Most business leaders hire social media managers based on their ability to create a “pretty feed.” But pretty doesn’t pay the bills. To find a true partner who can scale your brand, you need to look past the tools and into their strategic intent.
The person that manages your social media channels is directly responsible for your reputation online and can make, or break, trust with your community. This position requires a professional with experience, customer service understanding, writing skills, business acumen and graphics and video ability. When searching for a social media manager for your business, I recommend the following social media manager interview questions.
Category 1: Business Strategy & Alignment
How do you tie social media objectives to my bottom-line business goals?
Look for answers involving revenue, lead generation, or customer acquisition, not just “brand awareness.” Also watch out for vanity metrics only on this one.
What is the first thing you look for when auditing a new brand’s strategy?
High-level candidates will look for audience personas and competitor gaps.
What is your process for integrating social media with our other marketing channels (SEO, Email, PR)?
Social shouldn’t live in a silo.
Can you define the difference between communal and agentic language for our brand?
Category 2: Brand Voice and Reputation Management
How would you track mentions of our company online?
Look for an answer about listening tools such as Google alerts, Talkwalker, etc.
Describe our current brand ‘personality’ in three words and tell me what’s missing.
This tests if they’ve done their research.
How do you deal with negative comments?
Expect specific examples of how they’ve approached this issue, with a focus on getting the conversation offline and deescalating the situation.
How do you encourage engagement on social media?
Look for answers around asking open-ended questions and User Generated Content.
What’s your favorite social media platform personally and why?
This will help you gauge the level of expertise around each platform.
How would you respond to a troll?
Red flag here would be if they say they’d engage and try to win an argument. Your brand page is no place for a back and forth with a troll.
What are our competitors doing in social media?
Here’s where you’ll be able to tell if the candidate has done significant research around your brand and if they understand the competitive landscape.
Tell me a story.
How well can a candidate engage you with a compelling and interesting story? This is exactly how well they’ll be able to engage your audience.
What do you think about our social media efforts? What could we be doing better?
This helps you understand whether they looked at your profiles, if they have ideas on their own and whether they understand your business goals.
Why do you want to work for our company?
This is a good interview question no matter the role. What is it about your company that makes them think they are a good fit? How much do they understand the culture and the industry?
Category 3: Tactical Mastery and Emerging Trends
What is the most important thing a social media manager should be doing?
This helps you understand whether they prioritize posting content over listening and responding. Listening and responding should always come first.
How do you stay on top of social media trends and innovations?
Candidates passionate about social media will follow thought leaders and read voraciously about the topic.
How do you use A/B testing to lower our cost-per-lead?
Here’s where you’ll gauge their knowledge of advertising, analytics, and measurement.
Make no mistake, these are challenging questions to separate beginners from real strategists. If these questions reveal that your brand needs more than just ‘posts,’ it might be time for a partner, not just a hire. Visit my marketing services page to learn more.