Why this matters:
Social media strategists should familiarize themselves with their clients’ brand voice standards, which center around phrasing, tone, and other technicalities. By doing so, they can produce content that best appeals to their target audience. How a candidate answers this question might provide insight into their critical thinking skills and attention to detail.
What to listen for:
- A meticulous approach to crafting client-specific strategies
- A track record of campaign achievements, or a desire to build one
- Willingness to continually optimize campaigns based on current trends
Why this matters:
When creating or managing campaigns, social media strategists must adhere to a variety of regulations, including social media rules, legal and compliance requirements, and even expectations concerning online etiquette. By familiarizing themselves with these high-stakes standards, candidates can avoid any unexpected consequences.
What to listen for:
- Familiarity with the community guidelines of popular social media platforms
- Willingness to take accountability for any oversights
- Excellent attention to detail
Why this matters:
Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are key components of many social media marketing strategies. By monitoring and analyzing relevant data-driven insights, candidates can better optimize their campaigns, increase brand visibility, and gain an in-depth understanding of link-sharing on different social media platforms.
What to listen for:
- Up-to-date knowledge of SEO and SEM best practices
- Familiarity with popular data analytics programs, such as Google Analytics
- Insights into how specific SEO or SEM strategies might impact your organization
Why this matters:
Your social media strategist will be delegating execution of their strategy to the social media managers and coordinators. Your strategist needs to have great leadership skills and a big-picture vision. Asking applicants to describe their role in the success of a campaign will give you an idea about how active they are in the day-to-day management of the accounts and their leadership style.
What to listen for:
- Examples of ownership, responsibility, and leadership
- Ability to walk others through the campaign process, from concept to execution
- Specific examples of how the campaign was successful
Why this matters:
Creating and optimizing social media strategies can be a collaborative process. To prevent any confusion, candidates should be prepared to describe the technicalities of specific problems or processes to colleagues on different teams. By doing so, they can drive productivity and efficiency, improve team dynamics, and gain a better understanding of others’ roles.
What to listen for:
- Ability to translate complex concepts or jargon into easily digestible information
- A patient, enthusiastic attitude
- Excellent teamwork skills
Why this matters:
How a candidate answers this question will provide insight into their familiarity with your organization and industry. In both niche and widely known fields, social media strategies must account for specific branding guidelines, marketing objectives, and audience personas. Answers may also reveal the ability to think creatively under pressure.
What to listen for:
- Prior experience at an organization with similar goals
- Understanding of your industry’s professional norms and how they relate to social media
- A creative, strategic approach to developing social media campaigns
Why this matters:
Social media is an ever-changing, ever-expanding medium. New platforms spring up every day, but only a handful will be useful to your organization. You want a strategist with a 360-degree view of social media as a whole, who is an expert in understanding the nuances and particulars of different platforms and the way users interact on them.
What to listen for:
- Personal favorite accounts or influencers
- Genuine interest in social media (outside of their work)
- Knowledge of latest industry news and changes to platforms
Why this matters:
An organization’s social media accounts are an indelible part of their public-facing image and brand persona. Some plans, while good social media strategy, may just not be right for the organization due to other factors. You want to hire a social media strategist who can rebound from rejection and come back with new plans that align with your organization’s needs.
What to listen for:
- Ability to receive constructive criticism without being insulted
- Moving on from rejection, not getting stuck on it
- Knowing the proper times to push back on or let go of controversial decisions
Why this matters:
This question can give a view into what the applicant personally sees as important — perhaps the freelance project they did for a nonprofit organization makes them feel more pride than their high-level position at a Fortune 500 company. Or they enjoyed scaling up a company’s social presence from nothing to their time spent with an already well-established social brand.
What to listen for:
- Ways their strategy lead to success
- Personal investment in projects
- High growth in engagement or overhaul of social media accounts
Contact a sales consultant.