How to Hire the Right Social Media Manager for Your Audience

I was in a meeting the other day when the conversation came up about how much a small-to-mid-sized business should pay to have their social media managed. This owner had been given a range all based on a per-post pricing model and wanted to know what my take was.

Well, to answer that question in a way that was comparable to the responses she had already been given was, well, impossible. It’s like saying you want to pick something up at Target and want to know what it will cost. Target carries a lot of products.

We need to dive deeper.

Before you can get quotes, you need to establish your goals and what you are looking to have accomplished by hiring a social media managing company. Here are some questions to consider:

• What platforms are you currently using?
• What platforms do you want to use?
• Why did you select these platforms?
• What are your business goals for this year? Next year?
• How can social media/online marketing help you accomplish these goals?
• How engaged online do you want to be?
• Do you have the backend setup to support click-throughs and online sales?
• Has your website been SEO optimized?
• Do you know the keywords and hashtags that your customers and industry use?
• Who are your online brand raving fans? (You may have raving fan clients, but if they don’t consistently engage online, they aren’t much help, in this area)
• Who are the influencers in your industry or market?
• What is your budget?
• What is your time commitment?
• Do you have an online advertising budget in addition to your social media management budget?
• What would you consider to be successful in online marketing?

It’s easy to assume that all a social media manager does is “play on social media.” But I can assure you, that is not the case. If that was the case, you wouldn’t need to hire someone to do this for you. A true social media manager will have a variety of responsibilities such as: crafting social media-specific content (yes it's different), keyword research per platform, hashtag research per platform, influencer research, engagement, analytics, and ensuring that your website/landing pages are set up properly. Anyone you work with should have a clear explanation of all of those topics AND in addition to framing it in a way that is in alignment with your brand voice, so it sounds like you.

Another differentiator is how they update you on the conversations or engagements they are having with your fans/followers. You don't want to be at an event where someone comes up to you and starts telling you all about a conversation you had with them and you know nothing about it.

In short, because this is really what you are looking for…If you pay anything less than 750/month, you're most likely only getting band-aid posts--something that looks pretty but doesn't convert drives click-through, or helps you accomplish any business goals. If you want someone who actually knows what they are doing and is going to help you accomplish the business goals you can expect to pay between $2,500-$10,000/month plus an advertising budget. This range is influenced based on the answers to your questions above—size and scale of the brand, number of platforms, level of engagement, and so on. The more you want, the more it will cost you. 

Omicle delivers brand clarity, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency to prepare leaders to scale their business. If you are ready to scale your business, contact us today to get started.