When Should Accounting Firms Hire a Dedicated Social Media Manager?

 

Accounting firms realize they need a social media presence, but knowing when to hire a full-time social media manager can be tricky.

This article covers the signs it’s time to bring on dedicated staff and how they can amplify digital marketing for chartered accountants.

The question of when to hire a full-time social media manager is complex.

Generally, it makes sense once social platforms and community engagement become too demanding for current staff. The skills involved also warrant a dedicated role.

Here are key signs it’s time for a full-time manager:

Maintaining Social Media is Overwhelming Current Staff

Today, merely having social media accounts isn’t enough. Firms need active pages with regular posting, monitoring, and community management. This is hugely time consuming.

If your current staff are burning out handling social media on top of their usual responsibilities, it's likely time to hire dedicated staff. No one can sustain that workload forever.

Your Followers and Engagement are Growing

Especially if you’ve hosted competitions or social campaigns lately, you may see follower counts rapidly increasing.

More followers means more eyes on content and engagement to handle.

Again, existing employees can only stretch so far. If growth is accelerating, social media management works best as a specialized full-time task.

You Want to Invest More in Paid Social Campaigns

Running paid ads on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more requires skill.

These networks change their algorithms constantly. If you’re eager to invest more in paid social, you need someone knowledgeable at the helm.

You’re Launching a Major Rebranding Initiative

Rebranding or refresh initiatives often put marketing front and center. For accounting firms, this spotlights digital elements like social media and websites.

These mission-critical initiatives demand full-time focus from an experienced social media manager. It’s not a task to hand off to just anyone on staff.

Key Responsibilities of a Social Media Manager

Hiring a full-time social media manager means investing in key skills like:

● Community Management: Responding to comments and messages, monitoring conversations.

● Content Creation: Developing shareable posts, images, stories, reels, videos.

● Paid Social Execution: Running and optimizing ads, analyzing performance.

● Audience Growth: Expanding followers and reach with engaging content.

● Campaign Management: Bringing campaigns and initiatives to life across social platforms.

● Reporting & Analysis: Tracking KPIs and generating insights to guide future efforts.

In other words, this is a multi-faceted role with diverse expertise required.

When your firm hits the points above, a dedicated professional in this role amplifies results and ROI exponentially.

How Can Social Media Management Boost Accounting Firms?

Beyond community management and engagement, social media managers also:

● Support lead generation and sales: Share content and run campaigns nurturing leads.

● Build brand awareness: Increase visibility and cement positioning through social posting.

● Attract talent: Use platforms like LinkedIn to connect with potential hires.

● Cultivate customer loyalty: Bond with clients and demonstrate expertise via social media.

These tangible business impacts show why hands-on social management matters. Hiring the right talent unlocks immense marketing potential.

Timing the Hire Process

Bringing on a full-time social media manager has clear benefits, but when exactly should you move forward?

Here is a step-by-step process to ensure you hire at the optimal moment:

Stage	Action Items
1. Recognize Need	Notice social media pain points exceeding staff bandwidth. See follower growth accelerating. Eye bigger paid social budgets or major campaigns coming.
2. Get Buy-In	Share evidence on why you need dedicated social staff. Map costs against benefits like lead gen, branding, hiring support.
3. Create Job Description	Outline key duties like community engagement, content creation, paid ads, and analytics. List must-have hard and soft skills.
4. Start Recruitment	Post the role across online job boards and your social channels. Lean on personal networks to source candidates as well.
5. Vet Candidates	Screen resumes, then select top options for intro calls. Review portfolios demonstrating expertise. Identify 2-3 finalists.
6. Make an Offer	Extend offer to the candidate who best fits your needs and culture. Clarify start date expectations.

Ideally, you'll want to get ahead of major pain points and hire a social media manager before being totally overwhelmed.

This ensures you capitalize on their skills sooner for amplified results.

Following a plan also helps the hiring process go smoothly once the need is formally identified.

Key Takeaways: Hiring Social Media Managers

● Bring on dedicated social media staff once community management exceeds current bandwidth.

● Follower growth, paid social plans, and major campaigns all indicate a need for focused managers.

● These specialists handle community engagement, content creation, paid ads, analytics, and more.

● The hire process moves from identifying needs to getting buy-in to recruitment and vetting.

● Social media managers ultimately amplify lead generation, branding, recruiting, and customer loyalty.

Knowing when your accounting firm can benefit from dedicated social staff is challenging. Keep the signs above in mind, and follow a structured hiring process for optimum timing and results.