In response to a question I posed, “10 Things To Ask A Social Media Intern — What would you ask?” George Ross, owner of Web Strategic Marketing (and a professional sports photographer to boot), answered:

I would push them to see if they think strategically and if so how to apply that strategy in a few different situations. No strategy, no use!

George has over 20 years of experience in high-level marketing, and delivers that expertise to his internet marketing clients. He’s often dismayed at the lack of marketing strategy he sees online. When I asked George to elaborate on his answer, here’s what he shared:

Marketing Strategy Tests for a Social Media Candidate

(Off the top of my head) Something along the lines of:

Example 1) You have a new client in a specific market and you are tasked with increasing their account base in their specific market.
Q1) What social media platforms would you use and why?
Q2) How will these social media platforms meet the clients goals?
Q3) How would you target the marketing campaign on the clients specific market (Social Media tends to be amorphous and to maximize the marketing impact we need to to market specific)
Q4) Metrics: how will you measure the success of your program?

Example 2) Client 2 requires a link-building program to increase web site popularity
Q1) What social media platforms would you use and why?
Q2) Which social media platforms offer ‘Follow’ links?
Q3) How will you measure the success of your program?

Social Media is pretty useless from a business perspective unless it is developed around the company’s business goals.

This was a quick mind-dump but should let you see how I would approach you challenge. Hope this is helpful.

How about you, marketing professionals? What strategy-testing questions would you ask a Social Media Intern before you hired them?

Note: Sarah Dulaney, Marketing Technology Manager for RE/MAX of New England, offered a different list of questions to ask a social media marketing candidate, 10 Hard-Hitting Questions to Ask a Social Media Intern.