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This post in a nutshell:
- What defines a social media manager
- Preparing for the hiring process
- Crafting the perfect job description
- Narrowing down the best talent for your clients
- What to ask in an interview
- Hiring and training your new social media manager
- What to do after the first 30 days
- What to do after the first 100 days
If you're an agency owner looking to take your business to the next step by building a team, our article will explore how to find and hire the best social media marketers for you and your clients.
Why build a dedicated social media team?
Social media marketing is a skilled job that needs skilled people. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone can master it! Enter: the social media manager.
Founders across the globe are hiring social marketers and social media marketing teams to focus on boosting their social presence.
By building a dedicated social media team, your agency can empower your clients to:
- Focus on their business
- Stay ahead of industry news and industry trends
- Abide by good social media practices
- Maintain consistent branding and tone
- Post regular, high-quality content
- Increase community engagement
- Track performance and implement effective strategies for business growth
What defines a social media manager?
A social media manager (SMM) sources, creates, writes and schedules social media content for your clients. Every SMM has their own methods and processes. But here are their key roles:
1. Curate content
A large part of the day in the life of a SMM is being a content writer and creating regular social posts, aligned with your client's voice, brief and company goals, to share across multiple social platforms.
This is normally a healthy mix of original, curated and promotional content, such as:
- Articles
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Infographics
2. Schedule posts
Once all of the content types are crafted, SMMs will then schedule the posts at optimal times throughout the week to help your clients reach their social media goals.
Social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer and SocialPilot make this process a little easier.
3. Manage the content calendar
SMMs need to ensure your clients always have great content ready to share across social networks weekly. To do this, they have to be a content manager and keep track of all content drafted and shared, and how each post is performing using a social media calendar.
4. Engage with audiences
Audience engagement is key. It gives your clients' social accounts more visibility and makes companies seem more personable and connected. SMMs need to regularly comment, share and respond to messages/mentions across social media channels.
5. Monitor social media trends, news and best practices
Your SMM will have to constantly monitor the trending hashtags, viral news and best practices across relevant industries.
6. Review analytics to inform strategies
Performance monitoring is a huge part of social media content management.
The SMM will keep a close eye on metrics such as:
- Impressions
- Reach
- Engagement
From this data, they can analyize each post's performance and adapt the social media strategy if needed.
Preparing for the hiring process
Before you do, ask yourself the following questions about your agency and your clients' goals:
What are the objectives?
The SMM will want to know what your clients' objectives are. When this happens, you need to have a clear idea of what you want each single client's social media efforts to be in the next 3, 6 months and so on.
Do you want to share original content daily? Do you want thought leaders and industry influencers to be sharing/commenting on their posts? Perhaps you want them to appear in trending hashtags/industry events/news?
This, of course, depends on your goals as an agency, how you want to impress your clients, and the business goals they came to you with.
It's important that these goals are realistic and actionable. For example, to 'go viral' in a month's time, or 'get more followers' isn't a very clear or constructive target. The more specific you are with the goals, the easier it is for the SMM and your agency to work on them.
What makes each brand unique?
With so much noise on social media, you have to find a way to ensure the clients you represent stand out. A good way to do this is to find their niche and stick to it.
What makes them unique? What tone, style and content suits the brand image they want to portray?
The idea is that their followers will be able to identify their posts and social media profiles at a quick glance.
You'll need to clearly communicate the goals and niches to your SMM and then be able to trust them to take each social strategy and account to the next level.
Crafting the perfect job description
There are a ton of talented SMMs out there, who would be perfect for your social media role. But, good social media specialists are not always that easy to find.
The truth is, you won't know you've hit the jackpot until they get to work and you get positive feedback. Starting with an awesome job description is a great starting point to reach the right talent to join your social team.
The job post is your chance to sell your agency and create a positive first impression to your SMM.
A social media manager job description should include:
- An outline of the job and kinds of clients they will be managing
- The types of social media campaigns they will be involve in
- Daily tasks
- What skills you’re looking for
- Any particular benefits they will get
Be as clear and transparent as you can in your job description.
You don’t want a scenario where the candidate has completely misunderstood the position, your agency, your clients or your goals.
