How to Hire a Social Media Manager

You hire a social media manager in six steps, and the first is to define the job.

1. Define the job. List the platforms. Then mark the parts you need: planning what to post, making the content, scheduling and publishing, answering comments and messages, and reporting.
2. Pick the kind of hire. It can be a contractor, an employee or an outside team. The table below compares them.
3. Set a budget. Two pay sites publish what social media manager jobs pay in the US. For what one costs, see social media manager cost.
4. Look in the right places. They change with the kind of hire. The next section lists them.
5. Ask for proof. Use the questions below.
6. Start with a small paid task. One week of posts for one platform shows you how the person works.

Here's a job post you can copy. Fill in the parts in parentheses, and cut any line you don't need.

• Role: Social media manager for (your business)
• Hours: (hours a week, or posts a month)
• Platforms: (one or two)
• The work: plan each month's posts, make them (writing, graphics, video), schedule and publish them, answer comments and messages, and send a short report (each week or each month)
• To apply: send links to accounts you've run, and say which parts you did yourself

Six questions for every candidate:

• Which accounts have you run, and can I see them?
• Which parts did you do yourself: the writing, the graphics, the video?
• How do you plan a month of posts?
• Who answers comments and messages, you or me?
• What do you need from me each week?
• How will you show me what worked?

Common red flags include:

• No accounts to show you
• No clear answer on who made the posts, or who answered the comments, on the accounts they do show
• A request to move your accounts or logins into their name
• A promise of a set number of followers or sales

For whether to hire one at all, see should I hire a social media manager.

Whether you hire a freelance social media manager or an employee turns on control: who directs what gets done and how. If you want to direct what gets done and how it gets done, day to day, that points to an employee. A freelance social media manager works as a contractor only if the facts of the job fit. The IRS looks at the whole relationship, and no set number of factors decides it.

The IRS and the Texas Workforce Commission each have a test for who counts as a contractor. Both tests are covered in independent contractor vs employee. Not legal or tax advice. Ask your accountant.

The table under the six steps puts the two next to an outside team, with who manages each one.