Finding the Right Social Media Manager for Your Business

One of the most common challenges that businesses face is managing their social media marketing. Being on social media isn’t optional for your business anymore, but you might struggle to find the time to do anything with your social media accounts. That leaves your business missing out on the opportunity to connect with your customers and create a voice that speaks for your brand and keeps customers coming back. What’s the answer? For many businesses, it’s hiring a social media manager. Larger companies will employ full-time social media managers who make sizable salaries to keep those businesses relevant, current, and connected on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

If you don’t have the resources to hire on a full-time social media manager, your business doesn’t have to be left in the dark. Many freelance writers offer social media consulting services, so you can still manage to get your name out there without overstretching your budget. As you set out to hire a freelance social media manager, consider these points to make sure you have a good fit for the job.

Think About What You Can Afford

It’s hard to talk about seeking any freelance services without talking about your budget. Freelance social media management can cost anywhere from $20 to $100 per hour, depending on the person’s experience—and it can take several hours per week to actively engage your followers with new posts, respond to reviews and comments, and write sponsored posts to increase your following. Not only will you want to know how much you can afford to pay a social media manager, but you will also want to set a monthly ad budget for each social media platform you use. The good news is that most social media ad services are priced on a scalable basis, so almost every business can afford to effectively advertise on social media.

Look for Customer Service Experience

Part of managing a business’s social media accounts is responding to comments, reviews, and mentions—whether they are positive or negative. To do this in a meaningful way, customer service experience is required. Someone with a customer service background will be better able to calm an angry customer who posted a negative review or answer questions that pop up in the comments on a recent post about a new product.

Know How Much You Want to Participate in Your Social Media Marketing

Do you want to hand off your entire social media presence to someone else, or would you prefer to continue posting updates and replying to comments while someone runs your Facebook and Twitter ads? Social media managers should be flexible and offer any degree of cooperation and collaboration that is appropriate for your business. No matter how much you want to participate, you will want to make sure that the social media manager you hire understands your brand voice and is able to mimic it. You can do this by writing up a short blurb about your company and the impression you want to make on social media. Then, have a prospective social media manager write 3-5 tweets that they would post for your company.

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