curious about what a social media manager does?
Hiring a social media business or freelance social media manager involves more than just them posting on your social media platforms.
When you first hire a social media company, they should find out necessary information from you such as your goals for social media, your ideal customer, where your leads are currently coming from, and if they can have access to your social media platforms and Google Analytics, to determine how much website traffic is coming from social.
Job responsibilities that a social media manager has other than posting to social media:
- Social media audits to make sure your profiles are complete, that you are using the correct platform for your goals and ideal customer, etc. Typically, a social media manager would do an audit prior to you hiring them.
- Social media content creation including graphics, videos and written content. Some social media businesses will also offer website blogging so that they have content to share on your social media.
- Community management ie. responding to questions, replying to comments (depends on the social media manager, some managers do not provide this service, so this is a good question to ask.)
- Social media optimization and making sure your accounts are complete and use the most important aspects of each platform.
- Staying on top of social media trends and new platforms. Social media is always changing, and your social media manager should be learning each day as to what is new and happening in the online world.
- Social media advertising.
- Reporting on each platform so you understand the overall growth and effectiveness of social media.
- Training. A great social media company will offer monthly training so that you can continue learning about social media.
Depending on if you hire a freelancer, or a social media company, the services that they offer might be different. Make sure to ask all the services that they offer, and find out what kind of package you are purchasing.
Job roles that can compliment a social media manager would be a content creator/ content manager, social media analyst and graphic designer.
When you’re considering hiring a freelance social media marketer, or hiring a social media business to manage your own business’ social media profiles, there are a few things to look for.
Active on Social Media
This may seem obvious, but there are companies and individuals out there who claim to provide social media services, however, if you visit their profiles, you will see that they aren’t very active. Now while they may claim to be ‘too busy’, if social media is their focus, they should be showcasing that on their own profiles.
While it’s tempting to look specifically only on the ‘numbers’ of specific companies’ social media profiles, also take a quick look at their engagement on social media to see if they respond to comments, and how long it takes for them to reply. Because it’s so easy to buy social media followers, basing your decision on social media numbers shouldn’t be the only factor.
References
A social media manager who has experience should have some references available on their social media platforms and website. Take a look at the references and see what is being said specifically. Are they good at training? Have they helped that business or individual with the same sort of services that you are looking for?
If you’re hiring a freelancer from Upwork or Freelancer, take a look at their reviews. You can also check out their LinkedIn profile to see what kind of recommendations they have received.
Understands strategy
It’s great if you have someone in-house to post on social media on your behalf, but make sure that they at least understand the strategy behind it.
Make sure whoever is posting on your social media accounts understands:
- your ideal customer
- the platform your ideal customer is on
- your goal for social media, whether it’s increased web traffic, increase email database, leads, etc.
- the type of content that is useful and valuable to your ideal customer
- your product/ service that is most lucrative for your business
- the 80/20 rule of posting a mix of valuable content, with 20% of posts being promotional
- how to properly respond to questions, comments and possible complaints
- how to use call-t0-actions in social media posts
- your budget for advertising and what types of ads work
You should also have an initial session where the socia media person finds out what your company is about, how you speak, and get an idea of your industry language and how you answer questions.
Answers questions
A great social media manager will be open with you about any questions you have about your social media platforms, or about social media in general.
When you do hire someone to provide you with social media services, they should be open to providing you with some training and knowledge so that you understand what they’re doing, and they know what they’re doing. If you don’t want to learn about social media, or don’t have the time, I highly recommend you at least learn the basics of social media so that you understand.
Training
When considering a social media manager to hire, check to see what kind of training they have, or how they continue to learn. Although having a social media certificate isn’t necessary, knowing that they stay on top of trends is a good thing to know. Ask what books they read, podcasts they listen to and other digital marketing professionals they pay attention to.
Loves social media
When you are hiring for any job, you want to hire someone who loves what they do. This goes for hiring a social media manager.
Ask the potential social media manager what their favourite platform is, why they enjoy managing social media accounts, or what conferences they attend to learn about social media. If they are truly passionate about what they do, you should see this shine through.
Where to find a social media manager
When you decide to hire a social media manager, knowing where to find one is the next step.
- You can hire a remote worker from Upwork or Freelancer, or hire someone for smaller portions of the job on Fiverr.
- If you want to hire a social media company, either word of mouth or a recommendation from a friend, or a simply Google search can be the easiest way to find someone.
- Depending on the specific platform, you can also do searches on social media platforms to see what comes up.
- Placing an ad on Indeed or Neuvoo can help you find a social media manager.
Do you have other questions about how to hire a social media manager? Feel free to contact me or reply in the comments.
