Deciding whether or not you need or want to hire a social media manager to help you in your business is definitely something business owners weren’t thinking about a decade ago. It’s new and we’re all still trying to figure this whole thing out. So when, or if, you do decide to hire one, there may be some mistakes made along the way. Here are some things you’ll want to have ironed with your social media manager before you stroke that check.
Will your social media manager stick to the strategy?
Do they understand the assignment? This is the very first thing you should cover with potential social media. You don’t want to waste money to have someone posting random content, and with no clear goal. Another thing to consider with this is whether or not they have experience with brands similar to yours. Finding someone that specializes in your industry could make or break your investment.
Check out: Questions You Might Have About Hiring a Social Media Manager
How many posts?
Will your social media manager post twice a week, or 5 times a week?
This can be tough. Not posting enough probably won’t move the needle for you. Posting too much and you could risk being tuned out by your audience. Regardless of how often your content is being posted, you should be aware of the frequency of posting. Along with that, you should know what platforms the content is going to. And this all needs to be clear before you sign a contract or send that deposit to lock in a social media manager.
If you’re launching a new brand or service, I recommend 3 to 5 posts per week. With starting a new brand you may also want to consider running paid ads. Your social media manager may be able to help with this, but in most cases you’ll want someone who specializes in running paid ads on social media.
Will your social media manger engage with your audience?
Posting the content is one thing. Engaging with your audience is another. You definitely want to be clear about your social media manager’s role with engaging your audience. It should be a given that the social media manager would be the one to do this, but that’s not always the case. Engaging with an audience, responding to messages and DM’s, can be time consuming, so you can expect this to come at a higher price tag.
Not engaging with your audience could mean leaving money on the table. So regardless of who’s taking on that responsibility, it should not be ignored.
What type of content and where will it come from?
In most situations, it’s safe to assume that your social media manager will be creating original content. And it’ll mostly consist of graphics created in Canva. Is that enough for you though? Do you need original video? If that’s the case, you might want to hire a social media manager that offers video production.
Another thing to watch out for is how much of other people’s content you share or repost. If you’re launching an original product or service, you’ll definitely want original content.
