If you’re ready to hire a social media manager, you’ve probably reached the realization that most business owners have reached: social media is absolutely necessary, but it’s too time-consuming to manage on your own.
Luckily there are tons of social media enthusiasts out there who turned their love of connecting online into a full-time job. Now you just need to find the right one to hire for your small business.
Here are a few guidelines on what to look for when hiring a rock star social media manager:
ALREADY ACTIVE PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Usually, the first prerequisite for any social media management job is to submit all social media profiles with a job application. Anyone interested in a job in social media should already be active on social media in their personal lives — it takes a lot to understand the audiences for each social media site and the etiquette of what’s appropriate (such as not stealing and sharing other people’s photos on Instagram)! If your social media applicant has a strong profile on all the major social media sites and is actively posting and taking part in the community regularly, chances are they’re truly passionate about social media and will do a great job managing social for your business.
PASSION FOR THE INDUSTRY
And that brings me to the next requirement: passion. It’s a must in this industry. Social media management is a full-time job that often requires managers to respond in their evenings and free time. If someone hates being on Facebook on their phone, well, that’s just not going to cut it in this industry. It also takes a lot of natural interest in the industry to keep up on what’s going on.
Every site updates their terms or product on a regular basis. Strategy or tactics shift. New websites are launched often. A good social media manager will be passionate about staying up-to-date on the constantly shifting environment by reading articles regularly (often daily!) as part of their ongoing job training.
WRITING, EDITING & GRAMMAR CHOPS
Guess what: every social media post has to be carefully crafted with zero grammatical errors if you want to put the best foot forward for your brand. If you hire someone with a journalism or writing background, or who is a self-proclaimed “grammar nerd,” they’re going to be much more successful than someone who can’t differentiate between “your” and “you’re.”
NATURAL CREATIVITY
Rewarding social media campaigns are usually very creative. Ideas on what to post to engage users on social media sites require a creative mind. Heck, it even requires creativity to get ahead in this world and stand out from the pack to get what you want. If you have a social media manager who creates a Pinterest resume or submits their application using another social media site, hire that person. They’re thinking outside the box and will produce creative social media content for your brand.
EASY HUMAN CONNECTION & A BUBBLY DISPOSITION
The best social media managers usually have a friendly, warm disposition with a great ability to connect with other people. In addition, they’re often enthusiastic or bubbly. These types of personalities do well in social media because it requires positivity and being able to respond favorably to negative comments, sometimes dealing with online backlash.
In addition, social media is meant to build relationships and communicate online with your customers — someone who knows how to connect in person and is well-liked is also going to come across this way in online conversations.
A CUSTOMER-FIRST ATTITUDE
A social media manager is at its very foundation a customer service representative. Often customers will turn to Twitter or Facebook messages with their customer service questions or complaints. If your social media manager has a background in customer service, they’re going to innately know the proper way to respond to conversations so they don’t escalate and problems are taken offline quickly.
A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROI OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is not just all fluff. Your social media manager needs to understand where social media fits into the marketing funnel, and what the return will be on time invested in social media. They should be able to talk to you about the high-level goals for your business’ social media accounts (such as engagement or clicks to your website), and the type of metrics they’ll track every month in a report.
If you find someone with the seven aforementioned characteristics, hire them immediately. Chances are they’ll be a total rock star social media manager for your business, and sadly those are few and far between.
This post originally appeared as a guest contribution on Hatchbuck.com — a great resource for small business owners looking for a marketing automation tool!
