20ish Questions Employers Should Ask When Hiring a Social Media Manager

Jamie Schneider Domm

Digital Strategist for the North American Division.

For most entities within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the idea of having a dedicated social media manager is new. More and more organizations are realizing they need someone to be the voice of their online brand, but are unsure of how to identify the right person for the job. Hiring a social media manager may be a learning opportunity for you and your organization. To help you with this process, here are some questions you can consider for the interview. Tailor the questions to reflect the level of expertise required for the position you are looking to fill. Some of the questions are similar, however, certain versions are more appropriate for advanced candidates. Training in the industry of digital strategies has been limited in the Adventist church as Digital Evangelism is an emerging field, so you may actually be looking for someone who is comfortable with the technology, is good with numbers, is a strong communicator, and who is eager to learn and grow into a more advanced position. Choose the questions that are relevant to your organization and the position level.

1. What social media pages or profiles have you managed in the past? How were they successful? This question is mainly to gauge their general experience at running brand accounts. Look for concrete examples of why they felt their efforts were a success.
   
   
2. What publishing tools do you use? How do you stay organized?
   Social media should be intentional, planned, and strategic. Someone who only posts when they think about it, with no larger strategy, will not produce the results you are desiring.
   
   
3. Is there a social media project you’ve worked on that you would like to share with us? What was your specific role in this project? Or what project or task would you consider as your biggest social media achievement to date? Let them tell you the story of the project. Look for genuine enthusiasm, creativity, and measurable impact on the targeted audience. Make sure they are clear about why they felt the project was a success, and if possible ask them to provide quantitative data or a testimonial (qualitative) for support. Not all successes are about the numbers. Sometimes it’s about a social media campaign directly impacting the community or a person in a tangible heart-felt way that cannot be directly measured.
   
   
4. Can you describe a hurdle or failure in a social media campaign you’ve had to overcome? Start by letting them know that because this is a new position, you understand that there will be a learning curve and that failure is only failure if you don’t learn. Social media is a dynamic environment where the rules change. Listen carefully to their response. You are looking for a problem solver.
   
   
5. What experience do you have building and engaging with a community online?
   This is important. Social media is ultimately people connecting with people, which is more than posting content. It doesn’t have to be a large community. Sometimes the small, focused connections can have the highest impact for ministry, especially if your church or organization is dedicated to working within a specific geographical area. This is still an emerging field; if they haven’t had an opportunity to focus on member care and community impact, ask them how they would go about running such a campaign.
   
   
6. Imagine a story or news release that might be used to promote our organization. If I was follower of an account you manage, how would you use this story to turn me into a social media ambassador for the organization or ministry? Here you’re looking for creativity, communication ability, and whether or not they properly researched your organization before coming to the interview.
   
   
7. What are the most important social media platforms for our target audience and why? You want to test how much thought they have given to what their role would be and how they would accomplish your goals. You also are testing their familiarity with your organization and/or “product/ministry” as well as their understanding of the various platforms and their key demographics.
   
   
8. What do you think of the organization’s current social media efforts and how can it be improved? You want someone who does their homework and is bold enough to share their honest opinions in a constructive and professional manner. They should give you specific examples and be able to articulate a clear path to improvement while sharing their reasoning.
   
   
9. What goals should we set for our social media and what does success look like? In other words, what KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) would you measure for each social media platform?
   Social media is more than gaining a lot of likes or followers. It’s about engagement, increased traffic to your website, reach, saturation, brand awareness, loyalty, and, ultimately, conversion or tangible action. These goals should tie into your overall vision and mission, and be measurable.
   
   
10. How would you build an integrated social media strategy for the organization and allocate the budget? Make sure they include assessing your current audience and reach, gaining an understanding of your goals and aligning them with a comprehensive digital strategy that takes into consideration your other marketing channels. You may need to provide a hypothetical budget and/or frame this question within the context of an event campaign that has a fixed budget for digital promotions.
    
    
11. How does member care fit into your strategy? Understand that this person will be the voice of your online brand 24/7. They need to understand the importance of responding to people online in a timely fashion, and in an appropriate manner. In other words, how does this person expect to speak to your “members” or “customers” online, responding to individual questions and comments, and will they take the time necessary? This also means that you, as a supervisor, need to allow them time each day for the “softer” aspects of their role. If responding to and engaging with individuals is presented as something important to your organization, they will feel empowered to make member care and engagement a priority. There is no ROI without engagement, and engagement must be cultivated and nurtured.
    
