Launching and executing a social media marketing campaign to promote your business can be a big job, but it is definitely worth the effort.

According to Social Media Examiner’s 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report:

• The top two benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic.
• A significant 88% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses. Increasing traffic was the second major benefit, with 78% reporting positive results.
• Most marketers are using social media to develop loyal fans (69%) and gain marketplace intelligence (66%).
• A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 41% for 11 hours or more weekly.
• It’s interesting to note that nearly 20% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

So basically, the report points out that spending just 6-11 hours a week can reap major positive results for a business. Also, companies that have been engaging on social media longer tended to invest more time on social media because they were happy with the return on their investment.

Conclusion: spending time on social media is a worthwhile investment when marketing your business.

But, let’s get real – what entrepreneur has 6-11 hours to spare in any given week?

A typical social media marketing campaign for any given business can be pretty involved. It can require writing and curating content, shooting and editing videos and photos, graphic design, networking, project management, and keeping up with new media trends.

Not every business owner has time for all this, so they hire a Social Media Manager to take the reins and handle these various tasks.

But then the entrepreneur is faced with a new dilemma.

Everyone and their Uncle Bob is calling themselves a Social Media Manager these days.

How do you know which Social Media Manager is right for you and your business?

How do you spot a good one?

What are the questions to ask?

What should you look for when hiring a Social Media Manager?

These are all good questions.

If you are in the market for a Social Media Manager, here are three ways to make sure you hire the right person…

Beware of social media agencies that offer suspicious guarantees.

If your potential Social Media Manager guarantees you anything that sounds too good to be true, don’t buy it.

Run.

Run hard.

And run far.

What I mean by “too good to be true” is if they guarantee a certain number of likes or followers for any of your social media platforms.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wow, a guarantee of 100,000 likes on my Facebook page or I get my money back, what have I got to lose?”

Everything. You’ve got everything to lose.

There are several things wrong with a guarantee like this.

First, having lots of likes and followers is not a true indication of success. You can have a million likes and followers but if they’re not buying your product or service, what do you care? Do you want to be popular or do you want to grow your business? As a business owner, you need to decide, because these are two very different things.

Having a ton of followers does not mean you are going to increase sales, necessarily.

Furthermore, this guarantee is major red flag because no one in their right mind is going to make such a grandiose guarantee unless they are up to something, by which I mean… wait for it… they are buying you fake likes and followers. Most likely, they will ask for an advance or deposit before they begin “work” for you and they’ll buy a bunch of fake followers and *poof* you’ll have a million likes.

But you’ll have no sales.

And you’ll have no engagement.

Wait, it gets worse.

Social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, will actually punish you for having suspiciously large numbers of followers with limited engagement, and so their algorithms will work against you and hurt your visibility.

That’s right – having tons of fake, inactive followers will HURT your social media campaign. You are better off with fewer, but more authentic, followers.

If you don’t care about having an engaged following on social media and you just want a lot of followers for the sake of superficial appearances (frowny face!), then I recommend Googling “Buy Facebook followers” and cutting out the middle man all together.

You don’t need a Social Media Manager or a fancy marketing agency to earn meaningless vanity numbers… you just need a credit card.

Have a real goal when it comes to your business’s social media.

Set real goals for your social media marketing efforts.

Set goals that can be measured.

Be super clear about your goals when communicating with your Social Media Manager.

An example of a real goal that can be measured is an increase in the number ebook downloads.

This is a real goal because not only can it be counted, but it also drives qualified, meaningful traffic your way, builds rapport through your brand, and captures your desired target’s contact information for future engagement.

Now you’re growing your following in a meaningful way, as opposed to growing a useless legion of fake followers.

Get a social media manager who is clearly in it for the long haul.

Social media marketing is a long haul.

Very rarely is anyone an overnight success on social media.

In most cases, it takes discipline and consistency.

To make things even more exciting, the social media landscape is constantly changing. Whatever is trendy and effective today could be gone tomorrow.

Your Social Media Manager should be able to anticipate and respond to the forever evolving social media scene pertaining to your business. They should be fully prepared to try new things and change things up periodically. This isn’t flakiness… this is what taming the wild, unpredictable beast that is social media marketing is all about!

Hiring a Social Media Manager for your business can be a daunting task. Make sure you hire someone who doesn’t make false guarantees and empty promises. Having millions of likes and followers is not a true indication of success on social media. Hire a Social Media Manager who is more interested in growing your business and raising your brand’s profile, as opposed to growing meaningless vanity numbers. Have a measurable goal that your Social Media Manager can execute. And finally, hire a Social Media Manager who will be dedicated and consistent for the long haul.

 

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