Make your job offer sound exciting! The key to hiring the most engaged candidates is to sound enthusiastic and positive about your business and the role.
Here’s a job description template for inspiration. It's based on what we use at MixBloom to hire our SMMs, so we know it works!
"Freelance Social Media Manager role at Abc Inc.
(Remote, Part-Time)
We're a marketing agency based in [New York], working with brands from the fashion, fitness, and health industries.
We’re looking for a talented freelance Social Media Manager to help us with content creation for our clients.
Here’s a quick recap of this role:
- Work from anywhere, on your own schedule
- A part-time contract-based freelance role
Can you write and design posts for all social channels? This is the role for you!
The role is for a native English speaker or equivalent – English might not be your first language but your writing must be at native level.
[Abc Inc] is a social media management agency. We help clients run effective social media and paid search campaigns, create content for their sites and social media accounts.
We help them build a brand and grow their social media presence, drive more traffic to their offers and reach new customers with social media. We do it by giving these businesses a voice on social media with content carefully written for them.
Responsibilities and Duties:
- Create and curate content and social media posts that are relevant and valuable to the target audience
- Use social media tools
- Use editing tools for photo and video content (Canva)
- Analyze results and adapt current strategies or formulate new strategies based on them
- Increase engagement rates for all of our clients' by interacting with their audience and monitoring mentions
- Keep track of the results of the campaign and create reports for evaluation
Experience and Qualifications
Native-level English writing – proven by existing social media and writing work.
Excellent copywriting skills – you can express yourself clearly and simply.
Graphic design skills – you need to be comfortable with a tool like Canva and be able to create original images that combine stock photos or product images with text, branding and other elements.
You’re reliable and can be trusted to deliver your work on time and respect your commitments to us and clients.
Excellent communication skills.
Understanding of social media trends and marketing strategies.
Experience in creating social media ads.
We’re looking for smart, independent and creative people who enjoy the opportunity to create content to help a business communicate their brand and offers.
You’ll be made responsible for a number of brands, according to your availability and interest, and we’ll expect you to keep all commitments for content creation for those clients, with minimal supervision.
You can work wherever you want and whenever you want. We like to find responsible people and let them do their job autonomously. You’ll be part of a growing team of talented professionals and will have the opportunity to grow relationships with others, get guidance and mentorship, up your game and grow into a more senior position."
Narrowing down the best talent for your clients
Here are some parameters to keep in mind while reviewing their application:
Are they creative?
SMMs must be able to approach any situation with tons of creative juice. How would they approach your social media plan to make you stand out? Give them a scenario inspired by one of your clients and see how they perform.
Do they understand social media services for business?
It’s one thing being an avid social media user, but do they understand social media metrics, strategy and goals when it comes to the clients you work and their specific industries?
Can they manage a team?
If any of your clients’ social media starts to grow, you’ll want your manager to take the reins on organizing writers, coordinating news/events, and making sure all leads are followed up.
Are they organized?
Managing a social media strategy takes serious organization. Can they keep multiple content and scheduling calendars running smoothly?
Overall, you want to look for key characteristics that spell out their passion and experience as it relates to the role.
Top qualities include:
Creativity:
A promising SMM is someone who will be able to create high quality posts, curate relevant content that targeted readers or specific audiences will like and find value in.
Design skills:
Great copywriting is essential, but visual content has been crowned king in recent years. Your SMM should also be a capable graphic designer.
From memes to graphics promoting products, they should be equipped with solid design skills, understand the value of colors, white space, typography, photography and how to present products and people in the most visually appealing way.
Analytical skills:
A good manager would be someone who understands how the audience responds to a brand’s posts. As a result, they should be able to formulate social media marketing strategies that would help each client reach their goals.
In touch with the latest trends:
Finally, your SMM should always be updated about the latest trends on social media.
Trends can change really fast and it’s your manager’s duty to be on top of them, rather than just maintaining a stagnant presence on a grid.
Being updated about current events is also helpful. No matter the industry, posts to be published at the right time. If there are unfortunate global or local events, then your SMM should know that putting scheduled posts on hold is a wise decision.
What to ask in an interview
Even if you’re convinced you’ve found the perfect SMM, a face-to face interview will be the “make or break” moment for most candidates.
