How to hire a social media strategist

How to hire a social media strategist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step social media strategist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a social media strategist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new social media strategist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a social media strategist do?

Post a social media strategist job for free, promote it for a fee

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your social media strategist job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a social media strategist for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a social media strategist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a social media strategist that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of social media strategists.

   Type of Social Media Strategist	Description	Hourly rate
   Social Media Strategist		$19-45
   Search Engine Optimizer	A search engine optimizer is in charge of developing strategies to enhance a website's content and search ranking, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Among their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing web traffic data, researching trends, developing content materials, utilizing relevant keywords, and producing progress reports as needed... Show more	$33-67
   Content Manager	A Content Manager is focused on creating, improving, and maintaining content to achieve the business goals. They lead a team of copywriters and content executives.	$24-53

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Instagram
   • Digital Marketing
   • Twitter
   • Social Media Marketing
   • Social Platforms
   • Linkedin
   • Content Strategy
   • Media Management
   • Social Media Management
   • YouTube
   • Sprout Social
   • Social Strategy
   • Facebook Insights
   • Social Content

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage social media and content creation for Instagram account of 23k+ followers.
   • Manage all social agency and vendor relationships, including Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube.
   • Create, curate, and manage all publish content, including blog posts, website copywriting and design social media images.
   • Perform administrative duties including ordering photography supplies, managing expenses bookkeeping, updating photography inventory and archives.
   • Develop creative marketing campaigns to engage current and alumni volunteers including photo and video contests on Facebook.
   • Crowd source using Facebook, Google and LinkedIn ads.

   More social media strategist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the social media strategist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A social media strategist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a social media strategist in North Carolina may be lower than in Utah, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level social media strategist. Additionally, a social media strategist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average social media strategist salary

   $62,339yearly

   $29.97 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level social media strategist salary

   $41,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average social media strategist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$89,334	$43
   2	Utah	$81,303	$39
   3	Oregon	$72,300	$35
   4	Arizona	$72,042	$35
   5	New York	$70,781	$34
   6	Michigan	$69,419	$33
   7	North Dakota	$67,606	$33
   8	Virginia	$67,504	$32
   9	Delaware	$67,432	$32
   10	Rhode Island	$66,712	$32
   11	District of Columbia	$66,510	$32
   12	Colorado	$66,108	$32
   13	Maryland	$65,229	$31
   14	Alaska	$64,946	$31
   15	Ohio	$63,698	$31
   16	Massachusetts	$63,254	$30
   17	Pennsylvania	$63,227	$30
   18	Iowa	$61,866	$30
   19	Illinois	$61,687	$30
   20	Kansas	$60,913	$29

   Average social media strategist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Google	$129,575	$62.30	39
   2	Microsoft	$127,891	$61.49	17
   3	Apple	$126,590	$60.86	16
   4	Squarespace	$110,301	$53.03	2
   5	Uber Technologies	$106,087	$51.00	1
   6	Intel	$104,602	$50.29
   7	Calamos Investments	$104,290	$50.14	1
   8	Salt River Project	$102,510	$49.28
   9	Aramco Services Company	$100,552	$48.34
   10	The Walt Disney Company	$97,658	$46.95	19
   11	PepsiCo	$97,221	$46.74
   12	IBM	$90,640	$43.58	5
   13	Merkle	$89,304	$42.93
   14	Esri	$85,728	$41.22
   15	Activision Blizzard	$85,026	$40.88	1
   16	MARC USA	$84,100	$40.43
   17	NRDC	$83,542	$40.16
   18	Doner	$83,181	$39.99	1
   19	The Integer Group	$82,664	$39.74
   20	Accenture	$81,998	$39.42	198

4. Writing a social media strategist job description

   A job description for a social media strategist role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a social media strategist job description:

   Social media strategist job description example

   Since 2011, Bespoke Post has been introducing our customers to small, under-the-radar brands and goods through a multi-category membership service and full e-commerce shop. Whether it's starting a fun new hobby, elevating your personal style, tasting an unfamiliar flavor, or just finding something that makes life that little bit easier-Bespoke Post is all about discovery.
   
   After 10+ years in business and 300,000+ members, we know our best days are still ahead of us. Joining Bespoke Post means being part of a smart, collaborative, and ambitious team- and being able to have an immediate impact on a growing company.
   
   We're looking for a Senior Social Media Strategist to help us build our social strategy and content creation efforts. If you understand what sort of social content drives engagement, how the social platforms differ, and how to optimize content for success based on qualitative and quantitative feedback, you may be who we're looking for.
   
   In addition to our established channels - Instagram (300k+ followers), Facebook (400k+ likes), and Twitter (15k+ followers) - we've recently launched on TikTok. We're looking for someone who can help us build our strategy and audience across these distinct platforms.
   
   You will:Embrace our brand strategy and core customer and own a social strategy that consistently reinforces our values and voice across all social channels Maintain our social media editorial calendar across several of our channels (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter) Help us significantly grow our social media following across all channels (we're aiming to reach 1M on IG and breakthrough on TikTok) Craft content creation briefs for Creators based on our social strategy, platform trends, creative intuition, and past performance data Monitor and engage in the comments section across all our channels Research and identify potential content creator partners Optimize social publishing strategy based on new platform updates and algorithm changes Create social performance reports showing the success and learnings of organic posts and campaigns Utilize analytics platforms and survey the competitive landscape to share insights and trends in real-time Work closely with the Content Creation team to brainstorm ideas that support our strategy, taking into account current social media trends and ongoing performance insights Assist with social content copywriting, aligning to the overall social content strategy and tone of voice Partner with the Paid Growth team to share best practices and leverage high-performing creative Review and approve all social content before it goes live to ensure it's on brand and on strategy
   
   The ideal candidate:Has experience running several social media channels for an established brand, with a passion for social media trends and a proven ability to publish engaging content Has a deep understanding of our core customer and the brand we're trying to build, with a genuine passion for our brand and curiosity about our products, as well as a desire to understand how they're made and how they work Has a sense for what makes a story or image unique and relevant, and loves concepting new ideas Has excellent taste and sensibility in terms of what constitutes aspirational content Takes initiative and is able to work independently or with a team Can thrive in a fast-paced environment and can handle multiple projects (and social platforms) at once Is fluent in social media trends and understands how they can translate into content opportunities Is able to adapt content based on stakeholder feedback Collaborates well and brings a positive energy to the team
   Bonus points for:Experience working with social media for an e-commerce brand Design experience
   We are proud to uphold an environment free of discrimination. Bespoke Post is an equal opportunity workplace and we recognize that our success is dependent on having an inclusive, collaborative team that is as diverse as, if not more than, the products we ship.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find social media strategists for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any social media strategists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level social media strategists with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your social media strategist job on Zippia to find and attract quality social media strategist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with social media strategist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview social media strategist candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new social media strategist

   Once you've found the social media strategist candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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