For any firm, constructing and sustaining a social media presence is a key advertising technique for reaching extra potential prospects. An organization’s social media profiles additionally act as an area the place anybody can get to know your organization significantly better, serving to to construct a stronger on-line model. Whereas we all know a number of small enterprise house owners who handle their very own social media profiles and love doing it, for some it makes extra sense to deliver on a devoted social media supervisor to release their time and inventive power.

I’ve lately been going via the method of hiring a social media supervisor for Buffer so I wished to share what I’ve discovered to date to assist anybody else who needs to deliver on a social media supervisor for his or her crew. I’ve damaged it down into 5 sections: writing a job description, crafting a customized utility, selling the function, and the interview course of. Plus, I additionally included our whole job description on the finish. Be happy to seize any a part of it that you just may want to your personal itemizing!

Let’s dive in! ✨

1. Write a Considerate Job Description

Step one in any hiring course of is writing a powerful job description. Whereas that is obligatory for selling the job, it’s additionally an train in defining precisely what you need out of this function.

Take the time to essentially dig deep into your enterprise wants, asking questions like:

• How a lot expertise do I would like this individual to have? A mistake I see many enterprise house owners make is outsourcing social media to an intern or junior rent to economize. This will work in case you’re ready to supply coaching and help, however in case you aren’t, then you need to purpose to rent somebody with extra expertise.
• What sources will I be capable of present? Anticipating a social media supervisor to run social technique and create movies and visible components and write copy and do buyer help and run advertisements and report on analytics—as you may inform, it’s loads. Take into consideration what your key wants are and what sources you need to assist cowl a number of the different bases.
• What channels do I would like them to deal with? I all the time suggest manufacturers deal with their social media advertising on one or two channels, moderately than making an attempt to be nice at all of them. Given what number of specialties there are in social media advertising, you must also search for candidates with particular expertise in these channels. It’s additionally necessary to think about whether or not you need somebody with extra expertise on paid or natural since these are such totally different ability units.

At Buffer, we finally determined we wished a candidate who’s expert at natural Twitter, who has particular expertise in our business, and who is powerful in neighborhood administration (however not essentially buyer help, since we’ve sources for that).

Try our last job description on the finish of this publish, which you’ll adapt to your individual wants, on the finish of this text.

2. Craft a Customized Utility

Along with asking candidates for a resume and canopy letter, we included customized utility questions, which will help you rapidly get a superb sense of which candidates are proper to your firm.

Ours had been:

1. Share your Twitter account:
2. In the event you don’t have a Twitter account, describe your expertise on Twitter: (In 280 characters or much less.)
3. Share the hyperlink to a tweet you’re happy with that you just despatched from a model account for example:
4. Why did you select that tweet? (In 280 characters or much less.)
5. Share the hyperlink to a social media graphic or short-form video content material that you just created:
6. What’s your favourite social community? Why? (In 280 characters or much less.)
7. What do you assume is the way forward for natural social media? (In 280 characters or much less.)
8. How would you reply to the next tweets as Buffer’s Social Media Supervisor? (In 280 characters or much less.)

Some issues to think about when writing utility questions to your model:

• Hone in on the platforms you’re specializing in. Once more, it was most necessary to us that we discover somebody nice with Twitter, so lots of our questions had been aimed toward understanding their expertise there. In the event you’re spending extra time on Instagram, you may ask questions like: What are your favourite Instagram options? Which do you assume could be strongest for our model? If TikTok is a spotlight: What’s an instance of a TikTok you created for a model? What TikTok traits do you assume are aligned with our model?
• Request responses in social media format. As a result of Twitter is so key for us, I restricted responses to 280 characters or much less, and I’m glad I did. For one, it made purposes a lot quicker to evaluate. But it surely additionally helped me take a look at whether or not candidates might talk succinctly, which is crucial for social media. In the event you’re looking for an Instagram or TikTok professional, you may get inventive, asking them to create short-form movies in response.
• Put them to work to your model. Together with a really small project as a part of the preliminary utility will help you get a fast gauge if a candidate understands your model voice, which might be exhausting to show if it’s not already aligned. We selected to ask individuals to reply to just a few pattern tweets.

My greatest piece of recommendation for getting your job itemizing in entrance of the fitting candidates is to advertise utilizing social media, on condition that’s the place they’re already hanging out. In the event you’re in search of a Twitter professional, make sure that to tweet the job posting—each out of your model account and the non-public accounts of teammates associated to the function.

Now we have a e-newsletter that goes out to anybody considering jobs at Buffer after we open a brand new function, and along with that, I personally shared the itemizing on Twitter and LinkedIn. It bought a ton of traction on each platforms and made it simple for other people each from Buffer and from exterior of Buffer to simply share it, too.

We’re hiring for some enjoyable roles on @buffer‘s Advertising crew:
👩🏻‍💻 Social Media Supervisor
👩🏻‍💻 Neighborhood Supervisor
👩🏻‍💻 Product Advertising Supervisor

Buffer is:
🌏 Absolutely distributed
💸 Clear with pay
❤️ An amazing bunch of parents

Extra ⬇️https://t.co/d6LqiEL38r

— Hailley Griffis (@hailleymari) November 29, 2021

In the end, we promoted the function for 3 weeks and ended up with 704 candidates. We anticipated a big pool of candidates for this function since that is our business.

Relying in your measurement and the way a lot you’re selling, I’d suggest giving it at the very least 4 to 6 weeks to offer individuals time to use. You may all the time evaluate candidates on a rolling foundation, too.

