Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble

Welcome to the 2nd post in our Halloween series - Social Media Tales from Beyond!  If you missed the first post, you'll definitely want to check out This Blog Post is Haunted to get some great tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of hiring a content creator! .  Ready to begin?  Hold onto your seats and prepare to be terrified and educated by Bubble, Bubble Toil and Trouble...

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It was a dark and stormy night when Darren decided he just couldn't take it anymore.  He had been working with a social media virtual assistant for about a year with absolutely no results.  He had jumped on the social media band wagon because all of his friends told him it was what he had to do.  Every article he read about social promised huge results just for his participation so he had gone online and found a reasonably priced social media manager to get him started.

She seemed quite knowledgeable at first.  She had written a few ebooks and told him about all the other people she was training to do social media.  She promised to build viral buzz around his business and create organic conversations by engaging potential clients and leveraging the influencers in his industry.  She was going to crowdsource new ideas for him and achieve real ROI for his efforts.  That sounded good to Darren.  But as the days went by he became less than enchanted by the things she was doing.

First of all she insisted that creating a contest that would go viral and spread the word about his products was a great way to go.  He went along with it but never quite understood how it was going to bring him new business.  It seemed he just kept giving away things for free but never got any customers out of it.  She told him not to worry. She had things under control.

She signed him up for Snapchat, created a presence for him on multiple platforms, starting talking QR codes, mobile marketing, Instagram Reels and the list just got longer.  Darren wasn't certain what she was doing at first.  It all sounded complicated and the buzz words she used seemed to be the ones he kept hearing all around him, so Darren just trusted she knew what she was doing.  Darren made a mistake.

A year later, after running multiple contests that he didn't understand and hearing tons of "great" ideas, Darren's business was no better off than it had been before.  He decided he'd had enough and reached out to a larger company to ask who they were using.  They recommended Darren to a new social media marketing firm and that's when he learned the truth of what had been happening with his business.

The Horror!

With a more qualified company looking into Darren's social media activities, he found multiple problems!

1.       Darren's Facebook contests had all been illegal contests!  His social media manager hadn't been following Facebook's guidelines for the contests so Darren was in danger of losing his entire page full of fans!

2.       His social accounts were also in danger of being shut down because his social media manager had been spamming people with tons of marketing messages!

3.       His accounts weren't linked, his lists weren't being utilized and NO actual conversations were happening on Darren's behalf!

4.       Nothing was being tracked in any measurable way! Darren's analytics weren't being utilized and he had no way of knowing how much traffic his efforts were even bringing him!

5.       When Darren requested a list of all the sites his social media manager had signed him up for along with the passwords, she sent him a few brief emails with statements like "Oh, I signed you up for all the standard accounts" along with a couple of passwords that ended up not working at all when he tried them!

Darren had lost complete control of his voice online, had no way of knowing exactly where she had created a presence for him and had no way to access many of his own social media sites!!

The Fix

Finding a good social media manager can be tough but there are some things you can do to ensure you get a knowledgeable assistant.  First of all, take a look at these questions to ask before hiring your next social media virtual assistant .  Then, once you've found the right person, be sure to do the following:

1.       Be a participant in your own social media strategy! Be very concerned about the virtual assistant who pushes your concerns aside and tries to pacify you with an explanation of "Don't worry your pretty little head about it! I'm the expert! I know what I'm doing!" If you feel as though your concerns aren't being addressed and you aren't being taken seriously then find someone else to help you!

2.       Ask how your efforts are being tracked.  Will she provide you with a spreadsheet each month? Is Google Analytics set up with Goals so you can monitor what your web visitors are doing? Make sure you ask for these services when you engage his/her services.  Your results will differ depending on your strategy and the type of work your assistant is handling for you.  If you are paying her a small sum to schedule your tweets and posts then you can't expect she will provide you with detailed analytics about the number of sales you are receiving.  If, however, she is managing a full strategy for you, then she should be providing you with more detailed reports including click through's, web traffic coming from each social site, etc.

3.       Take a look at your own sites periodically.  Coordinate efforts with your social media virtual assistant so you can tweet and post as often as you would like.  WARNING: No assistant should ever tell you NOT to post on your own accounts!  Look at the content she is sharing as well.  If it doesn't look right to you then immediately address it with your assistant and help determine what changes should take place.

4.       Ask for a copy of your password spreadsheet quarterly.  On occasion passwords have to be changed (and should be changed) for a variety of reasons.  Each quarter ask your social media manager to provide you with a new spreadsheet of passwords.  Log into your accounts with your passwords and make certain everything is working properly.

5.       If your account is being worked properly then from time to time people should be reaching out to you with questions.  Your virtual assistant should be monitoring your accounts actively and sending you any comments or questions that need your expertise (you'll want to make sure this is part of your contract when you hire your VA).  If a year has gone by and no one has reached out to you for any reason, this could indicate that your social networking accounts aren't being managed the way they should be. Log in and take a look at your private messages, sent messages, posts, etc. and make certain it looks like a real live person is working on the account.

6.       Pay attention to the amount of time it takes your social media manager to respond to your questions.  Virtual assistants work on projects and often schedule times throughout the day to answer emails all in bulk instead of trying to answer every client email as soon as they come in.  Don't be terribly concerned if it takes several hours to get a response.  In some instances (depending on how often you email and what time you email) you may even wait 24 hours for a response if it isn't urgent.  This is nothing out of the ordinary.  If, however, you frequently wait several days or a week to get responses because your VA is off at speaking engagements, conferences, etc. then this could be a huge clue that your accounts aren't getting the personal attention they need.  Some automation is always used to get you the best and most effective results, however, your social accounts require a real, live human being logging into them and working on them in order to make them truly successful.  If your wait times are unacceptable, address this with your social media manager and get the issue resolved ASAP.

DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind that if you consistently email your assistant asking her to repeat what she's already addressed with you or if you are constantly asking her to find past emails you can't locate, repeat exactly what she's doing for you and repeatedly ask for brainstorming sessions, then you may find yourself on a low priority list for her responses.  Unless you are paying her to be your personal mentor, then a successful social media manager won't have time to babysit you or be your personal sounding board on a daily basis.  Be mindful of her time and make your communication with her efficient and productive for the both of you. 

These are just a few of the things you can do to protect yourself from paying for work that doesn't happen or hiring a social media manager who may not know what they are doing.  And never be afraid to request a meeting with your own social media virtual assistant to ask questions and get your concerns addressed.  Any reputable social media manager will happily meet with you periodically to re-work your strategy and address any concerns you may have. 

What other concerns have you encountered when hiring a social media virtual assistant?  Share them here!  We'd love to help!