Social Media Manager?

[Gemma Rowlands]

Has anyone actually hired someone with the sole purpose of being their social media manager?

I have a friend who is considering this so I told him I'd ask! He wants to know whether it's better to hire someone who would be in the office (and more up to date with the business and what's going on, etc) or whether he should hire a freelancer and ask them to make a couple of posts per day. I've said to opt for a freelancer first to see how it goes, but I'm not sure whether he will go for that option or not!

Is there much point in hiring someone like this? I would have thought that it would be beneficial to have some interaction!

 

[Branded Merchandise]

I've never hired one but thought I'd throw in my thoughts:

I may be ignorant here but I've always felt that social media is something that should be managed in-house. A social media manager doesn't know the business, the brand and its goals. I feel it's something that the business should allocate in-house, whether that be one person or responsibility spread across a few people.

Unless of course, a social media manager can say 'If you appoint me, I can improve your sales by x amount' I am unlikely to want to hire one

If he is going to hire one, I think someone in the office is ideal. However, if it is cheaper to get a freelancer to do it, then perhaps he could get them to come into the office for a couple of days at the beginning. That way they can see the business and understand the brand etc

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

Yep I absolutely agree that they need to know the business, but I worry that the cost difference between them and a freelancer would outweigh the benefits. Of course it depends very much on what you'd be using social media for. If it's keeping in touch with customers then that's one thing, but if it's very specific to your business then yes, potentially a freelancer wouldn't have enough knowledge about what you were about to be able to fill that role.