I’m very excited to announce that phase 2 of the Global Social Media Manager Association™ is launching today.  Phase 2 allows people who need help with social media (if you are a local business owner who is NOT a social media manager or a virtual assistant – I can almost guarantee that YOU could benefit from social media support) with qualified social media managers.  You can learn more about hiring a Social Media Manager, review the profiles of the current GSMMA members or submit our own help wanted ad here.

Since we are talking about hiring a social media manager, I thought I would share my five most important questions to ask of a prospective social media manager.

1.  Can I have your twitter, Facebook and linked in information?  You want to make sure that your social media manager is active in social media and their their posts have a business rather than personal flavor to them.

2.  What social media services do you provide?  Some social media managers will do everything for you from strategy, to blog content creation to setting up of profiles to daily management.  Others are experts in just a few areas.  Choose the person who can do what you need to have done.

3. Can you give me some examples of successful social media campaigns you have coordinated for your clients or for yourself?  What were the results of the campaigns?  You want your social media manager to be experienced in producing results.  Even if a Social media manager is just starting out, they should be able to give you examples of personal campaigns that have been successful for them.

4.  What is your set up and monthly service fees?  Do you have minimum contract period?  Some social media managers like to sign contracts for at least 3 months so that you will be able to see results quickly.

5.  What training have you had?  Are you a member of a professional association?  There are many decent training programs available (including my Social Media Manager Profits program) – the key is to make sure that your Social Media Manager is committed to continual learning in a constantly changing field.

To help you make the right decision the first time (and not waste time and money), I am offering a discount on my coaching in the form of the VIP Placement Program.  As part of this program, I get to know you and your business and my team will work with you to put together a help wanted ad (or RFP) that will draw the right responses.  We’ll have a second call when we go through the responses to help you pick the right person for you.  You can learn more about that here.