Be taught extra about utilizing social media to rent for your enterprise from Buffer’s Director of Folks, Nicole Miller.

4. Construction the Interview Course of for Success

Interview processes can differ wildly relying in your model, the scale of your organization, and extra, however there are just a few practices which have helped us establish the fitting candidates:

• Contemplate a take a look at project. We begin our interview course of for roles with a number of candidates with a take-home project, which is useful for us to additional slim down candidates. Even if in case you have a smaller pool, it may be a worthwhile means so that you can take a look at different expertise. For example, in case you bought a way of their content material creation within the preliminary utility, you may take a look at their strategic talents by asking them to create a content material calendar for one week.
• Dig into smooth expertise. By the point you sit down to speak to a candidate, you probably have a superb sense of their social media talents and {qualifications}, so spend the interview digging extra into the smooth expertise which might be necessary for achievement on this function. Will they be capable of collaborate with totally different teammates? Are they versatile sufficient to adapt as social channels change? Do they thrive on interacting with individuals on-line day after day?
• Embody questions round tradition and values. We all the time have a complete values interview as a part of Buffer’s course of, however smaller firms could wish to combine just a few values-related questions into the interview. One among my favorites: To dig into the Buffer worth of “enhance constantly,” we’ll usually ask what somebody has accomplished lately to enhance their expertise in a sure space. Questions like this could allow you to discover a candidate who is worked up to work for your firm and who will seamlessly match into the methods you’re employed.

When you determine to rent a social media supervisor, you most likely wish to deliver somebody on rapidly, but it surely’s value taking the time it’s essential to discover the fitting individual. This is a crucial function—basically a spokesperson to your firm—so it’s not the place to chop corners. By going via the method thoughtfully, you’re positive to discover a rent who won’t solely take social off your plate, they’ll scale your channels to new heights.

Have you ever employed a social media supervisor earlier than? If that’s the case, I would love to listen to your expertise with it! Or do you’ve gotten any questions I did not cowl right here? Attain out anytime on Twitter.

As promised, here is the complete job description we used lately. ⬇️

As a Social Media Supervisor, you’ll personal Buffer’s social media channels. In apply, this implies creating written, video, and visible content material throughout social networks, sustaining a content material calendar and coordinating throughout groups to make sure that our social presence displays what’s taking place at Buffer. Additionally, you will be a key individual in our present neighborhood on social media, serving to to verify it’s wholesome and thriving and taking it to the subsequent degree via lively engagement on social media. It is a key function for us as a social media software program firm as our social profiles are an enormous a part of our model and one of many first issues that our prospects see and get to know us via. You’ll work intently with the remainder of the Advertising crew to create social media content material on a weekly and month-to-month foundation, in addition to work intently with our Buyer Advocacy crew to maintain them conscious of upcoming deliberate content material. Day-to-day, you’ll work hands-on scheduling posts, following business traits, gathering insights, plus participating with our neighborhood and prospects, constructing relationships, and surfacing traits from inside our neighborhood that may affect our total technique.

On this function, you’ll report back to the Head of Public Relations. Day-to-day you’ll work intently with different advertising teammates in addition to the companies and freelancers that work with our advertising crew. As a member of a advertising group, you’ll assist form Buffer’s total model via distinctive social media posts and sustaining a powerful model voice and presence throughout platforms.

• Personal creating social media content material. Developing with concepts for methods to advertise upcoming content material items, product launches, and every other bulletins guaranteeing content material resonates with the client and the model. This consists of creating written content material, graphics, and movies starting from a number of seconds to a number of minutes.
• Personal the social media content material calendar and planning course of. Planning, managing, and coordinating the content material calendar, researching upcoming related information, occasions, or holidays. Main weekly or biweekly social content material brainstorming periods.
• Personal neighborhood administration. Responding to and fascinating with our neighborhood throughout social media platforms, primarily Twitter, Fb, Instagram, and LinkedIn, in addition to responding to tickets in Zendesk.
• Experiment and use knowledge to tell technique. Extract insights and learnings from every social channel and out of your time participating with our neighborhood, use these insights to tell our social technique.
• Advocate for our neighborhood. Inside Buffer you might be conscious of our social media neighborhood’s perspective on varied issues from our product and tradition and act as an advocate internally to verify their perspective is taken into consideration.
• Maintain updated with business traits. Making certain to maintain on prime of adjustments and new options throughout platforms and simply share these updates with Buffer’s viewers on social media and throughout the firm.
• Be a powerful Buffer voice: Undertake Buffer’s voice and tone throughout content material work and make sure that something printed on any social channel is an effective match for Buffer’s model and voice.

• Will need to have prior expertise creating social media content material for a model, ideally a software program firm.
• Will need to have expertise creating social media graphics and short-form video content material, like Instagram Reels or TikToks.
• Will need to have expertise utilizing instruments to plan and collaborate on social media posts with a number of teammates.
• Will need to have prior expertise participating with a neighborhood on social media and constructing relationships on-line.
• Excited and energized on the prospect of spending the day-to-day creating, scheduling, and posting content material in addition to participating with our neighborhood on social media.
• Excellent written and verbal communication expertise: You care about producing content material that may resonate with a broad world viewers.
• Capability to create participating content material and guarantee a constant model voice.
• Sturdy understanding of necessary social media metrics and knowledge.
• Bias in the direction of motion with a capability to have a excessive output within the type of creating social media posts.