Social media is the lifeline of any online business, whether it’s a product or service. Leveraging social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter takes a specific skill set to be successful. Social media management is comprised of graphics, captions, scheduling, and/or live posting at optimal times. Content can be repurposed and posted across multiple channels for maximum reach.

If you have your hands full running your business, it might be time to outsource your social media needs. Here is what to look for when building your team.

Experience is Essential

Candidates should have prior experience with social channels. The type of experience can range from volunteer work to paid social media gigs for clients. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask for samples of previous work, either through a portfolio or through links to pages the candidate has managed or is currently managing.

In some cases, a candidate may not be able to provide “live” samples due to signed Non-disclosure agreements with their existing client(s). In that case, mock-up samples from their portfolio are perfectly acceptable. In looking through the portfolio, ask yourself the following:

• Are the captions well-written with no spelling errors?
• Do the captions reflect the “voice” of the company?
• Do the captions relate to the image on the graphic?
• Are you comfortable with the candidate’s writing style?

Generalist or Specialist?

Depending on your business needs, you may want to hire different contractors for different tasks: caption writing/graphics, content curation, scheduling, live posting, follower engagement, and Facebook group moderation. Whether or not you hire multiple contractors or one person largely depends on your needs and preferences.

You can even have a manager for each social media platform. They can focus solely on all the details that are necessary for each individual channel and its algorithms.  Each platform has unique characteristics: Pinterest and Instagram are visual platforms, TikTok and YouTube are video-based, Facebook and LinkedIn are visual/text based.

An experienced social media manager will understand the nuances associated with each channel, and which types of content that will be distributed more widely by the platform’s ever-changing algorithms. The decision to hire a manager for each channel or a manager for all of your social channels depends on your budget, business needs, and preferences.

If you’re ready to hire a social media contractor for your business, we have well-trained social media experts on our team. They’ll help you take your business social networks to the next level. Get started today by clicking HERE.  In the meantime, follow us  on FACEBOOK,   TWITTER and INSTAGRAM.