Don’t Invest in Done-For-You Social Media Until You Ask These Questions

You’re here, so I assume you’re considering done-for-you social media. Which is another way of saying social media management or ongoing social media marketing.

First of all, congrats! And welcome. Deciding to invest in your business can feel scary and daunting, but speaking from experience, it’s always worth it. And usually if you’re considering a big investment like done-for-you social media, you’ve experienced a lot of growth lately and that alone is worth celebrating.

While nobody knows your CPG business like you do, keep reading for the questions to ask before hiring a social media strategist.

Questions to Ask Yourself as a CPG Founder

#1 Do I Have The Foundations?

The foundations include brand strategy, a functioning website with a low-friction checkout, and a product photographer. Those are the absolute bare minimum essentials to working with a social media strategist. Social media is just one piece of your business and for optimal results, requires those foundations.

#2 How Long Have I Been in Business?

Every business and every founder is different. While you might want to invest in a social media strategist right away, others manage their socials for a couple of years before passing it to a dedicated strategist. 

The latter is what I recommend and it works well for two reasons.

1. While managing your social media, you’ll speak directly to your customers. You’ll gain firsthand insight into who your customer is, what they want, and how you can best serve them. That information is invaluable when you’ve just started your business. 

2. You’ll learn what social media deliverables work best for your brand. Do your customers engage more on Instagram stories or grid posts? Reels or memes? Understanding where your target audience is will help you choose the right social media strategist and the right deliverables.

I recommend waiting to work with a social media strategist until your business is about 2-3 years old. From my experience, that’s the sweet spot where a social media strategist can make the biggest impact on your growth. 

#3 Why Do I Want to Invest in Done-for-You Social Media?

Understanding why you’re building your team will help you find the best social media strategist for you while also providing clarity to your social media strategist about how they can help. 

It’ll also tell you if there’s other ways to invest in your business that’ll make a bigger impact. For example, perhaps what you really need is social media consulting, an Instagram Account Audit, or templates to make your marketing workflow easier.

#4 Do I Have Clearly Defined Business Goals for the Next 6-12 Months? 

You know that having a deep understanding of where your business is and where you want to be is vital for success but it’s also important for growing your team. A clear idea of what success means to you will create a smooth, streamlined experience for both you and your social media strategist because you’ll both be on the same page. 

And when you have a clear understanding of your business and your goals, you can get more out of your marketing. 

Questions to Ask the Strategists You’re Interviewing

When you book a discovery call, consider it an interview. You’re interviewing the strategist to see if they’re the best fit for your business, and they’re doing the same. Below are four questions I recommend asking. To give you a general idea of what you’re looking for, I’ll respond as if you’re interviewing myself.

#1 How Many Done-For-You Social Media Clients Do You Work With At Once?

This tells you how intentional a strategist is about dedicating the necessary resources to ensure each client has a smooth experience and strong results. At Seen & Shared, we take on no more than four clients per month.

#2 What Changes Would You Recommend Immediately?

This lets you know how familiar they are with your brand, it gives you insight to their approach, and clues you in on how much prep they’ve done prior to this call. You shouldn’t expect a full strategy, 2-3 recommendations tells you they did their research.

#3 How Do You Measure Results?

You want a return, right? This is how you get it. Figure out what their monthly reporting system is like, how frequently they update your strategy (hint: it should be an ongoing process), and what they do to ensure you’re hitting your goals.

At Seen & Shared, all clients receive a monthly analytics report with strategy updates and recommendations throughout. The report includes key takeaways for the month and any important marketing updates or news like features, best practices, and industry standards. For clients on the Visibility and Scale Plans, we review this report together in our 1-hour strategy call.

#4 How Do You Make Sure You Stay Up to Date?

As a strategist, one of the perks of working for a company is they cover continuing education costs like workshops, expos, conferences, digital products, and courses.

As an agency, we absorb that cost ourself because even though we’re online 24/7, that’s not enough to be on top of it all. At Seen & Shared, we invest in all of those resources, especially workshops, digital products, courses, and certifications, along with making sure we’re learning new software tools to improve your business results and your experience while working with us.

Your Next Steps

To learn more about social media management, click here.

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Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, a CPG social media strategist with over 10 years of experience. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

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