It’s no secret that social media is increasingly becoming one of the fundamental pillars of digital marketing. With users spending billions of hours on social media every year, the potential for businesses to connect, engage, and grow their audience is huge. For this reason, businesses are now, more than ever, turning to digital marketing agencies to hire social media management services.
As the demand for this service grows, it’s only logical for an agency owner like you to begin the hunt for the ideal social media manager who’ll help your clients grow their businesses. In this guide I’ve put together for agency owners like you, we’ll go through some of the general doubts you might have, as well as the step-by-step process on how to hire a remote social media manager from Latin America. Let’s get started.
Should I Hire a Freelancer or a Full-Time SMM?
The main mistake agency owners make is hiring a social media manager on a part-time or freelance basis. Freelancers offer flexibility and specialized services, making them perfect for project-based needs. However, freelancers often face a lack of integration with the team and internal processes. You also need to consider that for them, you’ll just be another client.
Hiring a full-time social media manager would provide your agency with a dedicated resource, guaranteeing continuity, accountability, and alignment with your client’s brand identity. They also can engage in strategic planning and execute campaigns with a long-term perspective. Investing in a full-time social media manager yields greater returns in terms of consistency, quality, and commitment to delivering results.
3 Things You Must Define Before Hiring a Social Media Manager
- Determine KPIs & Tasks for the Role
For defining the KPIs and tasks that you’ll be assigning the social media manager, you first need to determine your agency’s needs. What are your clients’ targets? What social media channels will they oversee? How many clients will they manage at a time? Then, you can start defining certain metrics and duties.
- Technical Skills
Here are some of the technical competencies you must consider:
- Social Media Experience
- Proficiency in Social Media Management Tools
- Writing Skills
- Design Abilities
- Organization Skills
- Understanding of Analytics and Data-Driven
- Understanding of Paid Ads
- Strategic Thinker
- Adaptability and Creativity
- Handling Negative Feedback
- Values & Culture
Beyond the experience and technical skills, you must guarantee that the remote social media manager you add to your team aligns with your agency’s values and culture, to ensure a cohesive fit and a good working relationship.
Getting Started on the Recruitment Process
Creating a Compelling Job Description
- Quick Summary of the Company
- Responsibilities and Expectations
- Desired Qualifications and Experience
- Benefits of the Company
- Working Hours
- Compensation
Before publishing this job description, I recommend that you define a scorecard. This scorecard must contain 4-6 must-have requirements for the social media manager position. If you don’t know how to get started on your scorecard, you can download our scorecard template by clicking here.
Sourcing Candidates
Recruiting Potential Candidates
The next step after crafting and posting your job description is sourcing candidates. You can do this using different platforms and channels, but I suggest you the following:
- Referrals
- Organic Leads
- Talent Pool
Getting in Touch with Social Media Managers Candidates
After sourcing and identifying potential social media candidates, you can begin contacting them. These are the three ways I suggest you to contact your candidates:
- Emails
- Quick Calls
- Reach Outs on LinkedIn
Evaluating Your Social Media Manager Candidates
Applying the First Filters
Resume Review
After you’ve followed all of the steps above and you’ve received applications, the first filter is reviewing their resumes. These are the aspects you need to evaluate:
- Job Stability
- Experience
- Certifications
- Tools and Skills
Portfolio
It’s often thought that portfolios are for graphic or web designers only, but nowadays, most social media managers also prepare a portfolio of their work. If they don’t have this, you can ask them for the username of the accounts they’ve worked on, as well as an overview of how the KPIs improved while they were managing the account.
Voicenote Assessment
If your candidates successfully pass the first two filters, then you can move on to the next step: assessing their English proficiency. For this step, we use a website called Willo. This tool allows recruiters to save time on interviews.
Prescreening Interviews
For this, I recommend you define a series of questions that can help you evaluate them better. These are some of the questions you can ask them:
- How many years of experience do you have with social media management?
- How do you manage content planning and scheduling for social media?
- How many clients/accounts did you manage at a time? Which social media channels were you managing?
- How did the accounts you managed grow while you were in charge of them?
- Are you used to working with KPIs and other metrics?
- Do you have experience handling influencer partnerships?
- Based on your experience, what are the social media strategies that you consider to be the most effective to grow the audience?
- How do you deal with negative feedback?
Choosing the Top Candidates for the Role
Assessments
You can now apply the next filter, which is a set of assessments to get to know them better.
- Video Assessment: Ask the candidates to record a 2-minute video talking about their professional experience. Remember that Willo can also help you record video assessments.
- Basic Skills Test: This test measures basic grammar, math, attention to detail, and learning abilities.
- Employee Personality Profile: This is a general personality assessment that measures twelve personality traits. It can help you get to know your candidate better.
- Emotify V2: It measures a candidate’s ability to accurately identify, understand, and manage emotions.
Final Interview
This interview is the last chance to evaluate the candidate’s skills and cultural fit. During this step, you can also conduct a Technical Assessment. For a social media manager, for example, you can take a look at their copywriting skills or have them assess a social media account and give you their feedback.
Checking References
While all of the steps taken above (resume, portfolio, interviews) give you a great notion of the technical and soft skills of the candidate, it’s always a good practice to perform a reference check to get insight into their past performance and work ethic.
Hire the Best Digital Marketing Talent in Latin America with Remote Talent LATAM
As an agency owner, you understand the importance of finding the right talent to drive your business forward. However, as you were able to witness throughout this guide, the recruitment process is time–consuming, diverting your focus from core operations and growth initiatives. That’s why you need a solution that streamlines the hiring process and delivers top-tier talent without talent. That’s where Remote Talent LATAM comes in.
With our streamlined process, we not only save you time but also ensure you have access to top-quality talent that aligns with your expectations. Don’t keep wasting your time with in-house recruitment processes. It’s time to revolutionize your hiring process and unlock the full potential of your digital marketing agency with Remote Talent LATAM by your side.
