Aside from the usual "be prepared and be creative" advice, there are four interview tips you should keep in mind for your next Social Media Marketing interview. These tips are in the form of questions that you should be asking yourself. It's not just enough to know these questions; you will need to know the right answers. Your professional experience, fiscal responsibility, and your ability to pick yourself up after previous blunders will all come into play during your job seeking efforts.

What's in it for them?

In a word, "You". Technically, this should not be your response to that question but that should be how you feel. This is the time to toot your own horn! Imagine that you just stepped on an elevator with the company's Chief Marketing Officer and you have mere moments to leave an indelible impression before the 30 second elevator ride comes to an abrupt end. Do not confuse confidence with arrogance, but speak in terms of the totality of your social media marketing experience while tailoring your answer to fit a recent campaign the company launched.

What's your biggest social media marketing failure?

"Ah", "Um" are not good answers. After you just sang your own praises it's time to step back and feed yourself a nice piece of humble pie. This is a great question for the hiring manager to ask for two reasons:

  1. It may be a good indication that they foster a work environment that does not require their staff to be perfect 100% of the time.
  2. It provides you with opportunity to share examples of how you might'vecome a failing campaign by making a tweak here and an adjustment there.

Is past really prologue?

The short answer is, "probably". The hiring manager will likely want to know what kinds of social media campaigns you've run in the past; how many Twitter followers you've amassed for yourself and your previous employer or clients. Normally, I would say "facts tell, but stories sell" – not this time. Now is the time to quantify your accomplishments with concrete facts / numbers. Be sure your examples are time bound and can be directly linked to your work. For example, the 3 month YouTube video campaign you launched in the spring increased your client's site traffic by 48% while boosting site registration by 18%

Is your checkbook balanced?

If not, it should be! Although it's not likely your interviewer will be soliciting you for venture capital during your job screening, they will still need to know that you are fiscally responsible and will not go on a spending spree with their social media marketing budget. For some companies, social media executive sponsorship may be lacking and you may potentially find yourself working with a limited budget. In this case, a proven track record of 2x, 3x, or 5x increase in profits using organic (aka free) social media will be worth its weight in gold by demonstrating your ability to manage a campaign on a shoestring.

Knowing the correct answers to the questions above as well as knowing how to tailor your response to the company with what you're interviewing will help you get one step closer to snagging that dream social media marketing job.

Source by Leon Gray