Nearly every company, large and small, use social media nowadays because they have all seen how much it can contribute to an overall marketing strategy. There is a lot of leeway though on the companies who use social media well and those that do not. Because social media posts do not write themselves, a lot of the responsibility generally falls to the human being who actually hits send/submit on the social media posts. We’ll call this person the social media manager and different companies have different setups. The social media manager could handle all social media processes from end to end, or they could be part of a team of researchers, graphics experts, web developers, and other marketing personnel. Whatever the setup, this is an important position to hire for, so read on to learn what to look for during the hiring process.

The first thing a company can do to set them (and the social media manager) up for success is to clearly define the role. For example: define the overall social and marketing strategy, describe traffic statistics and goals, describe what analytics have been setup or will need to be setup, and inform what other resources (human or capital) are involved in the social media marketing processes. Even though the prospective social media manager should have already done research on your company to know the industry in which exists, the company should provide a brief synopsis themselves so there is no confusion because this has a big impact on social media strategy.

Companies should be on the lookout for the following during the hiring process of a prospective social media manager: 1) at least 3 years of experience in the field of social media marketing, 2) a marketing, communications, or business degree, 3) a proven ability to interpret data/analytics. Those things are a good base and beyond that companies can then ask about candidates’ familiarity with specific social media platforms because they are not all created equally. Some companies only focus on 1 or a few platforms and want social media managers who are experts regarding those, instead of generally familiar with most platforms. Because of the amount of interaction with internal and external stakeholders most social media manager positions involve, the majority of marketing executives also say they look for great interpersonal skills.

After interviewing a prospect, why not let their work speak for itself? Review any samples the prospect provided thoroughly as well as search for other examples of social media accounts the prospect has managed or is currently managing.