How to Hire a Social Media Manager

Why hire a social media manager?

The need for new staff can affect both your existing team and your bottom line. A great social media manager hire can help your business by:

• Working with the marketing team to develop social campaigns
• Monitoring company accounts for engagement
• Reviewing analytics reports and making adjustments to the campaigns

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance social media manager

Whether your company should hire a full-time or freelance social media manager depends almost entirely on the amount of social media management your company requires. If your company doesn’t want to have a large presence on social media, it may be the financially better option to hire a freelancer. 

If your business wants to have a large presence online, though, hiring a full-time employee to manage your accounts may be the better option. Not only is it cheaper than hiring a freelancer for 40 hours, but your presence will also be unique because your manager will only be working on your accounts. 

What are the ranks of social media managers?

In the digital marketing field, there are a few jobs that have to do with social media accounts. Some of these positions include: 

• Chief marketing officer: Since the chief of marketing is at the top of the marketing chain of command, everything in the department falls under their umbrella. They make major decisions regarding the company’s social media presence. 
• Social media manager: The social media manager is specifically in charge of the company’s social media accounts. They make day-to-day decisions regarding the accounts and supervise the entry-level employees working on them. 
• Community manager: Community managers are in charge of communication with the company’s target audience. This communication can take place on social media websites. 
• Social media specialist: Social media specialists are entry-level employees in the social media marketing field. They handle day-to-day tasks for the social media accounts, such as making short posts.

Where to find social media managers

To find the right social media manager for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting methods:

• Promote from within. Assess the social media and leadership skills of the social media specialists working underneath the social media manager position. If any of them show the potential to take on the job, conduct an interview with them to gauge their level of interest.
• Search online. Both freelance and full-time social media managers may be advertising their skills and past work online. Search for quality candidates and reach out to them to set up a meeting. 
• Post help wanted flyers. Hanging signs around the community is a common way to encourage members of the community to apply. 
• Post your job online. Try posting your social media manager job on Indeed to find and attract quality social media manager candidates.

What are the ranks of social media managers?

In the digital marketing field, there are a few jobs that have to do with social media accounts. Some of these positions include: 

• Chief marketing officer: Since the chief of marketing is at the top of the marketing chain of command, everything in the department falls under their umbrella. They make major decisions regarding the company’s social media presence. 
• Social media manager: The social media manager is specifically in charge of the company’s social media accounts. They make day-to-day decisions regarding the accounts and supervise the entry-level employees working on them. 
• Community manager: Community managers are in charge of communication with the company’s target audience. This communication can take place on social media websites. 
• Social media specialist: Social media specialists are entry-level employees in the social media marketing field. They handle day-to-day tasks for the social media accounts, such as making short posts.

Writing a social media manager job description

A thoughtful description is important to finding qualified social media manager candidates. A social media manager job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your social media manager job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on social media manager jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Social media
• Social media manager
• Marketing
• Social media marketing
• Digital marketing
• Communications
• Remote work from home
• Marketing manager
• Media
• Social media coordinator

Interviewing social media manager candidates

Strong candidates for social media manager positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Developing social media campaigns that support all marketing and sales efforts
• Working with and executing tasks on a content calendar
• Handling negative social media feedback

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of social media manager interview questions for examples (with sample answers).