We talk a lot about what questions to ask a social media consultant before you hire them. But what about after you hire them? What should you ask to make sure that things are on the right track? And what should you ask to make sure you are learning from your social media consultant?
Let’s talk about some questions that will help you start a fruitful relationship with your consultant.
Who are we marketing to?
They have all the details. You’ve answered their questions either by an interview or a questionnaire. They’ve looked at your social media accounts. Basically, they know the intricacies of what is going on with your organization’s marketing. It’s time to ask them who they plan on targeting.
If your gut reaction to this is that you already know who your audience is, that is not the point of this question. The point is to see what your consultant has to say. Find out how they describe your audience and what color they give to them.
Why do you need to hear it from their own mouth? Because this affects everything they will post. The networks you’re on, what kind of content is posted, the voice used, etc. is all dependent upon who that audience is. So check out the consultant has to say and give some pointers from your experience where applicable. This will help stop a lot of problems before they even begin.
Why are we on this social network?
I’ve come into several new accounts that have included starting a brand new social network, many times at my urging but sometimes the client wanted it. If I have initiated it, there is always a good reason. That’s not always the case with the client, but if I have agreed to the contract, then I know they should be on that network.
Why do you need to ask why? We are all working with limited resources, especially in this economy. You don’t want any effort to be wasted. So if you are creating content specifically for a certain network, then everyone should have a clear grasp of the why around it.
And you should feel comfortable asking the opposite question: Why aren’t we on this social network? Ignore the social media consultant if they groan a little bit. It’s sometimes a knee jerk reaction to these kinds of questions. But it is valid to ask and they should provide you an answer based on who your audience is and where they tend to engage. If they don’t, it’s a big red flag that they are probably not a great fit for you.
What should I know that will make your job easier?
I wish clients asked this. I’m honestly more likely to hear that a client doesn’t want to learn anything. That means we likely won’t ever be on the same page, and our relationship is more likely to be short-term. All of the clients I have had for multiple years have had one thing in common: They wanted to learn.
Why does this make my job easier? I’m a social media news addict. When I see a new feature, I want to try it out if its applicable and see how it works for our audience. If I have to start from the beginning to justify trying something like a new feature every time this kind of opportunity comes up, it gets frustrating. But if I am building off of knowledge you already have, we become much more agile. We can work faster and smarter. That is huge in social media.
If you ask to learn more about what your social media consultant is doing and they get uncomfortable with that, there are probably a couple things going on here. The first is that they feel uncomfortable in their job and think that you are asking this because you want to take social media back in-house. I would assure them that is not what is going on. And then let them know how you want to learn as much as you can to be a better partner for them. This should be enough. If it’s not, keep being proactive and this will hopefully get figured out.
The other issue might be that the consultant is overprotective of social media. They don’t want to include you and want to be in a silo by themselves. A silo will only do bad things to your social media. So if you see this is starting to happen, have a one-on-one as soon as possible to re-examine each other’s expectations. Get back on the same page and keep looking for signs they’re going back into their silo.
What do you need from me to be successful?
Those initial conversations are usually client-focused and are about what the client’s definitions of success are. But what happens if you flip those questions around to what would make the consultant feel successful?
Your consultant will feel respected. A respected consultant is one that will go above and beyond whenever possible for a client.
Communication between you and your consultant will be more effective. The consultant will feel comfortable bringing more to you because they know you will listen. And that increased communication means that you are more likely to get more experimental, interesting work from them, in addition to those posts they know will work. Magic happens in those experiments, because they’re likely something your audience has never seen before.
And your consultant is more likely to stay with you long-term. Clients who respect you and communicate with you are rare. A social media consultant won’t want to let go once they have one under contract. That will save you time and money, because if the consultant is a fit for you as well, you won’t have to find a new one anytime soon.
What questions did you ask your new social media consultant?