What Expectations Should You Have of a Social Media Manager for Your Business?

There are many different types of social media marketers in the world and they have a wide range of skillsets. Everything from social media managers that operate more like virtual assistants (create and share content for you but do nothing else) to social media managers that handle every aspect of social (including engagement, monitoring, and advertising). Before interviewing your manager prospect, what expectations should you be seeking as a small business owner looking to hire a new social media manager?

Connection

A quality social media manager isn’t going to just create posts for you in a silo. There needs to be a regular communication plan to check in with you about what is and isn’t working. You should have an expectation, and it should be in whatever agreement you sign, that there be active communication each month including a window of time to chat and discuss things. These calls should cover current efforts and plans for any future efforts, upcoming events, or promotions.

Strategy

If you’ve ever spent an hour creating social media content and found a few days later that it produced zero engagement or interest in your business, then you understand the futility of not having a social media marketing strategy. Many business owners approach social media marketing as a post it and forget it endeavor and then complain to other people about how social doesn’t work for their business. When it’s time to hire a social media manager, you should expect that they’ll work with you on a social media marketing strategy for your business that will help you produce results.

Reality

Too many small business owners do not really understand the role social media plays in their marketing efforts. While social media can produce sales, that’s not the purpose of social media marketing. If the expectation is that your social media manager will close business or generate sales for you, you don’t understand the difference between marketing and sales. Marketing is anything you do to create awareness and attention for your brand – essentially warming up your prospects for the sale. These efforts may generate new business for you but that’s not the purpose of social media marketing. Social media is about connecting with your audience, building brand awareness, and getting the necessary attention you need to earn the trust that will eventually result in a sale. It’s not fair to put all the pressure of making money for your business on the shoulders of your social media manager because that’s not what social media marketing is about.

Quality social media management and social media strategy go hand in hand. Your expectations going into any outsourcing situation should be built upon trust that you are hiring an expert that can move the needle forward for your business.

Are you finding it is getting more difficult for you to post about your business in social media due to time and energy restraints? The Social Media Advisor team can create a custom editorial calendar for your business, create on-target messaging and branded images aligned with your culture, and get it scheduled each month – taking this huge task off your plate entirely! Ask us more about our Monthly Social Media Management service!

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

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