10 Things To Ask Your Social Media Marketing Expert

Being a social media marketing expert is a truly dubious distinction! I spend my life explaining that social media marketing is just a tool in your entire marketing arsenal, so today, I am throwing down the gauntlet and letting you know 10 things your social media marketing ?expert? should know!

1. How long have you been doing marketing? This is a tricky one because social media marketing experts are only a few years old, but those of us who are old dogs in marketing marketing have been around a lot longer. Doing a social media ?campaign? is not the same as having a solid marketing plan for your company.
2. How much training have you received in social media marketing? Our company spends well in excess of $10,000 a year to stay up on the latest social media marketing trends. Seriously, something you learn today is going to be obsolete in 3 weeks so this training has to be ongoing.
3. Do they teach social media marketing? Having a marketing company is great, but the best of the best in each industry is compelled to get out there and teach. It makes you have clarity to your message AND the input you get from the field is truly invaluable!
4. Do they have a wide range of client types? This is a weird one to social media! You would think it would be great to hire a niche marketer BUT that means their contacts are limited to that industry and social media is about having access to a wide range of people across multiple industries.
5. Are the just going to post for you? When we started doing social media marketing, it was all about having something to post and following enough people. Today the playing field is much tougher and it takes more than plopping a link down and following 5 people a day.
6. Are they using humans? There are NUMEROUS tools that can automate your social media. Problem is that each comes with a glitch (like if you post with a service, the share button does not show up on Facebook). We have found that hand posting gives our clients the most visibility and best response.
7. Are they using American humans? Okay, I try not to get too political but this one is near and dear to my heart. I think that there are multiple reasons for using people from our country for our companies. Coming from the rust belt of PA, I saw jobs leave, never to come back? so? the ESL (English as a second language) problems, posting from strange time zones, bringing work back to the US.
8. Do they buy likes? There are numerous services out there who will buy likes or follows, etc. We have done so in the past for clients and they make the numbers look better but serve no real function. If the company you are interviewing is guaranteeing a certain number of likes they are missing the point of posting AMAZING content and finding real fans!
9. Do you own your empire when you are done? This is a HUGE one! I see many companies out there who offer services as long as you pay them BUT once you are not using them, your empire crumbles because they own your ?stuff?. Make sure they can hand it off to you when you are done using them!
10. Do they LOVE marketing? I am in in the internet marketing space all the time and see many classes offered to ?Become a Social Media Marketing Expert in 5 hours? or ?Take this class and be a local marketing expert?. I can tell you, the people who are actual EXPERTS in their field live and breathe their industry (probably like you love your industry!) If your marketing person is not passionate about marketing, how can they be passionate about marketing your company?

Alright, I could go on and on (I had about 13 before I decided to edit?:) BUT these are all questions that you should ask whomever you decide to have as your social media marketing expert!

Okay, here are a couple of more! Do they specialize in certain social media sites that work for their clients, do they have a graphic artist on staff, are they keeping up with the times or selling re-hashed stuff that worked 2 years ago but which has passed?okay, promise I am done!!!!

Oops?was putting the picture in the post and came up with?do they use social media for themselves? They do not have to have MILLIONS of connections but they should have a presence that you can find on each of the social media sites!

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing ? Social Media REAL Results
2. What is the difference between social media marketing and social networking
3. Social Media Marketing ? What Social Media Platforms Do You HAVE To Do?
4. Social Media Marketing Twitter Grader
5. How To Find Stuff To Post On Social Media

Source: http://marketingartfully.com/2012/07/17/10-things-to-ask-your-social-media-marketing-expert/

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