Hiring guide
How to Hire a Social Media Manager
Where to find social media managers, the content, community and analytics skills to test, a content plan work sample, red flags and onboarding tips.
The short answer
Hiring a Social Media Manager comes down to verifying platform knowledge for your channels, including formats, posting norms and what each audience responds to, content planning with a calendar tied to campaigns and business goals and creating short-form video, graphics and copy, or briefing designers and creators to do it before you commit interview time. The process below runs 5 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Measures success only in followers or likes, with no link to traffic, leads or sales
- Watch for: Shares account examples they cannot show they managed
- Score on: Fit of the content plan with your audience and goals
- Score on: Quality of the draft posts and platform-native thinking
Paste your Social Media Manager job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →If you are ready to hire a social media manager, decide first which platforms matter for your audience and whether the job is mainly organic content, community management, paid social or all three. A social media manager for a B2B software company on LinkedIn needs different strengths from one running TikTok and Instagram for a consumer brand. This guide covers where to find candidates, the skills to test, a content plan work sample, red flags and how to onboard a social media manager so they can post with confidence.
Why this role matters
Social media is often the first place customers, candidates and journalists see your brand, and it moves fast. A good social media manager plans content around business goals, keeps a consistent voice, answers comments and messages, spots problems early and reports what actually drives results. A weak one chases follower counts, posts the same thing everywhere or reacts badly in public when something goes wrong.
Where to find candidates
- LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok themselves: look at the accounts and personal channels of people who are good at the platform you need
- Holders of Meta Blueprint certifications, and graduates of HubSpot Academy or Hootsuite Academy social media courses, for platform knowledge
- CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) members and marketing graduates, for broader marketing grounding
- Social media agencies, where managers run several brands and build range
- Freelance marketplaces such as Upwork and Contra, for part-time or contract cover
- Referrals from creators and agencies you already work with
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Measures success only in followers or likes, with no link to traffic, leads or sales
- Shares account examples they cannot show they managed
- Plans to post identical content on every platform
- Has no process for approvals, brand voice or crisis response
- Responds defensively when asked about a post that went badly
- Asks to keep personal ownership of company accounts or logins
The interview process
- 1
Screening call
Ask which accounts they have run, on which platforms, with what goals and what they did themselves versus with a team or agency.
- 2
Account audit
Ask them to review your current social channels before the interview and share three things they would keep, stop and start.
- 3
Content plan work sample
Give a real upcoming launch or campaign and ask for a two-week content plan for your main platform, with three draft posts and how they would measure success. A job simulation of the planning and writing work is one option if you are comparing several candidates.
- 4
Community and crisis scenario
Show a mock negative comment thread or complaint and ask how they would respond, who they would involve and what they would post.
- 5
References
Ask past managers about results, reliability, judgement under pressure and how the candidate worked with legal or PR.
Cohesyve
Start the Social Media Manager interviews from a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Social Media Manager job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Fit of the content plan with your audience and goals
- Quality of the draft posts and platform-native thinking
- Sound judgement in the community and crisis scenario
- Measurement plan tied to business outcomes
- Insight from the account audit
- Reference feedback on judgement and consistency
Onboarding
- 1Give access through business tools such as Meta Business Suite and LinkedIn page admin roles, never personal logins
- 2Share the brand voice guide, approval steps and a list of topics to avoid
- 3Agree a crisis process: who to alert, who approves responses and when to pause scheduled posts
- 4Agree the few metrics you will review each month
- 5Introduce them to sales, support and product so they can find stories and hear customer questions
Common questions
Should I hire a freelance social media manager or a full-time one?
A freelancer suits a small business with one or two channels and steady content. A full-time manager suits brands that need daily community management, several platforms or close work with other teams.
What certifications should a social media manager have?
None is required. Meta Blueprint, HubSpot Academy and Hootsuite Academy courses show platform knowledge, but past accounts, results and a work sample are better evidence.
What is the difference between a social media manager and a social media marketer?
Titles overlap. A manager usually owns the channels, calendar and community day to day. A marketer often focuses more on campaigns and paid social. Check the scope in each candidate's past roles.
How do I test a social media manager?
Give a real upcoming campaign and ask for a short content plan with draft posts and a measurement plan, then run a community scenario to test judgement.
Who should own the social media accounts?
The company should. Set accounts up under company business profiles and add the manager as an admin, so access can be changed when people leave.
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