Social Media Managers are responsible for the online representation of their organization through social networks like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook among others. Ultimately, they plan, implement, manage, monitor and assess an organization’s online social presence. Their role leverages online opportunities for brand exposure and maintenance through creating content and interacting with the organization’s audience/customers. Social Media Managers take an analytical approach to better understand an organization’s customers and assess which online initiatives work best to drive sales and business growth. Performing this role requires excellent communication and content creation skills.
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Social Media
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Content Creation
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Content Management
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Creativity
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SEO
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Organizational Skills
How to effectively interview Social Media Managers
While it might seem difficult to figure out whether a candidate will succeed as a Social Media Manager in your company, a well-developed set of interview questions that tap into the core skills required to perform in a Social Media Manager role will go a long way in helping you decide.
But where do you start? How do you develop a set of great interview questions?
The best interview questions come directly from a job analysis. A job analysis is an evidence-based method that focuses on assessing key features of a particular role. These features describe both the job itself (i.e., tasks, responsibilities, and performance objectives), and the characteristics required of someone to perform successfully in the job (e.g., knowledge, skills, and abilities). A job analysis forms the basis of many HR practices such as compensation, performance management, and - you guessed it - how to interview and hire candidates.
At Hireguide, we’ve done the job analysis work for you. We’ve used the method to identify a core set of skills associated with the Social Media Manager role, and we’ve developed and validated a list of behavioral and situational questions with answer guides that tap directly into those core skills. And that’s not all. We’ve compiled these questions and created a Social Media Manager Interview Template for you that integrates other interviewing best practices. Skills-based interviews will not only help you make higher quality and evidence-based hiring decisions, but research also shows they enhance fairness and reduce bias in your hiring process.
Example interview questions to ask
Question 1
Tell me about a social media strategy you implemented in a previous role that had a big impact on brand awareness and engagement. Would that strategy be suitable for our company? If so, how would you adapt it?
Answer Tips
- Explains the strategy and the thinking behind it (objectives, channels, etc.)
- Explains why the strategy was successful and how they measured success
- Notes elements the company could use and is convincing in why they would work
- Clearly understands how to customize a social media strategy to a brand/audience
- Is aware of the company's offering, audience, social media activity, goals, etc.
Question 2
With so much content online, what are your strategies for creating content that stands out and engages your target audience?
Answer Tips
- Discusses how to understand what customers need/want (e.g. keyword research)
- Discusses creating genuinely helpful, relevant and interesting content
- Discusses always adding something unique to a topic - not just repeating others
- Discusses creating compelling headlines that intrigue the target audience
- Discusses making the content visually enticing and easy to read
