Landing A Job As A Social Media Manager: What Education And Background Do You Need
Social media managers come from all different backgrounds there is no one true path that will lead you to a career in this field. Many social media managers start as social media aficionados who turned their passion into a profession others may have experience in digital marketing and decide they want to specialize in social media.
While a degree or certificate in digital marketing is not a prerequisite to enter the field, both help provide the skills and knowledge you will need. However, plenty of social media managers have either learned on the job or have taught themselves the necessary skills.
To learn more about what it takes to work in social media, check out the following:
Now you can begin prepping for job interviews by practicing answers to typical questions you may be asked for a social media manager role, starting with general ones.
Why Is Knowing How To Impress An Interviewer Important
Knowing how to impress an interviewer is crucial, as it can increase your likelihood of getting the job you want. Presenting your skill set and experiences impressively is key to getting the job. Your interview might be your first encounter with the interviewer, so it’s necessary to show them you have the capabilities they’re searching for.
Public Relations Interview Questions And Answers
Interview questions for public relations jobs vary depending on specific roles and whether you’re seeking a job in traditional or digital PR. Some questions, of course, will come up with any public relations position. Interviewers will be eager, for example, to learn about your communication skills for any PR position to which you apply.
Get tips on how to prepare for your interview and more information on the differences between digital and traditional PR. Plus, review a list of common questions asked during interviews for PR positions.
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Research The Company And Position
Before attending an interview, you can research the company to find out information about them. Knowing their goals, visions, mission and products might increase your chances of passing the interview. Your research can help you tailor your answers to align with the company’s ideas. You can likely highlight your skills and attributes that can help the organisation achieve their objectives. Researching the company shows your interviewer your passion and eagerness to work for the company.
Tip #2 Decide What Is Most Important For You To Say
Post interview, it is not uncommon to remember certain things you wanted to say but didnt get a chance to bring up during the interview. To avoid this, you should make a list of the topics that you think are the most important for you to talk about in the interview. Practice bringing up those topics and how you would like to incorporate them through talking points. Even if it does not go exactly how you planned, just practicing them will make you more likely to remember to bring them up. It is also good to remember that you are the expert of the topic on handnot the interviewertherefore, if there is something you want to discuss, do your best to bring it up yourself.
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Dont Insults/diss Past Employers
If youve ever been unfairly fired or just had a bad employment experience, it can feel very good to vent your feelings on your blog or through some other social media platform. However, potential employers are sure to find these kinds of tirades and it can make them worry that youd do the same thing to them. Vent to a trusted friend instead.
If youre filling out a profile on a job search website and youre trying to explain why you were let go from a previous position, be extremely careful not to sound angry or bitter toward the company, even if they did wrong you. Keep your explanations vague and political. Saying The position was not the right fit for my personality sounds much better than saying My boss and I could never see eye to eye.
The Kind Of Stuff That Social Hire Do
We won’t just do social media management. Social Hire will work with you to ensure your business sees great value from the service and that your team gets the most out of the service. Our social media experts are driven by the desire to make a enhancements to your social media marketing and reaching targets in a way that realistically makes a difference to your business goals.
The social media marketers in our company are the best in the business at helping our partners enhance their online marketing. We outline and implement cutting-edge social media marketing plans that help our customers realise their organisational objectives and further their social media presence. Our experienced team of digital experts do your social media strategy creation and management in an uncomplicated monthly plan that is cost-effective and is genuinely useful, whatever results you demand from your marketing team.
Our group of specialists are an organisation that helps our clients boost their social media marketing by offering social media management services on a monthly basis.
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What Channels Do You Think Are Most Relevant To Our Business How Do You Use Each Channel Differently
This question should give you a sense of how thoughtful the professional is and how well they know major social media channels. The real answer is that it depends on what your business goals are and where your community is. The job of a social media specialist is to find and grow that community using strategies tailored to each platform, whether thats promoting a blog article on Facebook, using Twitter to field customer service requests, or sharing relevant content on Tumblr.
Good Research Is Essential For Your Success
To learn something about your prospective employer can help in every single interview. When you try to get a job of a social media manager, however, good research is absolutely crucial.
