Do we expect retailers to have a flawless floor set, the most sought after items, an amazing website, time for a hobby, AND total control of their social media accounts?
No. Not at all!
We actually recommend to most retailers that they hire someone to manage their social media accounts on a regular basis. This may be someone who already works for the store, a new part-time employee, or someone who works on a freelance basis a few hours a week. For most business owners, hiring someone to manage their social media is an overwhelming task. You’re nervous to give control to someone else, you aren’t sure what to expect, and you don’t know how to gage success.
Here are three tips to make the hiring process less stressful.
1) Choose Passion Over Pro
When we discuss hiring a Social Media Manager with our retailers, we almost always hear the question: “Should I be hiring someone with a marketing background?” While marketing know-how definitely helps save time and avoid a learning curve, there is no need to hire a marketing professional to manage your social media. The key to a great social media manager? A love of your store, brand and industry. Your perfect social media manager may be a marketing pro with a love of fashion and accessories, or a retired nurse who has great work ethic and loves a fine piece of jewelry. Social Media can be taught, but you can’t teach passion.
2) Discuss Your Expectations
It happens often: A business owner fires their social media person stating they didn’t do anything, but the social media manager insists that they were seeing success. The issue? There are SO many ways to measure success on social media.
One retailer may tell us that they don’t care a lot about engagement, they just want to keep up with their competitor when it comes to likes. Another may say that likes mean nothing if they aren’t seeing engagement. Another still may not care about either of these things… they just want to see their likes converted to sales.
Let your social media manager know – even as early as the interview phase – what your definition of success is so that they can work toward the right goals.
3) Know Which Questions to Ask
You know how to hire a great salesperson, but do you know the questions to ask when you are looking to hire a social media manager? Here are a few basic questions to get the ball rolling:
- Do you use social media personally?
- Which social media platforms are you familiar with?
- Are you comfortable with checking in on our social profiles throughout the week?
- Are you comfortable tracking and reporting on social media analytics? Are you willing to learn?
- What experience do you have with the retail industry?
You’re busy – build a social media team that you can trust to rock your social media strategy.
Looking to save time on social media, while increasing store exposure, traffic and sales? Crystal Media’s partnership with RDI Diamonds means that you can save 25% on a yearlong Social Edge membership, a social media training website for retailers. Just use the coupon code RDIDiamonds at checkout. Visit socialedge.co for more information, and socialedge.co/sample to watch a sample course on Facebook Ads.
Crystal Vilkaitis is the resident Social Media Expert with RDI Diamonds and owner of Crystal Media; a company that teaches social media to independent retailers. Crystal started Social Edge, an online membership group exclusive to retailers looking to gain an edge over competition using social media. For more information and to receive free bi-weekly social media tips to your e-mail inbox, visit heycrystalmedia.com or socialedge.co.
