If you’re spending hours each week posting to your company’s social media pages in hopes of driving higher engagement, or if your social media following is small (or even nonexistent!) – now is the perfect time to explore hiring an experienced social media manager.  

Onboarding the right candidate is without doubt a smart move for your business.  

What makes a good social media manager? I have answers! This quick and grounded approach in how to hire a social media manager has important tips for finding, vetting, and hiring the right person for your organization and unique brand.  

Let’s start with why social media marketing matters 

Why should you hire a social media manager? Building your brand on social media platforms is becoming more important than ever. After all, social media is proven in increasing brand awareness, boosting lead generation and sales, and building relationships with current and prospective customers. The evidence is clear for modern marketing decision-makers, the importance of a strong brand presence and brand visibility on social today is critical for all industries to effectively reach their target market, whether B2C or B2B.

Forbes contributor Anna Baluch echoes the value of social media and how to do it right in her recent article, “Social Media Marketing in 2024: The Ultimate Guide.”  

“No matter your industry, social media is an effective way to reach your target audience, strengthen your brand, establish a loyal customer base and increase your revenue.” — Anna Baluch  

Social media marketing is an expansive and specialized field and a key component of a full marketing strategy. The market is brimming with full-time professionals and influencers who are transporting the role of social media manager to new heights.  

The right professional will help you build and grow your online presence – in your brand’s voice   – across your chosen social media platforms. 

Take a strategic approach to onboarding a social media manager  

Most of today’s successful social media managers are experienced marketing and communications professionals. Many have diverse marketing backgrounds. Some are former freelancers or graphic design specialists who have narrowed their niches to specialize in social media marketing. These are the types of professionals you need to drive the success you’re after. 

But before you endeavor to bring on a new hire, ensure that you have a solid content strategy and goals – in essence, your unique social media ‘playbook.’ This social media strategy will help you set everyone up for success before you dive into the job candidate interview and selection process. 

Once your social media playbook is ready, here are the next steps and best practices for attracting great talent to interview for your social media manager role:   

1. Craft a compelling and transparent job post. If your compensation and benefits are competitive, consider including the salary range in your job ads – a tactic known to attract top talent.  
2. Ditch boring job descriptions! Use your job post to showcase your brand, company culture, and values.  Reach out to me for help with this!
3. Narrow down the applications and resumes you receive to the most qualified candidates or contact a recruiter to help you screen applications – and then select your top three candidates. 
4. Prepare in-depth interview questions and begin scheduling and conducting interviews to vet each candidate more fully. 
5. Ask your final three candidates to participate in a paid test project for your organization. 

When interviewing prospects for your social media manager position, and with specific regard to performing a test project for you, it’s best to:   

⚠️ Respect talent. I recommend that you create a test project of a few simple social media posts, but respect talent and avoid asking for unpaid work. 

⚠️ Provide clear and simple directions for the test project. For example, you could ask candidates to refer to your playbook and create an engaging post for each goal or communications pillar. Again, make this a simple process, but one that aligns with your real-world goals and desired messaging. 

⚠️ Ask candidates to use different types of stories, graphics (still and motion), videos, carousels, or other mediums in their test projects. This will show you whether your candidates are knowledgeable in how to create current and engaging social media posts.  

Look for these essential skill sets 

In addition to knowing how to create compelling visual posts, you want to ensure your candidates also possess these demonstrated capabilities before you make a hiring decision: 

✍️ Excellent writing skills, from content creation to copywriting and other external communications 
🎥 Video editing and design expertise 
🔄 Up-to-date understanding of today’s ever-changing social media landscape 
📊 Analytical mind for using metrics to measure and evaluate social media performance  

Tap into a pool of hiring expertise and top-tier talent  

The candidate vetting and hiring process can be time-consuming. If hiring for a social media manager position is new for your company, lean on an expert for cost-free guidance in finding the perfect fit. I am a DEI-certified talent recruiter and encourage you to connect with me to support your search for a high-quality social media manager – someone with the best skill set to support your marketing strategy and overall digital marketing efforts.  

Book a time on my calendar so we can start a conversation about your needs, goals, and timeline for onboarding a social media expert. 

At Goodwin Recruiting, in addition to assisting our clients in finding and hiring the perfect social media managers, we also help them find other digital marketing team members, including search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, digital marketing managers, marketing directors, chief marketing officers, and many other professionals in the realm of marketing, including executive searches.

I look forward to hearing from you and learning how I can help support your marketing hiring needs.