11 To-Dos When Delegating Social Media Marketing

Never Delegate Social Media Externally

"Remember that social media is not just marketing, but also customer service -- people are interacting with and asking questions about your company, and the person answering them must be knowledgeable. And it's especially important because a bad social media interaction can be spread virally in seconds. Choose someone who is able to answer any question and can speak in the voice of your brand."

-Laura Roeder | Founder, LKR

Use a Team Platform to Manage
"Depending on the size of your company, there's often the need for more than one person to manage social media accounts and engage with customers. Whether it's through multiple profiles or inquiry delegation, social media management platforms like HootSuite are extremely valuable when organizing the social media tasks throughout a large team."

- Logan Lenz | Founder / President, Endagon

Follow @loganlenz

Know What You're Asking

"Just deciding your business needs a Facebook Page or a Google+ presence and then finding someone to handle the workload isn't enough. Before you can delegate, you have to have a good picture of what your competitors are doing and what results you can get -- as well as what the work really entails. Otherwise, social media can turn into a black hole."

- Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Follow @ThursdayB

Build a Social Media Strategy

"Establish clear objectives and success metrics for your social media campaign. Identify the best channels and approach for your company and look for available opportunities that might be available on some of the less known social media websites. Craft a unified concept and company message to be used throughout all communications."

- Andrew Saladino | Co-Founder & COO, Just Bath Vanities

Follow @andrewsaladino

Recruit the Biggest Evangelist

"If you want to delegate social media, you need to find someone who is absolutely obsessed with your company. Bring on a person whose passion oozes out every time they speak about your product or service. This is the only way to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Make sure that person is extremely outgoing, helpful and most of all, sincere."

- Matt Wilson | Co-founder, Under30CEO.com

Set Time Standards

"Because you could always do more with social media, it's important that you clearly explain how much time you would like someone to spend on different social media activities. Also, you should establish standards of average response times to new messages so that you provide a consistent customer experience."

- Elizabeth Saunders | Founder & CEO, Real Life E®

Follow @RealLifeE

Master the Corporate Voice

"Before delegating social media marketing, choose and be able to describe your company's voice. Is your firm fun and chatty online? News-centric and authoritative? Witty? Then, ensure your social media team members master the tone. If all your social media marketers speak consistently, your social media implementation will be more successful."

- Doreen Bloch | CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.

Delegate to Core Competency

"Recognize the social media strengths and interests of each person in your company. Delegate specific aspects of social media content to team members that are most competent in that space and let them crush it. If your team works on their core competencies they will always be excited and passionate about the content they create. And, most importantly, that content will be authentic."

- Lauren Maillian Bias | Founder and CEO, Luxury Market Branding

Do They Understand Your Company?
"You should be 100 percent on the same page with whoever you are delegating social media to. Social media is the public relations of the Internet community and whoever is responsible for managing your social media should have a firm understanding of the goals you have for social media and how you are going to portray your business."

- Lucas Sommer | Founder CEO, Audimated

Follow @audimated

No Weak Links!

"Every member of your company has a public voice, so it's important to make sure that your entire team is involved with your brand socially. This means they should be sharing the great things that you do with their network. But everyone must be in line with your brand's mission. Make sure that your company defines its core value proposition, and make it a point for every employee to adhere to it."

- Arjun Arora | Founder @ CEO, ReTargeter