How To Interview (And Hire!) A Social Media Agency

A Social Media Agency. Actionable Advice Another client came to us specifically asking about reporting because the social media agency they had recently fired only sent reports sporadically! How To Properly Interview Your Social Media Agency Ask all of these 20 questions (if relevant to your business/brand) when interviewing your next social media agency: Tell me about your experience. Give me examples of social media experiments you have successfully conducted. So here you go … A respectable social media agency should have been around for at least a couple of years and should easily be able to explain their team workflows and how each team member will service your account. Consider skills like marketing, copywriting, advertising, sales and lead generation, communications, and content curation or research (just to name a few!). Masters of their trade, social media agencies know that customers require a LOT of education, too. Social Media Agency Red Flags There’s a lot of homework that goes into hiring a social media agency. For instance: Make sure you carefully read your agreement before hiring an agency Ask for extra language to be added if you’re unclear or wary of particular sections in your agreement Be sure you understand any/all non-disclosure language or if your agency provides this for you Know what the timeframe and process is for onboarding you as a customer Ensure you have a meet and greet (in person or online) with your account manager or team liaison Understand the protocol for ending, renewing, or pausing an agreement Get extremely specific and clear about your goals and what you want to achieve Be a good client and deliver your deliverables in a timely manner — and always make your meetings! If you’re serious about your social media success, you should be serious about the hybrid team you’re building by outsourcing to someone outside of your brand.

Author: Brooke B. Sellas / Source: Business 2 Community

Looking for a social media agency to ensure you’ve constantly got something smart to say online?

Congratulations! Outsourcing your social media to someone else is often a shrewd move.

However, I can tell you from experience that unless you do your homework when interviewing and hiring a social media agency, you might end up with a giant horror story on your hands.

Lucky for you, we’ve got the hard-hitting questions needed to hire the RIGHT social media agency for your business.

Social Media Horror Stories

Pathetic Posts

One client who came to us reluctantly said that their previous social media agency published posts that were “pretty out there” and didn’t relate to what they did (luxury travel with a purpose).

This client was also unimpressed by the graphics paired with their posts since the social media agency they were using at the time didn’t bother to use the company’s Style Guide to incorporate brand colors, text, and other elements.

Actionable Advice

Another client came to us specifically asking about reporting because the social media agency they had recently fired only sent reports sporadically!

And when reports were delivered? There was no explanation or actionable advice about why the numbers had increased or decreased — they just sat there, meaningless.

Ghost Town

Several clients have complained that their previous social media agencies are just plain bad at communication.

While their pages are getting posts, if they (the client) send an email requiring input, they aren’t likely to get a response until a week or later.

How To Properly Interview Your Social Media Agency

Ask all of these 20 questions (if relevant to your business/brand) when interviewing your next social media agency:

Tell me about your experience. How is your team structured around ours and what roles can be expected to help us with success?
What skills/qualities do you/your team possess that lend(s) to online marketing and social media?
What types of businesses do you currently work with? (May we have referrals from current and past customers?)
Which social media platforms do you service for your clients?
What do you think of our social media efforts? What could we be doing better?
How often do you deliver reports and which metrics are most important to measure?
How often will our team and your team meet to discuss our social strategy and/or progress?
Which social media channels do you think are most relevant to our business; should each channel be used differently?
What tools do you use to manage your client accounts?
Does your service include using social media as a tool for customer service?
Do you guarantee followers or account growth percentages each day/week/month?
How will you help us set goals and key performances indicators for success?
How can you help us generate leads or sales through social media?
Give me examples of social media experiments you have successfully conducted.
How do you handle negative comments on social media; what happens during a social media crisis?
What are some Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc. best practices we should know about?
Tell me about your biggest failure.
How do you/your team stay up-to-date since social media changes so often?
What deliverables can we expect during our agreement period (and their frequency)?
Do you perform outreach through social media for potential leads or for influencer marketing?