What to Look For in a Social Media Consultant

From boosting brand awareness to increasing engagement with potential customers and clients, social media can play a critical role in your company’s marketing strategy.

But sometimes bringing in a full-time social media manager isn’t possible (because of a hiring freeze) or necessary (due to an in-house social media expert returning from leave in a few months). In situations such as these, hiring a skilled social media consultant might be just what you need.

In search of a social media consultant?

CONSIDER WHAT YOU NEED FROM A SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

Social media consultants can offer strategic guidance to help clients improve, optimize, and grow their presence on various channels from LinkedIn to TikTok. They can also create content, develop timelines and calendars, and measure analytics to track wins.

Before you begin your search for a social media consultant, think through exactly what you will need from this person. Do you need someone to execute by creating and scheduling content? Or do you need someone to develop a high-level strategy to be carried out by freelancers or other members of your marketing team? Maybe you need a mix of both.

Setting clear parameters will be incredibly helpful in your search for a social media consultant and when the time comes to finalize your project.

LOOK FOR A SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT WITH SOLID EXPERIENCE

When hiring a social media consultant, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of people who call themselves “social media gurus.” But remember that being active on these platforms does not necessarily equate to being successful in driving business through social media. As such, when reviewing candidate resumes, websites and portfolios, look for those who can demonstrate how they’ve leveraged social channels to achieve bottom-line results.

A successful social media consultant should have strong experience driving growth and engagement across various channels. Social media performance can be measured by active user engagements, conversions, audience reach, and follower growth. This person should be well-versed in developing and launching social media campaigns, utilizing analytics tools to track and measure metrics, and driving lead-generation efforts. An expert in the space should, by default, know which approach to take to obtain the utmost engagement and interaction for each brand that they represent. 

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO ASK A SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT CANDIDATE

When interviewing social media consultants, ask questions that will elicit greater insights into their experience and capabilities, but also try to get a feel for their working style to see if they are a suitable fit for your organization.

Here are examples of interview questions you might want to ask each social media consultant candidate:

1. How well do you understand our industry, market, and target audience?
2. Which social media channel or channels could we be using more effectively?
3. What tools have you used to measure the impact of your past social media campaigns?
4. Which metrics do you think are the most important to review when tracking social media performance?
5. Tell us about a time when a social media campaign did not perform as you hoped. What were your biggest takeaways from this experience?
6. How do you stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in social media?
7. How do you incorporate SEO thinking into your social media strategy?
8. How have you and/or would you deal with a brand crisis via social media?
9. What are some of the most common contributors to poor social media management?
10. Which industry influencers or brands do you follow most closely for social media management tips?

HOW A SPECIALIZED CONSULTING AGENCY CAN STREAMLINE YOUR SEARCH

If you’re hiring a social media consultant but can’t find the right candidates or don’t have the time to manage the search, partner with Simplicity. As a long-standing leader in the industry, we have access to a deep pool of social media consultants who can help you level up your social media game.

Our team will be right there with you through every step of the process. We’ll help you to identify your organization’s specific social media needs, develop a detailed project outline, create a shortlist of consultants based on your goals, coordinate working sessions with the experts you’re most interested in, and guide you through the selection process.

Once you select a social media consultant, you’ll work with one of our dedicated client success managers to ensure smooth sailing from kickoff to completion.