Questions to Ask Your Social Media Manager
Photo Credit: Anthony Shkraba
Everyone uses social media — which means you can trust anyone to manage your social media, right?
“All you need to do is post every day.”
“You have to make reels because the algorithm loves them!”
“It’s all about your ✨content strategy✨ and knowing your ✨target audience✨ to build brand awareness.”
“It’s so easy!”
…Or is it? Isn’t it just about being consistent and on the platform? Well, ehh. Yes and no? Nowadays, I’ve seen that because companies want to be on social, they’ll usually assign those tasks to someone who has extra time on their hands. (Or they’ll stretch out the bandwidth of someone already wearing three other hats, which is no bueno for the individual and, ultimately, the brand — but that’s a long blog post for another day.)
That approach, however, leads to a more quantity- over quality-focused mindset. Usually, this is not successful in the long run.
And don’t get me started on my biggest digital marketing pet peeve: I’m not one for adopting pet peeves, but I am a little tired of people tacking on “social media manager, strategist, consultant” everything to their bios, yet they choose to regurgitate the same advice to all of their clients. No shade. (Okay, maybe a little. 🙊)
🙅🏻♀️Spare me your buzz words, please. I’m passionate about this because it’s honestly a disservice to the businesses they are advising — that kind of superficial advice doesn’t strategically or analytically reveal the growth matrices needed for each unique client. Emphasis on unique. Plus, it also devalues the work that social media team members do.
Anyone can make social media pretty. Not everyone can make it impactful.
But you need a social media manager. In an ideal world, you’d have a team to handle the multiple elements within social media marketing, from community engagement and development, to paid social strategy and more. Brand awareness. Crisis management. A/B testing. CVR. CPC. CTR. It can all look like alphabet soup. You need a guiding beacon to steer your company through the digital terrain. So, how do you find the right person?
Ask your potential Social Media Star these questions to see if they not only have a credible understanding of the field but also to see how they can use that knowledge to amplify your business goals.
And remember — it’s not about having the right answer. There may be no such thing! It’s to evaluate how they intend to problem-solve challenges your business may come across, and how they intend to build upon your vision.
Questions to Ask Your Social Media Manager
1. What are your go-to strategies to manage online communities?
2. What platforms do you think our business should be on? Why?
3. What does success on social media look like to you?
4. What is your goal when you decide to market for a company?
5. Can you tell me about a successful social media marketing campaign you deployed? What made it successful? How about one that failed?
6. What tools do you use to perform your analytics? What metrics do you look at and why?
7. What are your favorite management tools you have at the ready?
8. How have you successfully generated leads in the past? Can you share those strategies in detail?
9. What is your experience with organic vs. paid social? What is your experience with B2B vs. B2C audiences?
10. How do you stay on top of a fast-moving industry? News? Technology? Research?
11. How do you decide where to allocate your social budget?
12. What KPIs do you use to track your performance or see how your team is performing?
13. How do you develop your content strategy?
14. What would be our company’s biggest challenges on social media? Why?
15. Where would our greatest areas of opportunity be?
Bonus Question: Why do you want to work with us?
Of course, these are just a few you can choose from. What questions would you ask your potential social media manager?