    
12. What is the most important thing a social media manager should be doing?
    A solid answer would be monitoring and/or listening to the audience within the brand’s social channels. Engaging regularly with fans and followers is evidence that you’re there–you care–and you’re interested in them personally. Many managers can be good at posting content, but often don’t take the time to engage with the audience directly. This is where relationships and brand loyalty are born. Both are necessary to generate the desired behavior or action you are aiming for. As a ministry, your social media manager is directly responsible for building your reputation online as an organization that truly cares about the people it serves.
    
    
13. How do you deal with negative comments online? What about positive comments; are those important too? How do you recognize the early signs of a crisis and what would you do? Have you ever had to handle a social media/online reputation crisis? Social customer service requires empathy, patience, and the ability to resolve conflict. Your candidate must be able to recognize situations that may call for an escalation to higher management. Remember: they’re not just responding to that one individual, but for an audience of future members! Also, failure to reward or engage with the positive is a lost opportunity to make a meaningful connection.
    
    
14. How do you stay informed on the latest updates and trends in social media? Often times the best ideas come from outside our “industry.” Ask the candidate what blogs they read or brands they follow, and why. If this is a young person just starting out, please direct them to SDAdata.org to help in their training. We share a lot of content on our social media platforms from expert digital marketing sources that would be helpful. The main characteristics you are looking for here is someone with a thirst for learning, a sincere desire to understand people, and who isn’t afraid to try new things. You want a go-getter who is a self-educator and works well independently.
    
    
15. What experience do you have managing a social media budget? How do you decide where to invest and how much to invest in any given ad? The ability to answer these questions depends on the experience level of the person you’re looking to hire. For the more experienced candidate, their answer should be tied to achieving key goals within the context of an overall budget. They should have some system in place to track funds and campaigns.
    
    
16. How familiar are you with targeting ads to ensure money is being spent on the right people? You’re looking for someone who knows how to target audiences based on location, interests, connections to your profiles, and behavior. For the inexperienced candidate, you’re looking for someone eager to learn. Resources can be found on SDAdata.org.
    
    
17. How comfortable are you with numbers and measuring social media results? Ask them what social media analytics they are familiar with and whether or not they have experience tracking social media acquisition to websites through Google Analytics. Ask them how they use data tools and how they create reports for the teams. Ask them for a sample analysis or report they have put together for a past project.
    
    
18. How would you track impact or ROI on social media? In other words, what are the relevant metrics and where do you find them? If you can track it, you can measure it, and consequently better understand performance. This may mean relying on a variety of tools such as Google Analytics, social media insights, tracking codes, and even surveys. Once the data is collected, it can be analyzed and interpreted. This starts with having clear goals. For example, if your goal is to encourage non-church members in your community to attend a health event, look at the geo-location of those reached through social media, use a trackable link when directing people to the website and analyze their behavior on the website in Google Analytics. Include a survey/questionnaire in the registration process or simply ask for a show of hands (or conduct an exit survey) at the actual event to find out how people heard about the event, and monitor ad performance data for clicks, event responses, and engagements.
    
    
19. Have you been responsible for creating protocols and best practices for an organization’s social media? What was the process you undertook? This is a question for an advanced applicant for a higher-level position, not an entry-level position. However, the answers may surprise you. Because young people are native users of social media, often they see a need for best practices, and take the initiative to create structure for their organization or for themselves. This is a highly desirable trait to look for in a social media manager, as organization is key for success.
    
    
    

Important Note:
This is not a position that should be taken lightly or seen as an entry-level position. Your Social Media Manager will represent your organization’s brand to an indefinite number of people. Choose someone who can take a leadership role in building your social and online reputation, embodying your goals and mission while reflecting the character of Christ. This person must both be professional and be able to embody the particular culture of the various social media platforms your organization uses to speak to your unique audiences’ needs, while building connections that will stand the test of time.  
Given the lack of formal training available in this field and the fact that most ministries cannot afford an expert, you may actually be looking for someone who can start at an entry-level position and develop their skills to advance in their career. Make sure you are willing to invest in their training and develop a career path with them. If you identify a young person who has a lot of potential in these areas, please refer them to the classes and resources on this website. Give them direction, nurture their talents, and encourage their growth. The church needs digital evangelists.

There are many online programs now available for social media management training. For example, Georgetown University offers an online certificate program (2 weeks to 2 years) in social media management. Check out the course.

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Additional Resources:

Not sure what your new social media manager should be doing? Click here for a social media manager position description.

View the Social Media Competency Levels to help determine your expectations for a position based on the level of the candidate.