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Social Media Manager Red Flags

Contrary to popular belief, not all social media managers are created equal. Each social media manager has their own specialities, their own niche and their own methods of operation. With this comes not only incredible social media managers, but also some social media managers that may not be the best to work with.


Here are six social media manager red flags to keep an eye out for:


  1. They Don't Explain Vanity Metrics Vanity metrics are a portion of your analytics that tend to make your account LOOK like its more successful than it actually is. This can include follower count, likes, views, etc. while it’s amazing to have high numbers for all of those things, if they aren’t translating to new customers or community building, they’re virtually useless. Some social media managers will show you these numbers and claim that they are the only metrics for success and this just isn't the case.

  2. They Promise Unrealistic Growth I’m sure you’ve seen the videos that boast gaining 10k followers in 3 days. That's incredible for those accounts, but unfortunately that doesn’t usually translate to customers, nor is it a realistic growth measurement for a normal account. When a piece of content goes viral you can gain genuine followers but you always gain a lot of bot accounts or ghost followers that won’t actually interact with your content moving forward.

  3. They Don't Give You a Say in YOUR Content PLEASE listen to your social media manager, they do know what they’re doing, BUT if you aren’t allowed any say in the content you’re making, what’s the point? It’s your business you should know what’s being created to represent it and you should be involved. If you feel that the content being pitched to you or created for your account doesn't represent you or your business and just seems to be aiming to get more followers, you need to speak up and make sure your ideas are heard.

  4. They Don't Discuss Failed Content Along with Successful Content Failed content is just, if not more, important than successful content! Successful content is awesome because it means that you created something that resonated with your audience or a new audience. Failed content is even better sometimes because it means you either experimented with a new type of content and it didn't work, or your audience is no longer connecting with your content. This absolutely needs to be discussed with your social media manager because it allows everyone to come up with new, exciting ideas moving forward. If your social media manager is glossing over failed content, or making excuses for the content, this is a big red flag. They should be using failed content to teach you and to learn themselves how to make something that connects better with your audience.

  5. They Use Other Accounts to Boost Your Analytics Now, this one is a fine line to walk. I don't have any problem if a social media manager likes your content from either their business or their personal account. That's supportive and honestly very normal in the industry. Unfortunately, I've noticed a trend with some red flag social media managers where they will use other accounts that they manage to like their clients content. This is wildly problematic for multiple reasons. One, it inflates analytics and makes a client's analytics basically fake because they aren't getting real likes, it's just the same person liking their content from different accounts. Two, it's unethical. Social media manager's main job is to establish an online presence for a brand and to create a community around that brand, if the "community" interacting with a post is just your social media manager from different accounts, what community are you actually building? Also, this can make the other accounts look like their in favor of something, they may just not be. Lastly, it's cheating a client and a breach of trust. If you're paying a social media manager good money to create content and help you build a community and they're using their other accounts to interact with your content, what are you really paying for? If you notice a social media manager doing this, RUN!

  6. They Try to Change Your Brand Everyone has their own idea of what a brand should look like. Many social media managers also have a general aesthetic they use for most of their content. When these two things mix it can be really good or really bad. A good social media manager will really get to know you and your business. They'll understand what's important to you about your business and the type of content that will work best for your branding and your overall vibe. A red flag social media manager will try to shape-shift your brand to fit the content they know how to make. Whether they specialize in your niche or not, if you and a social media manager come to an agreement and decide to work together, they should be able to adapt to your branding and be able to create content that truly reflects you.

Have you noticed any other social media manager red flags?

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