Here are some questions to level the playing field and determine if you’ve found your agency’s perfect match:
- How do you stay on top of social media trends/best practices?
- Which channels do you think would work best for a specific client’s business?
- What would be your first steps to growing this specific client’s audience?
You could also put them to the test and ask them to write a couple of posts for different social media networks as part of the application process.
Hiring and training your social media manager
Once you extend an offer to the best and brightest candidate, it’s time to set the tone for what will hopefully be a strong partnership.
We recommend starting things off on a high note by sending a nice welcome card and/or small company gift to welcome your new social media manager. These gestures sometimes get overlooked, but it’s important to remember the interview process took time and energy for them too, and it’s possible they had their own shortlist of opportunities to choose from.
Make sure to show your appreciation and excitement for their commitment to your team!
Plus, make sure to equip them with everything they need to get started:
- Onboarding paperwork
- Organizational charts
- Employee handbook
- Branding and style guidelines
- Credentials for email and other platforms and software
- A point of contact for all their training and/or mentor needs
When the first day comes around, it’s important to create a structured and informative schedule that will keep them engaged. Many of us know how directionless first days can feel when they aren’t adequately planned out.
If you’re hiring multiple social media experts at once, you can create a team-focused itinerary of events that both prepares them for the work and inspires team bonding.
Be sure to introduce them to the client they will be working with too! Sell your new SMM to your clients by highlighting their expertise and work ethic so they feel excited and confinement about the work the SMM will do for them.
End the first day with a one on one meeting between the new hire and their supervisor to discuss:
- First impressions and initial questions
- A 30-day plan underscoring goals and expectations
- A 100-day plan underscoring goals and growth
Keep these one-on-one meetings on your calendars daily for the first week, and weekly for the first month until it’s clear they are on the right track with each of their clients.
It's also extremely important to have a legal contract in place.
Check out MixBloom's guide on how to create a social media manager contract.
The first 30 days
The first month is a time for becoming fully acquainted with each client’s history, brand strategy, mission, voice, and goals.
If all goes well, it should be clear your new SMM is right for the role and on the right path toward becoming the creative and strategic team player you need to build and advance your agency’s services.
- Keep communication open and clear
- Continue sharing resources
- Connect them with the right people
- Ask for their feedback, questions and concerns
- Consider having them fill out an onboarding survey to help you strengthen your process
When it comes to social media growth and engagement, the first 30 days aren’t a great measure of their success.
So keep this 30-day check in focused on the skills they demonstrate and the understanding they develop about your clients, as well as their capacity to take on any new clients.
The first 100 days
The best SMM will have noticeably shown potential through the skills and habits they demonstrate, as well as the content strategy they develop for clients.
Together, you will have a clear partnership rooted in the mutual understanding of each clients’ needs and overall satisfaction over the last 100 days.
Hopefully you also have a clear and comfortable dynamic when it comes to feedback!
Review client feedback, growth and level of satisfaction, plus revisit the initial goals you set - make sure they are still relevant and determine how to update them to ensure mutual advancement for both your agency and your SMM.
Content remains king. And agencies currently have a world of potential to support big brands and growing businesses by offering specialized services. Constructing a social media presence and sustaining its growth is more than just being active on the many platforms consumers can’t look away from. It’s cutting through the noise to establish the value a brand brings to an audience and an industry.
Simply put, social media is essential to your clients’ bottom line, and a great social media manager will recognize that and add tremendous value and credibility to your agency.
Alternatives to hiring an in-house team
Hiring a social media team in-house isn't the only option! A great and cost-effective alternative is partnering with a white label social media agency like MixBloom!
Here's how it works:
MixBloom acts as an extension to your team - you get a dedicated social media manager who will take of all of your clients' social media content creation.
With social media content creation off of your hands, this enables you to focus on other areas to grow your marketing agency.
What's better is that all of the work produced by us is white label, meaning you can take the credit for the work while making a profit!
Trust MixBloom's dedicated team to provide top-notch social media management services for your marketing agency. Benefit from our responsiveness and expertise to keep your clients happy.
Begin your 14-day free trial today!
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