Try to learn as much as you can about their social media strategy:
- What channels do they use, and for how long .
- Their strategy on each channel .
- Engagement on each social media profile they run .
- Growth of each channel over time .
- Any viral campaigns they ran in last three years.
Once you do your research, you should be able to tell what you will do as their new social media manager. What is more, you should identify some areas for improvement , and you can talk about them in your interview.
Unless you do a proper research, you wont succeed. Now lets have a look at the questions they will ask you.
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Review Their Social Media Channels
Now that you have got some insight on what the company does, the next step is to make a list of all their campaigns from different categories on their social media channels.
Why do you need to do this? Because 9 out of 10 agencies will ask you to do a test either before or after your personal interview.
And this test will usually comprise of creating a Social Media Campaign around either one of their existing clients or a fictional one.
If youre fortunate then you might be asked to submit the campaign within a day or two, but there will be times when you wont get that privilege.
To test your creativity, a few companies may ask you to create campaigns in real time. They might give you an hour or so to do it, but trust me, that sort of pressure can be mentally exhausting.
Here is an example of the type of questions you might be asked as part of the campaign creation process:
1.) Create a Social Media Campaign for our Client XYZ Pizzas. You need to create a unique hashtag for this campaign as well.
- The aim of the campaign is to increase brand awareness and drive people to visit the pizza store.
- The content bank should be for 30 Days
2.) Create a 30-day campaign for the company Yoga Fit. A unique hashtag needs to be created that is relevant to the campaigns objectives.
3.) Write a Caption
- Pick two pictures from the Clients Facebook Page and write an appropriate caption for each image along with an appropriate hashtag
Questions About Your Experience With Social Media
Hard numbers always add credibility to your responses about your social media experience. Make sure you focus on key performance indicators that directly contribute to a companys bottom line instead of vanity metrics.
For example, if you grew your companys Instagram follower count by 20%, thats great, but if you were able to increase Instagram product sales by 20%, thats even more powerful!
Here are several questions you should rehearse before your interview:
- Tell me about your thought process for formulating a social media strategy
- Talk to me about a campaign that failed and how you would change it the next time around
- How do you juggle multiple campaigns?
- Tell me about a successful campaign you ran and how you were able to scale it or use your learnings for another campaign
- How do you decide what content to post and how frequently?
- What is your go-to strategy for tackling negative social media engagement?
- What relationships have you built with influencers, and how did you go about doing so?
With all these questions in hand, you may be wondering the best way to answer them. Keep reading for some handy samples you can refer back to when crafting your own responses!
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Describe Your Working Style
Possible answer
My style of working combines sincerity, promptness, and flexibility. I make sure that my activities for the day are planned in advance to the smallest detail. This helps me to respond to tasks immediately in a time-bound manner. However, I also keep some buffer time to allow for contingencies.
Teacher Interview Tip #: Give Yourself Some Grace
No matter how much you prepare for a teacher interview, something will probably catch you off guard. Its important not to let that make you feel like a failure. Everyone has room for growth.
In light of a hiccup, try not to beat yourself up. Sometimes interview panelists like to ask off-the-wall questions just to see how you react when caught off guard. Making light-hearted jokes and being able to roll with the punches even if an answer isnt perfect is an admirable quality. Potential employers appreciate people who dont take themselves too seriously and who can bounce back after a flounder. Plus, they generally dont expect perfection.
If you have a teacher interview approaching, take it seriously. Do some studying. Select an outfit. Clean up your social media. Mentally prepare and envision yourself in many scenarios. If you do, youll have a better chance of being offered the position. Above all, give yourself some grace.
What about you? Do you have teacher interview tips you can share? Wed love to hear about them in the comments.
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What Are Your Hobbies And Interests
What theyâre really asking: How will you get along with our team?
People spend a lot of time with their coworkers, and some teams value having colleagues they can engage with and relate to. Asking about your life outside of work can help your interviewer get a better sense of your personality and how well you might fit into the teamâs established dynamic.
This question is an opportunity to form a connection and open up about who you are and what you value. You may come upon some shared interests during your pre-interview research, or you may offer a hobby that is totally new to your interviewer.
