Should You Hire a Social Media Manager? Here's What to Look For if You Do

You are a small business owner, working hard and juggling the many aspects of running a business. You have to look for clients, do admin stuff, attend networking events, balance the books and manage finances, maintain a website, handle orders – and much more. And then, on top of this, you need to take care of marketing for your business and, inevitably, in this day and age, you have to do social media as well. That's great. We like to do it all, don’t we? But, sadly, last I heard, the day had only 24 hours. When would one person find the time to do all this?

So, the short answer to the question in the title is yes: hire a social media manager. If you can. In this article, I will talk about what you should look for when hiring one and what alternatives you have if you can’t afford it.

Social media is one of those things that sounds easy in theory, but when you start doing it properly, it can quickly become overwhelming. Your success depends on a couple of things, like how much time you have, how confident you feel about creating your own social media strategy, and what your long-term goals are. There are many things to learn, and then there's the amount of time needed to actually create and post, engage and follow up. If you're starting to feel like your time is better spent focusing on other parts of your business (and most times, that is the case), hiring a social media manager could be a smart move.

But hold up - it's not just about deciding to hire someone. You need to make sure you’re hiring the right person. Not all social media managers are created equal, and your business deserves someone who truly understands your vision and can help you achieve your goals.

In an ideal world, a company would hire a social media team. Yes, the work can be so complex that a team would be required to provide the best, spectacular results. There are so many aspects involved in social media marketing, that it's a ridiculous idea to think you can hire a person who can do them all! Although, I have to say, many social media managers (myself included) do try to be multi-skilled in order to do their jobs best. We don't live in an ideal world, though, and many small businesses and entrepreneurs can afford to hire only one person for this job, if any at all.

So, if you're thinking about hiring a social media manager, one person who will be in charge of all the social media marketing for you, here's what you should consider.

1. Look for someone who understands your industry

Social media managers come from all kinds of backgrounds, but it's crucial to find someone who understands your specific industry or niche. Why? Because every industry has its own trends, tone, and audience expectations. What works for a beauty brand might not work for a tech company or a local restaurant.

Have an honest talk with the person, ask about their experience working with businesses similar to yours. Do they understand your target audience? Can they speak your brand's language? Check their portfolio and previous work. If you want your brand to show up as funny on Instagram, and the person you talk to manages only finance companies on LinkedIn, you might not be a good fit for each other. Don't dismiss them immediately, though. Ask them what they think about it, what they want from a job and what kind of content they are confident to create.

2. Are they strategic thinkers?

As I said, a social media manager shouldn't just be someone who schedules posts and adds hashtags. They need to be strategic thinkers. What does that mean? They should be able to create a well-thought-out social media plan, set measurable goals, and know how to adjust their strategy based on data and performance.

Ask potential candidates if they will create a social media strategy for you and how they approach that process. The right social media manager will be someone who can explain their process clearly and show you how they plan to help your business grow.

3. Content: do they have the necessary skills?

Ask them about the type of content they feel confident creating, and ask for examples. If you hire someone who is able to create a social media strategy and come up with the type of content you should create, I highly recommend listening to their advice.

But if you already have a plan and hire someone to execute it, ask them how they feel about it, what tools they are using, how confident they are that they can create that content. It's not always the case that you can find someone who is highly skilled at making videos and taking photos, but also at graphic design. Be strategic in picking the right person for you. If you're interested in having complex graphics and designs, look for the person who can do that. Do you want long texts with in-depth knowledge on LinkedIn? In this case, you don’t care about the graphic design skills that much; you want a talented writer. And so on and so forth. Know what you are looking for and choose the right person before you both start on a journey that won't be pleasant for any of you.

4. Communication and engagement

Ask in advance if your social media manager offers community management. Not everyone does. Decide if you want them to answer comments and messages and ask if they are willing to.

5. Data-driven decision-making

A strong social media manager doesn't just throw content out there and hope it sticks - they rely on data to guide their decisions. From tracking engagement rates to analysing follower growth, they should be comfortable diving into analytics and using that data to adjust the strategy.

Ask candidates how they track and report performance and if you will get a report at various intervals.

6. Paid advertising

If you are interested in investing in advertising, do they know how to do it? Is that included in the price or something you pay separately for? How big a budget are they confident working with?

7. Can you afford them?

Let's talk budget. Hiring a social media manager is an investment, but it's important to make sure it's one you can afford. If you check a few social media managers in your area, you'll notice that the costs vary a lot. Be clear about your budget from the start and outline the services that you'll get very clearly. Even if you hire someone based on an hourly rate, you both should be very clear on what goes into those hours. Discuss with the potential candidate what can be included in your package to make the most out of your money. Start small if you don't have a budget, and do some of the tasks yourself. For example, you can provide the photos and videos that they will use in designs, if you can't afford to pay them to take photos and videos as well.

When you can't afford to hire and you have to do it all by yourself

Sometimes the budget is too small or inexistent and you are forced to do the social media yourself. You might even like doing it (lucky you!). How do you approach this situation?

• Invest some time in learning the basics of social media marketing. Learn for free on YouTube and blogs, or find some paid course to teach you these basics (or more).
• Hire someone just for parts of the process: creating a strategy for you, taking photos or videos, writing copy
• Learn how to create content. Depending on what type of content you want to post, learn some skills: how to take better photos or videos, writing skills or graphic design.
• Start checking your analytics. Every social media platform has some analytics that you can check. Learn about them and how to interpret them.

Using AI for your social media

You could use AI for your social media strategy, planning, and content. But do it in a smart way. Use ChatGPT as your assistant, not as your specialist. Ask questions, suggestions. First, learn what you need to ask for. Then work with that it gives you, make it personal.

For the love of algorithm almighty, please don't use the content exactly how the AI is serving it to you! Use it as a starting point, as an inspiration. Personalise it! The internet is already full of content that lacks meaning, impersonal texts written by AI that don't appeal to no one. Do you want to post something just for the sake of posting? Then, by all means, go ahead. But if you want your posts to bring you closer to your audience, your potential clients, you have to do some work.

Even using the power of AI to create and plan, this is still a task that will take a lot of time. Time that you might spend better spend on doing what you actually want to do: creating amazing stuff, selling, coaching, cooking, or whatever your business is. If you can afford to invest some money in a social media manager, don’t hesitate! If you find the right one for you, you can create a beautiful collaboration that will inspire you both and will grow your business quicker.

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Thanks for reading! If you're interested in how I can help you further, check out my services:

Social media management
Creating your strategy
Strategy consulting
Content creation
Brain picking