Many people incorrectly assume that social media managers play on Facebook all day. As one yourself, you know this couldn’t be further from the truth!
Your job involves a lot of strategic planning, creativity, money management and reporting know-how. And when it comes time for interviews, the pressure is on to impress— as the candidate pool is often full.
Stand out by preparing your answers to the most common interview questions for a social media manager role:
1. What’s your favorite brand on social media? What about their marketing do you like?
This answer is common, but has the ability to make or break a prospect social media manager from landing the job. Far too many candidates will pick a cliched choice, like Apple. Although Apple’s brand is highly admired, it can be a clear differentiation between a legitimate social manager and an amateur who Google searched common answers to this question.
If you’re interviewing for a marketing agency, for example, you might say HubSpot’s Instagram account, because you love the way they handwrite inspiring quotes in their orange branded office space and pair it with logo-stamped swag. Give them a reason why, like how it sets them apart from the overused stock photos other CRMs post. Come prepared with a visual example— like this post!— to show rather than just tell.
Don’t be afraid to get creative, but still pick a company close to the industry you’re applying for. It’s not only your chance to give the interviewer a taste of inspirational mojo, but it also showcases your taste and personality.
2. How have you improved your company’s brand in the past?
Sure, “brand awareness” posts are certainly a thing, but that’s not gonna cut it here!
This question, while very open-ended, is an excellent time to tell a story of a struggle, if your company had one, and how you helped them overcome it.
For example, if a past employer struggled with consistency and professionalism because they had interns managing their social presence before you, paint the problem and outline your incredible turnaround— how you implemented a strategy and started reporting tangible results.
3. Tell me about one of your most successful social campaigns.
The interviewer wants to see here that you have a sense of strategy behind your actions. Perhaps your past company desperately needed new followers on Facebook, specifically younger users to diversify its audience.
Tell the interviewer how you worked with your team’s designer to make attention-grabbing ads and displayed them only for your targeted demographic. Get into some details here, with specific age ranges or locations. Show them how you ensured accuracy of budget spend, to support your goal.
Pair it with your clever retargeting ads and you’re sure to impress. Your prospective boss wants to see the long game you’re playing, and how your efforts extend, transform and grow based on the results of one campaign to the next.
4. How do you handle negative comments or reviews?
As a social media manager, you are interacting with your brand’s audience— and they’re not always happy. People often use social media as an outlet for their frustrations, Tweeting angry messages at companies, leaving nasty Facebook reviews or hashtagging passive aggressive comments on Instagram.
You’ll never want to say you ignore or delete these messages, as your audience will retaliate. Plus, you jeopardize your authenticity by only showing positive feedback. Poor reviews can really affect your SEO and it’s up to you to respond quickly and with empathy, offer an apology and move the conversation to the right person offline if necessary. Rely on real-life examples to demonstrate your strategy for defusing.
It doesn’t hurt to brush up on brand reputation crisis strategies and recent PR disasters in case the interview asks you what you would do in an ugly situation.
5. How do you measure ROI?
If an interviewer asks this specifically, they’re really looking for you to put your money where your mouth is.
Here’s when you can talk about your previous social budgets and how you allocated the funds towards different campaigns. They want to see data, or proven results.
What metrics did you track? If it was engagement, leads, conversions, what did you use to track them? This is your segway to talk about your impressive knowledge of industry-savvy tools. Did you use HootSuite to schedule posts to save your company time? Maybe you reference Google Analytics to show what traffic came from social or ran ads.
Also, this is where you demonstrate teamwork with sales, and how you collected leads by sending users to forms with calls-to-actions. Remember, impressions and views are great, but they don’t necessarily turn into profits— i.e. what this interviewer wants to see!
Are You the Right Fit?
Nervous about your interview? There’s certainly a lot that goes into the process, including preparing an answer to your “biggest weakness” question and avoiding body language mistakes— to name a few.
Help reduce some of those nerves and get greater peace of mind by knowing you’re matched with a great company fit. How do you do that? With GoGig.
GoGig is an anonymous job search tool that uses a specially designed algorithm to match candidates skills and personality types to companies looking to hire. Your GoGig personality profile pairs you with other organizations who share your values and passion, helping to ensure better connections.
Sign up for your free profile and discover your next social media career, today!
