How do I hire the right paid social strategist for my company?
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important in our increasingly digital world. Social media provides numerous opportunities, but intentional strategy is needed in order to effectively utilize it. Social strategists develop and implement social media strategy in order to support a company’s digital marketing efforts. Ask these five questions before you hire your next paid social strategist:
What communication responsibilities will they have?
Paid social strategists may be part of an account team, a marketing team or a large digital paid media team. In addition to working closely with teammates, they may have direct communication with clients or business stakeholders.
Ask yourself this question: What communications will be critical to the success of the role? Consider what skills and experiences will be necessary. You may consider a written communication assessment if written communication is a big part of the role.
What evangelism or new business responsibilities will they have?
Business stakeholders, clients, and marketing teammates can all benefit from a greater understanding of paid social media. Paid social strategists may have little to no evangelism or new business responsibilities as they may be a background or support player.
Ask yourself this question: What evangelism or new business responsibilities will the person in this role have? If the role requires some influential communication, then hire someone with the appropriate abilities.
How hands-on will they have to be?
A paid social strategist may work entirely in strategy or vendor oversight. In another case, they may work entirely in hands-on campaign creation and optimization. A large percentage of social media professionals work somewhere in the middle.
Ask yourself this question: How hands-on will this person be? In order to set appropriate expectations, determine how much of each of these skills and experiences a candidate will need to possess.
What should they know before the role and what can they learn on the job?
There are more than 20 significant social media channels. Not each of these channels will be appropriate for your business.
Ask yourself this question: What channel knowledge should be had before the role and what can be learned during the role? Select a candidate who has the prior knowledge necessary to being successful in the role. Maybe you don’t know what channels are best for you and you need someone skilled at evaluating channel potential.
How much will they have to juggle?
We all have a limit to how many priorities we can successfully balance at a time. A paid social strategist may have to juggle dozens of campaigns or several campaigns for several clients. Or, they may just have to focus on one or two large campaigns.
Ask yourself this question: How much will this person have to juggle? In order to set appropriate expectations, select a candidate who can handle those demands.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t a comprehensive list of things to consider before making your next paid social strategist hire. However, these are five critically important things to consider prior to making that hire. Answer these five questions before you do so. Focus not only on doing good qualification. Also focus on setting appropriate expectations with candidates. If you are struggling to find the digital advertising talent you need, we can help. Contact us.
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