Social Media Marketing is relatively new field of expertise. Scrolling through Facebook and Instagram in leisure time is drastically different than implementing an inbound marketing strategy to complement your business.
You’ve probably heard of other entrepreneurs going on sites like UpWork and Fiver to find a Freelance Social Media Manager. But, considering the time and effort to come up with a cohesive brand strategy– you should probably hire someone who loves analytics and is open to being a quick learner.
Social Media Experts tackle different areas of marketing and community management. Some tackle influencer campaigns while others merely create engaging content for your audience.
You have to also take into account which platforms they’re experienced with. Because not every social media manager does the same thing. For example there are Pinterest Managers, Facebook Ad Managers and Instagram Guru’s.
So, how do you pick the right Social Media Manager based on your needs?
Use your business goals to pick the right social media manager
It’s important to align your business goals with the right social media manager and social media strategy.
Sales and brand awareness are the two main reasons to pursue a social media campaign in the first place so you need to get clear on your goals for the next 30, 60 and 90 days.
Here’s a tip: the right social media manager knows this and will already have questions or systems in place to figure out how to match your small business goals with content creation and the strategy behind getting more traffic for your brand.
Look back on your business plan and decide if it will be more helpful to run discounts, and contests or if you need to build brand trust and awareness. There are numerous ways to create social media content around these goals.
Do they have enough expertise?
Of course you want to spend your hard earned money to invest in your business so you need a freelancer who knows their stuff. Hire a social media manager who has blogs, video, tutorials, or PDFs that show their value.
It’s pretty easy to say you’re an expert but there should be some proof in the pudding.
Look for the following:
- Customer reviews
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Facebook groups
- LinkedIn articles
- Info graphics
The idea behind finding one of the above is to get a clear idea of what they know. Surely they won’t give you all the info and the exact strategies they use but anyone who is serious about their expertise already has one or more of these systems in place.
These avenues are also a great way to identify their exact expertise. Do they have blogs and videos about Facebook Ads? Maybe they excel in Instagram strategy and love giving actionable tips to small business owners.
What can I expect?
For starters you can expect some type of social media audit or set of recommendations for you profiles. A social media manager for a small business will tell you what needs to be done, what the end goals is and how often you’ll go back and reassess those goals.
Ideally, you should be going back to the drawing board and looking at your analytics (likes, comments, shares, website clicks) once a month at the least.
Keep in mind that social media strategies take time and effort so it won’t be an overnight success. You will be thankful in the long run when you have a cohesive brand strategy in place with tons of followers who need your content.
You may need help with just Facebook or LinkedIn, or you may need multiple platforms at once. Make this clear when reaching out or coming in contact with a professional social media strategist.
On average you can expect to pay at least $500 a month for maintenance and content creation. Agencies charge much higher rates than a freelancer and if you’re open to a beginner they may charge a lower rate.
Think of it like this, the right social media strategist knows exactly how to bring in new leads, how to convey your company message and how to get you a ROI.
So they should be paid accordingly for their efforts.
Warning signs before hiring a social media manager
Stay away from people who tell you they use bots to get your follower counts up. Yes, it works but at the end of the day you want REAL followers who are actually interested in what your business has to offer.
Avoid hiring a social media manager that tell you, you will have x amount of followers in x time period.
There’s no way to know this and if they’re unaware that they can’t precisely pinpoint how many followers and likes you may have, then they probably have not learned enough to manage your accounts.
You should also be leery of individuals with the “I do it all mindset.” This may seem like a plus but in reality there’s no way one person can keep up with the trends on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Quora.
Most social media managers excel at 2-3 platforms. Remember content creation can be fairly simple and can be used across different social sites but the strategy behind getting your audience engaged is where the you need to focus.
For example, freelance social media experts must keep up with the latest trends in inbound marketing and social media strategy. They’ll read blog posts, and try different ways to get your accounts noticed based on analytics.
Instagram is a platform that changes its algorithm pretty frequently so an expert will need to careful look at trends and analytics to beat the algorithm.
Now go find the expert who can bring everything together
Take these tips and write them down. Save this post and ask critical question when trying to hire a social media manager for your business.
Inbound marketing is always changing but one thing is for sure, without an excellent social media strategy your brand will lag behind the competitors.
Large and small companies alike are using sites like Facebook to connect with their consumers and leads. Missing out on the opportunity to expand your brand on these platforms is a huge mistake.
Also, if you need an Instagram expert or Facebook Guru click here so we can set up a call.
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