Three Steps for Hiring an In-House Social Media Marketer for Your School

Whether you’re looking to hire someone or have a staff member who you’ve asked to run your school’s social media, it’s important to make sure they’re going to actually help you meet your marketing goals. Someone who has 50,000+ followers on their own social media accounts is not a guarantee that they’ll be great at social media for your school.

You can’t underestimate the power your social media will have in your ability to attract new students and build your brand and reputation. You want someone who is trustworthy and knowledgeable to be running your school’s social media accounts. Here are our three steps to make sure the person you choose is the right fit.

1. Outline Your Social Media Goals

What are you trying to get out of investing time and money into social media? Answer this question to help you better assess if someone is the right fit during the interview process.

Here are common goals schools should have for social media:

• Help attract new students
• Keep current students engaged and enthusiastic about the school
• Provide information to those wondering how to attend school
• Sell why your school and its programs are great
• Build the school’s brand
• Build the school’s reputation
• Provide information to those who want salon services

2. Set your budget

Having an idea of the money you can invest into social media will help you determine what you have the power to do. Here are questions to help you think through how much you should set aside for social media each month:

• How much would a freelancer cost versus a current staff member?
• Do you have enough money for a monthly ads budget?*
• Are there any tools or software that you may need to purchase?
• How much would high-quality, professional photography and video cost if your social media team member doesn’t have these skill sets?

*You may also want to consider working with a digital marketing agency. If you’re giving yourself more than $1,000 per month for an ad budget, an agency can give you access to tools and optimizations that are cost prohibitive for small and even medium-sized schools.

A word of caution here: Facebook and Instagram make it very easy for anyone to put money behind a post and reach more people. This means that it’s also that easy for your competition and they’re likely already investing in social ads in some way.

In today’s climate, it’s not unreasonable for a school with one location to be spending $5,000 per month on social media between their ads budget and man hours. If those dollars help you get even just one or two additional enrollments a month, it’s worth it.

Plus, it’s likely that even if you can’t tie social media to direct enrollments, it will help boost searches for your name on Google which should lead to form fills on your website.

Interview Questions to Ask:

During the interview, you’ll want to ask the right questions. Here are a few tried and true questions you can use to determine if the person you want to hire has the skills you need to run your social media accounts:

• Do you have previous experience running social media accounts for a brand or business? (A personal account is very different.)
• Talk me through your process of growing an Instagram account.
• If we wanted to attract more students using social media, what are some strategies you would propose?
• Have you ever run paid ads on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube?
• How do you find the right followers for an Instagram account?
• Do you have photography or videography skills?
• Can you show me past social media accounts you’ve worked on and talk me through what you did for them?
• How long have you been doing social media marketing?
• How often will you be in my school?

3. Provide the Right Training and Set a Good Example for Students

If you’re looking to ask someone in-house to take care of your social media accounts, get started with the social media courses that Beauty as a Business offers. As part of these courses, you can learn posting best practices and make the most out of your marketing dollars.

While Beauty as a Business is designed for beauty school students, your teachers, admissions and marketing staff can benefit from taking the course, too. They can apply what they’ve learned to help you build your school’s social media presence.

Using our curriculum will help ensure whoever is running your school’s social media account is following best practices. Plus, it can give them the confidence to use tried and true strategies to show that your school is practicing what you preach: the importance of branding, marketing and using social media to be successful in the beauty industry.

You can order our courses online, or schedule a demo to see how to implement our courses into your curriculum and school. Learn more about how you can pair our courses with your current marketing strategy to set your school up for success on social media.