How to Hire the Best Social Media Manager

Social media managers manage the day-to-day curating, posting, and responding on your company’s social media accounts. They create content calendars, and work with other departments, and outside partners to make sure your brand is represented online the best it can be. 

The job is no small feat either. Social media managers (SMMs) need to be versed on multiple platforms, trends, and overall company message. For some larger brands, it’s not uncommon to have several managers, each taking on different responsibilities such as community management, influencers management, social media strategy, or dedicating their time to a specific channel.

How much does it cost to hire a social media manager?

This is dependent on location, experience, and responsibilities, but you can expect to pay between ~$45K-65K for social media managers on a full-time basis. Agencies will cost anywhere from $3K-7K/mo to do the job.

Why should you consider hiring one?

There are several reasons why you may need to hire a top-notch SMM to run your accounts. Let’s get into some of the most popular reasons we hear:

1. You’re getting customer service inquiries on platforms

Today, customers want to use their method of choice when it comes to contacting brands they buy from. That means if you’re on social media, there’s a good chance your customers are as well. Social media managers will be there to respond to any questions, complaints or sales inquiries you get online through social media. 

2. Your customers are on social media

There are very few businesses that shouldn’t be on social media in today’s age. According to Forbes, the average American spent over 1300 hours on social media last year. If you’re looking to get in front of more customers, with a low(er) cost than traditional mediums, social media is the place to go. 

3. It’s being handled by someone who’s not an expert

Often times we come across businesses who have added social media duties to someone who already has a full-time job within an organization. That means social will largely be an afterthought, with rushed posts and inconsistent scheduling.

If you’re looking to lighten the workload amongst your current marketing team, hiring a social media manager is a good way to go. 

4. Your industry is active on platforms

If your industry is fairly active on social media having an SMM will (i) keep you in the conversation and (ii) bring back any useful news to your desk. 

How to hire a good social media manager

1. First choose the channels your new hire will manage? 

Are you looking for a social media generalist or platform specialist? Identifying this will help you in your search for talent as each platform has its own communities/job boards/groups.

2. Decide if this is a full-time, part-time or agency hire

This will largely be a budgetary decision. If you’re running a small business that needs a few updates per week, then a part-time freelancer will be able to help you manage your accounts. However, if you’re growing or an established business it may be best to hire either a full-time person or an external agency to manage your accounts.

Part-time Employee Pros/Cons

Pros:

• Cheaper
• Flexible

Cons:

• Not in office/on location
• May have other clients

Full-time Employee Pros/Cons

Pros:

• In-office/on location
• Dedicated to the brand
• Knows the ins and outs of the company 

Cons:

• May be stretched too thin
• May have limitations with copy, graphic design, video work

Hiring an Agency Pros/Cons

Pros:

• Multiple specialists (graphics, copy, video) working on your account
• Domain expertise and experience
• Can handle complete social strategy
• Full content production capabilities

Cons:

• Not on location
• Similar cost to FT employee
• Will have other clients they service

3. Clearly list what the job entails

If you want the right candidate, it starts by you posting the right job description. What will this job entail? Will the SMM be responsible for full content creation? Will they be acting in company TikToks? Or will they be responding to comments/facilitating customer service for the bulk of their time? All of these questions will be important to answer in the job post. 

4. Outline the skills you want the candidate to have and any software they should be comfortable with

After the skills, it’s useful to mention the software your company uses currently. You want to find a candidate who has (i) used a social media scheduler of some sort in the past, (ii) understands basic CRMs, and (iii) can work their way around Adobe products (or Figma).

5. Publicise the salary range

Don’t waste anyone’s time. Put the salary range in the job posting; it will help everyone out.  

6. Post your job on platforms and send to social media groups on social media

Post your job on the usual places (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.) but also look to specific social media groups/communities for their job boards. We’ve hired two of our team members indirectly through social media groups on Facebook for instance. 

Questions to Ask a Full-time employee

The interview can tell you a lot about whether or not your candidate is up to the task of running your social media accounts.

• What social media platforms do you use personally?
• Walk me through how you would create a content calendar for our social media accounts?
• Should we participate in trends?
• What metrics do you think are important for reporting?
• Have you used any scheduling software in the past?

Questions to Ask a Part-time employee

• How much flexibility do you have in your schedule?
• Do you have any other clients currently?
• Is this your full-time passion (consulting) or is this a side-hustle?

Questions to Ask an Agency

• How many people will work on our account?
• Who would be my point of contact if I were to hire you?
• Have you worked with any companies/industries similar to ours?
• What would you consider KPIs that would be important to our company?