So, the moment has come: you’ve realised that you need some help with your Facebook advertising and have decided to hire an agency. This is a good decision, provided that you know exactly what you want the agency to achieve for you, within what timeline and so on. It is important to work with the right kind of agency – one that understands your needs and business vision.
Most probably, you’ve never worked with a social media agency before, so I’ve decided to compile the five most important questions you should ask during the preliminary meeting in order to determine whether you should hire them. Remember that whatever experience you may have had with a traditional ad agency, things are very different in social media marketing in terms of execution, expectations, monitoring and success metrics. So, even if you had some experience in working with an advertising agency, you should still read on.
1. Will the Same People Always Work for My Account?
Some agencies have a permanent rotation of staff to cover all accounts, because they take on more clients than they should. Others might have really high employee turn-over, because they do not offer professional working conditions for their staff and employees come and go constantly.
You do not want to work with either of these two types of agencies. This is why you should make sure that they assign at least a specific person to your account so that your Facebook ad campaigns get consistent results.
2. How Do You Create Content?
Do they have in-house copywriters or do they work with freelancers? Will there ever be copyright issues related to content created for you? You should insist to find more about how they work with freelancers, if they do not have in-house writers.
The ideal agency is the one which has a full staff and does not outsource work. However, outsourced work is cheaper and very common nowadays so if you do not have the budget to hire a large agency, you should at least obtain sufficient proof that they only deliver original content and you will not be slapped with a take-down notice anytime in the future.
3. What Is Your Reporting Policy?
How will you know exactly how many people work for you and for how long every day? How will you be able to evaluate if the Facebook advertising agency is reaching its goals? Do they have a milestone system? Do they send you weekly or monthly activity reports? You need to clear up these aspects, because the more transparent an agency is in its reporting process, the more professional and trustworthy it is.
4. How Do You Measure Success?
Metrics are the key element in analytics because, depending on what you are looking at, a Facebook advertising campaign can either be a success or a failure. You need to understand if they are flexible in selecting the right metrics for your purposes. If you want to build brand awareness, they will use one set of metrics, if you want to drive quick sales, they will have to use another.
5. Can You Achieve My Goals?
This is a very blunt and direct question, but it is the most important one that you should ask. If your interlocutor tries to evade it, by using any type of artifice, then you should end the meeting. A professional agency will always have an answer ready and a short action plan which will convince you that they can do the job.
If you get the right answers to all these five questions, then congratulations! You might have found the perfect agency that can bring your Facebook advertising efforts to the next level.