You hear that you need to do it. You read about it, your friends talk about it so you do what any uneducated person in the world of Social Media would do. You go to Google, type in 
Social Media Expert and choose the first one. Their website is horrible, but heck….. They are an expert so you send an email (because there is no contact phone number) and wait for a response. When you finally get around to chatting with the “expert” you are impressed, but not because of the glowing recommendations . You are impressed because they sound like they know what they are talking about. They use big words and that of course makes you trust them.
Before you actually sign the check, hand over your credit card information or click “ok” on Paypal you need to ask some questions. Too many people are out there looking to scam others and I do not want you to be one of those people.
Here is a list of questions to ask:
1. How long have you been using Social Media in a professional way?
You want to know this because this is going to give you a good idea of how long they have been researching different Social Platforms.
2. What’s your full name?
You want to ask this because you want to do a Google search and see everywhere that you can pull the person or company up. Can you even find them?
3. Do you have a website and/or blog?
No website or blog? You might want to think twice about hiring someone that has neither.
4. Can I find you on Twitter or Facebook?
You want to see their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Are they social? What do their sites look like. Remember that how their Social Media looks is very likely to reflect on how they will treat yours.
5. Do you have any testimonials?
No testimonials? *RED FLAG*
6. Who have you worked with?
If you can’t get even one company name out of them *RED FLAG*
7. Can you promise me instant success?
If they say yes *RED FLAG*. No one can promise anyone instant success Online. Social Media Strategies take a lot of time to create and build upon. Run fast if you are promised this!
I hope some of these help because I am getting tired of hearing all the “I got screwed with Social Media” stories.
These are great questions – and all the better for the average consumer as they are in plain english!
I have seen another article written on this subject and the list of questions would not have made sense let alone the answers! Thank you very much – I am going to bookmark and share this.