Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest… which way do you communicate with customers? Are you doing it consistently? Are you tracking your social media presence through KPIs, and what are those KPIs? If you've asked yourself or your workmates these questions, you know it is all in the job of social media manager/specialist. In short, such a marketer adds to the marketing strategy by identifying and acquiring customers through social media. If you're looking into getting a job in SMM, make sure to come to the interview prepared.
- How would you describe social media marketing?
SMM is basically the properly informed use of social media platforms to interact with customers to build up brand awareness and/or loyalty, drive sales and/or website traffic. It combines such aspects as target audiences, business goals, content strategy, design, analytics. Accordingly, the role of a social media specialist is to execute a social media strategy, publish content on social media channels, utilize suitable social trends, monitor all channels, respond to customer feedback, and build the community around a brand.
- What skills should a social media manager have?
He or she should be well versed in graphic design, video editing, copywriting, email marketing, etc. but first and foremost, creativity. Analytical mindset comes next, as there's always a huge amount of customer data gathered. And of course, the knowledge of all the software and tools of the trade, of which there are quite plenty.
- How to keep track of social media trends?
As TikTok is ever increasing in popularity, social listening tools are emerging to better understand audiences, and sales through social media networks are going up, it is an absolute must for a SMM specialist to stay on top of things. It could be achieved by subscribing to relevant sources of tech and media news, getting periodic reports and insights from trusted sources, and overall staying open and vigilant on everything around.
- What social media tools/strategies would you use?
Hubspot is great for customer relationship management, we can start there as the basis. Tools like SocialPilot or Buffer are very helpful to automate and manage marketing strategies across multiple networks simultaneously. Feedly, Planable and Loomly are useful social media calendars for organization. Curata and UpContent when you need content suggestions based on browsing history and preferences. Rebrandly or Bitly for URL shortening. Canva, Fotor, InVideo, Animoto, etc. for visuals. There's too many to mention.
- Which social media platform do you consider best?
It depends. Instagram or Twitter might be my personal favorite, however if I were to work in the technology industry or hiring, LinkedIn would be the most effective one. Or the following situation may be plausible as well: for sharing personal opinions and interaction with followers it is Twitter/X, yet for social media marketing it is definitely Instagram since there we can visually represent products to customers directly with better conversion rate.
- What is engagement?
Social media engagement is basically likes, comments, and shares on a post or a video. At the same time the target is not just likes, but a sustainable long-term relationship (brand loyalty). This could be measured by click-throughs (CTRs), brand mentions, brand hashtags, personal recommendations, etc.
- What KPIs are used in SMM?
These are metrics that indicate how social media strategies are performing. One cannot apply and monitor all the possible metrics at once, thus selecting KPIs depends on social networks and business goals, e.g. views on TikTok and number of minutes watched on YouTube video are two totally different stories. Overall, popular KPIs in social media are new followers, impressions, audience growth rate, website referral traffic, clicks (any interaction), public mentions, comments, conversion rate, leads, sales, click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate, cost per click (CPC), customer satisfaction score (CSAT).
- How to identify a target audience?
This is the #1, the basis for any marketing strategy to stay on track and stay sound. Defining target customers includes age, gender, location, interests, challenges, preferences, trade, etc. Some of the ways to learn more about the audience are online research about their activity, focus groups surveys, competition research to know how a target customer base interacts with other similar brands, social listening tools to study hashtags and keywords, A/B test campaigns to see what works better, and of course, revision and refinement from time to time.
- What would you do to generate leads?
To get a potential customer to leave his/her email or phone number in return for information of interest, we can use online ads, discounts/coupons/special offers, newsletters with subscription, content as lead magnets, social media contests.
- Can TikTok and Instagram reels be leveraged for business?
Yes, this is the top #1, red-hot (whatever you call it) trend in social media right now. 50 minutes per session on Instagram reels - the statistic speaks volumes. However, this does not mean reels are beneficial for all businesses/brands. It might work in many cases for young audiences, not for elderly. One has to take into account the type of company, products, audience, location, preferences, etc. to make it work.
- Do you have any tips to improve Facebook reach?
I would consider the following: stop using 3rd-party tools for posting and post scheduling, increase likes (for example by asking to leave likes in exchange for access to valuable content for free), improve Facebook EdgeRank which determines which posts get more visibility in users' feed, buying and running Facebook ads
- How can Facebook EdgeRank be improved?
Keep posts brief - between 100-250 characters, to get more likes/comments/shares. Use better visuals, i.e. photos and videos. Ask followers for their opinion in relation to your content. Post daily or frequently enough to reach the audience, at the same time try not to be pushy - post about your services and products only.
- How do you deal with negative comments?
Always respond timely/quickly, that is within the first 24 hours to be precise. Be real: justify your content if it is proper/legitimate and apologize if a mistake was made. Prepare crisis FAQ, it may be a web page with all the information, for instance point on acknowledgment of crisis, potential scenarios and/or reasons, actions to be taken in response, documentation and fixation. Reply once or twice, there should not be a third reply to the same person.
- How would you manage a company's social media presence?
First, I'd check if a company is present on relevant social media networks (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and if the company information is up-to-date including links, contacts, logo. Then encourage all employees, including from all divisions or franchises, to have personal profiles on those social networks and advocate for the brand. Depending on goals, I'd decide on things like frequency of posting, type of content, audience engagement options.
- How to verify the quality of content?
A checklist would be a helpful thing to introduce, especially for visual posts. In it, information to consider would be this: proper resolution for image/video (1280×1280 px min.), uniform colors, appropriate filters, authenticity (e.g. posts with people's faces perform 40% better), correct captions for engagement, etc.