Hiring A Social Media Agency? Here Are 7 Qualities To Look For

Are you looking to hire a social media agency for your business? In this article, I outline 7 qualities to look for when hiring a social media consultant.

Want to hire a social media agency to create your social media following and branding, but are not sure what to look for? Before you ask for a social media marketing proposal learn what to look for in a social media marketing manager.

You don’t want to hire someone with insufficient knowledge or expertise just so you can save money on outsourcing social media marketing.

When hiring a social media consultant, do qualifications matter? Or do you just focus on results? Will hiring an Instagram growth hacking expert work better than hiring someone with more general knowledge?

7 qualities to look for in a social media agency

If you’re looking to hire a social media agency, these 7 qualities of a good social media consultant will help you find the right person for the job.

#1. Social media marketing expertise

Your social media agency must have a basic understanding of the most important social media networks and how they work, so they can advise you on which ones to best focus your efforts on.

For instance, a good social media consultant would tell a B2B company to focus on Twitter and LinkedIn, because these two networks have worked best for B2B companies, while B2C companies may be better off focusing on Instagram and Facebook.

If you want someone to help you with your business, it’s not enough for them to be an expert in just one network, except if it’s the only one you want to focus on.

Although you can hire an Instagram growth hacking expert separately for just one channel, you can’t possibly hire different social media marketing agencies to handle your marketing on different networks.

You need a social media agency with an overall understanding of all the biggest social networks and some knowledge of the new ones as well if you want them to help you get the results you need.

#2. Ability to align with your business goals

Social media marketing is not just about getting more followers and posting content on different networks. It’s also about how all these factors tie into your business goals and objectives.

Your social media manager should be able to spend some time understanding your unique business goals and objectives before recommending a social media strategy and plan that fits your business.

They should be able to recommend different strategies for different goals. For instance, strategically using Facebook ads to get leads instead of just posting content and hoping it does well.

Depending on whether you’re just looking to brand yourself, get leads, or make sales, their repertoire of social media tactics should help you create a social media marketing plan that gets the results you’re looking for.

If they have a one-size-fits-all approach to their clients, they may not be able to leverage social media in unique ways to match your business goals.

An ability to be flexible and to create a unique social media marketing package that works for your business is an important quality to have in a social media agency.

#3. Proven ability to get results

“Never trust a social media expert who has fewer followers than you!” declared Guy Kawasaki in a recent HubSpot webinar. He should know what he’s talking about. He has over 7 million followers on all his platforms.

There are lots of so-called social media ‘experts’ out there with just a few hundred Twitter followers. How can you trust someone to build a large Twitter following for you when they can’t even do it for themselves?

The best way to know if your social media consultant is who they say they are is to Google them. A good social media consultant’s bio and profile will be easy to find on Google. If they’re not easy to find on Google, they probably don’t know what it means to build a brand or create visibility for themselves.

Anyone who provides social media marketing services should have a significant online presence, a good number of followers on most of the important social networks, and have been online for several years so that they have an understanding of how the internet has grown and changed.

A good social media agency will also have a well-written and regularly updated blog with a good amount of industry information and insights.

It’s even better if their blog posts have a few hundred shares because if they know how to create engagement for themselves, they’re more likely to be able to do it for you.

Your social media marketing manager must also have several clients for whom they have created results. A few case studies and a good social media marketing portfolio wouldn’t hurt either.

Never trust a consultant with no proven ability to create visibility on search and social media, either for themselves or for their clients. If your so-called social media expert has fewer followers than you that is bad news indeed.

#4. Willingness to learn new things

Social media is an ever-changing field, with new networks and apps being created almost every day. Your social media consultant must have a desire to learn about the newest networks and suggest them to you if they’re appropriate for your business.

There’s a great advantage to being an early adopter of social media. Companies that learn how to use new technology faster than the competition are the ones that will have an unbeatable advantage.

If your social media consultant is reluctant to learn new things and adopt new technologies such as the latest social media marketing tools, they will get quickly outdated and your business will suffer.

Do they read industry blogs and publications? Do they stay updated with social media news and developments? Do they write about them on their blog? Are they using social media to share new developments and educate potential clients?

When looking for a social media consultant, check if they have industry certifications in social media or digital marketing.

It’s not essential to have certifications to be a good consultant, but if they do, it shows that they’re willing to put in the time and effort required to learn new things – a quality that will benefit your business in the long run.

#5. Willingness to adapt quickly

The internet changes very quickly. Every day there are updates, changes, and new features on social media channels. Growth and change are an essential part of the internet world and social media consultants are not immune to them.

If your social media agency is not willing or able to adapt quickly to the latest changes that social networks make – from social media posts on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, to LinkedIn Publishing, they’re not the right person for you (or anyone else for that matter).

#6. Passion for their work

When someone is passionate about their work, it shows in the results that they manage to achieve. If your social media agency is just for the money, they’re not likely to do whatever it takes to help you get the results you need.

Passion can make all the difference between getting mediocre results and great results.

#7. Understanding of your industry

Nowadays the field of social media is so crowded that specializing in social media marketing is becoming very common.

Today there are social media consultants for nonprofits and agencies that offer social media marketing for realtors, authors, small businesses, corporations, C-suites, local businesses, sports teams, luxury brands, software development companies, and more.

The most important thing when choosing a social media marketing agency is that they should have an understanding of how your industry works and how to adapt your marketing strategy to the networks where your audience is the most active.

If you want to start a social media marketing agency from home, you can learn how to go from a freelance social media manager to being a social media agency owner.

Did you find our social media consultant description useful? Did it help make your social media consultant’s qualifications clearer in your mind? Let us know in the comments below.

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© 2020 – 2024, Priya Florence Shah. All rights reserved.