I Hired a Social Media Manager, Now What?

In my previous post, I gave you 4 reasons why your business needed a social media manager.  If you’ve recently hired one, or are looking to, you may be asking yourself, now what?

First of all, let me congratulate you on making that decision.  A social media manager will be your business’ champion and a time-saver for you and your business!

Okay, so where do we go from here?  Here are some suggested steps to take to get your social media manager going:

1.  If you are actively searching for someone, I suggest starting with LinkedIn.

Search various related keywords such as “social media strategist”, “social media consultant” or “social media manager”.  It will pull a list of professionals in those fields.  You can tailor it to your geographic area or it can be worldwide.  LinkedIn gives you a great way to look at each person or company.  You can see their work experience, their social media links and recommendations.  After finding a candidate on LinkedIn, check out their other profiles – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+.  You want someone who is practicing what they preach.

2.  Once you have found the person to represent your business online, schedule a power session or two with them.

You want to get to know the person you chose.  They need to get to know you and your business so they can accurately represent you and your business.  You want your social media manager to understand the tone of the business.  Do you take a more humorous approach?  Maybe you are quite serious.  If you are a medical business, your social media manager needs to understand how HIPAA plays in to it.  It is key that you stay in constant contact with him/her!

3.  If you do not have any social media profiles set up, you and your social media manager can go over where you need to be and how often you need to post.

Somethings to consider:

• Where are your customers – do they tweet?  mainly hang out on Facebook?
• What are some peak times to post – is your market on at night?  lunchtime?
• How much guidance are you going to give your social media manager?  Will you give him/her a list of specials or promotions?  Links to websites to pull information from?

4.  Make sure everything is put on the table and be open-minded!

You will want transparency in this relationship.  Tell him/her your expectations, goals and ideas.  Be open to ideas they may come up with.  Sometimes the most successful promotions are those that are outside of the box.  Tell him/her you expect honesty from them – if something isn’t working, have them tell you.  Occasionally you may have to switch strategies until you find the one that works.

Now you are ready to start your social media campaign! You social media manager is someone who will become dear because they will be your eyes and ears on the internet – bringing your brand online.

One word of caution, however.  There are a lot of people who call themselves “experts”, but lack the know-how and experience to back it up.  You want someone who is proven and gets results.  Check out their profiles first 🙂

Are you ready to get started?