Either way, try to show what youâre capable of when you feel passionateââand, even betterâwhat happens when you can carry elements of that passion into your work.
Other forms this question might take:
-
What is your greatest accomplishment outside of work?
-
What media do you consume?
How Do You Make Something Go Viral
Most people have seen a viral video online, likely including your hiring manager. Those who want to experience the same for their company may wonder how it’s done. Your answer to this question will give the interviewer an idea of how much you know about social media and pop culture, how viral videos work and how you can grow your social media accounts organically or without having to spend advertising dollars.
Example:“It’s sometimes difficult to know what exactly will go viral. Viral videos are seemingly random, but there are certain elements of a video that can give it a greater chance of going viral. When creating a video to share on social media, I would focus on making the first 10 to 20 seconds of the video highly appealing so you can capture the viewers’ attention.
I’d be sure that it’s shared online at a very relevant time both for the content of the video and for when most people are online to digest content. It’s also a good idea to include a catchy phrase that viewers will remember and want to use in their own interactions. Video teasers and sharing the video with influential members of the blogging or media communities can help too.”
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Don’t Be Afraid To Do Multiple Takes Or Stop Filming
Many people are nervous about being filmed, so make sure to tell them that you can film for as long as you need. If an interview subject loses his or her train of thought, simply try the question again. Also dont be afraid to stop if a loud noise like a barking dog or a car horn interrupts your filming. Audio is very difficult to edit after the fact, so get it right the first time.
Showcase Your Maturity In Crisis Management
At times, interviewers like to know how youll react in times of crisis. So, what should you do if they ask you how youd respond to negative comments on social media? Or maybe even a troll?
In the case of negative comments, its important to respond to them quickly. Ensure you communicate the urgency of an immediate response during your social media marketing interview. According to a report by Smart Insights, the first few hours constitute a crucial window to try and turn the situation around. Explain to the interviewers that the company should have a crisis communication plan to address the comment based on its severity. Your approach should be to take the conversation offline, if immediate resolution cant be offered.
And when discussing managing trolls, never indicate the intention to engage them and win an argument. No official social handle is the place for a mud slinging match with trolls.
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Sample Interview Questions And Answers
Review these sample interview questions and answers to help you form your own responses:
- How would you handle a negative customer review or comment?
- How do you make something go viral?
- Explain how social media and SEO work together for a successful brand campaign.
- Which teams have you worked with in the past to bring a social media campaign to life?
Now That You Know Some Things Not To Do Lets Discuss What You Should Do
- Allow the interviewer to ask their question before you respond to it. It not only shows respect to your interviewer but also gives you time to gather up your thoughts before you answer.
- Though you may think you know what the question is, do not switch off and assume you know the answer. Even if you are right, its important to listen to the question they are asking you, ensure you fully understand it before giving your answer. If you are unsure of what they are asking you, ask for clarification and then take a few seconds to gather your response. Employers prefer you to take the time to understand their question and answer well rather than rushing into an answer and not providing a good response.
- Use those handy dandy questions you prepared during your interview prep, and ask them at the end of the interview. Remember, have at least 3 ready!
- When it comes to answering interview questions, elaborate on your answer. This is an excellent opportunity for you to show how your previous work experience and skill set is relevant to the position you are applying for. By highlighting this, you are showing your interviewer why you are a good fit for the job, how you can transfer your skill set to this new position and be a valuable employee to the company.
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Social Media Assistant Interview Questions
Social media assistants work in the marketing department to plan and execute social media campaigns. The social media assistant also uses analytics to see how successful campaigns are.
When interviewing social media assistants, the ideal candidate should have experience using social media platforms for business. Be wary of candidates who are unwilling to learn about new industry innovations and software.
- Completely free trial, no card required.
- Reach over 250 million candidates.
Are You Willing To Work Overtime
This is a dicey question and needs to be handled smartly. Don’t show that you are unavailable, also don’t jump in to say you will be always available to work. Show how you feel about working on weekends and how you will work on nights shifts for completing your assignments if needed.
Possible answer
I understand that being asked to work for extended hours will be accompanied by a good reason. If my extra efforts help the company, I will be delighted to do so.
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