- Step 1: Identify your social media needs
- Step 2: Create a brief job description For A Freelance Social Media Marketer
- Step 3: Allocate a budget for finding the right talent
- Step 4: Share your job post on your company social media platforms
- Step 5: Shortlist and interview Freelancers
Whether you are posting a press release to your website or working with an Instagram influencer to tag products in their stories, you require expert skills to properly engage your target audience across all your social media platforms.
A Social media marketer can effectively enhance your online presence, diligently working towards the preset KPIs (key performance indicators) that are integral to your social media marketing success. However, the high cost of employee visa, health insurance, annual tickets in addition to the high salary demand of the social media specialists, puts an extra burden on the SMEs. As the results are often seen after 3 to 6 months, the return on investment is not enough to satisfy the business owners.
Fortunately, now the UAE government has allowed SMEs to work with freelance social media marketers in UAE. Here’s what you need to do to find one for your company in five easy steps:
First of all, you need to identify your social media requirements. It will help you find a freelancer with the required skill set. Knowing your requirements will also help you in creating a clear job description and detailed job requirements, for example, education and experience level of the ideal candidate for the job.
Simply ask yourself the following questions in order to make a well-informed decision:
Do you need a new social media marketing strategy or do you wish to work with the existing one?
If the answer is yes, then you need to hire a freelance social media strategist
How many social media platforms does the freelancer need to work on?
If you are looking for someone to boost your presence on Instagram, then you need to look for a freelance social media marketer with a great aesthetic sense. Freelancers with experience in photography and graphic designing should be preferred in this case.
What do you want to achieve from your social media campaigns?
Your goal has to be very clear from the beginning. If you are a new business, looking to create brand awareness, then you need someone to manage your social media page by posting twice or thrice every day. You could hire someone with mid-level expertise. However, if you are a well-established business, looking for more leads. Then you must understand the complexity of the lead generation process. A lead generation campaign requires an advanced level of advertising skills, for example, the ideal candidate should be able to create Facebook ads through Ads manager, simply boosting a post would not be enough. He/she should be able to work with Facebook Pixel and understand the importance of ad objectives, audience selection, and the various features of the Facebook Ad platform.
What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (e.g. likes, shares, subscriptions, etc) will be used to assess the performance of your social media campaigns?
You need to determine the most suitable KPIs for your business goals. If your goal was to create brand awareness then the suitable KPIs may include the “number of followers”, the number of “people reached”, and the engagement on your daily posts. On the other hand, if you are running ads to generate leads, then you will have to monitor the number of emails captured, newsletter subscriptions, products sold, E-books downloads, coupons redeemed, etc.
Step 2: Create a brief job description For A Freelance Social Media Marketer
Once you have set your marketing goals, you need to look for the right talent to help you achieve those goals. You may also include a brief project description and a short company introduction with the job description to attract the right freelance social media marketers.
Here’s a sample social media marketer’s job description you can use to create your own:
Common deliverables include:
- Developing strategies for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms for a period of 3 months.
- Creating Content such as photos, videos, or blog posts.
- Reaching out to influencers & bloggers in Dubai.
- Analyzing and leveraging analytics.
- Identifying new tactics to engage your target market.
Outline your scope of work and identify the skills, credentials, and experience you’re looking for.
Download 10 Sample Job Descriptions For Hiring A Freelance Social Media Marketer
Step 3: Allocate a budget for finding the right talent
You must have an estimated budget for finding the right talent for your business needs. Common costs include:
- Project scope: If you do not understand different aspects of digital marketing yourself, It is advised that you hire a digital marketing consultant who can help you out in developing a project scope. He should be able to identify the specific skills required to successfully execute the social media marketing campaigns from start to finish. You can use Bawabba to find a freelance digital marketer in Dubai as well.
- Different rates apply for different skills: Each platform requires a different skill set. Social media marketers are expected to have expertise and skills such as graphic designing, content writing, video editing, or data analytics. You should be aware of the market rates for hiring a freelance social media marketer in Dubai with your desired skills. The rates may start from AED 1,000 per platform, posting thrice a week with simple text and images which are usually provided by the client. If you are looking for someone with advanced level graphic designing and copywriting skills, then the price of hiring a freelancer may start from AED 3,000 which is still a lot cheaper than hiring a full-time employee with basic level social media marketing skills.
- The number of social media platforms: The cost varies depending on the number of social media platforms included in your project. There is no need to invest in all the platforms. You must focus on growing your company page on 1 to 2 platforms. If you are into B2C then find a Facebook and Instagram marketing expert. If you are selling to other businesses, as in B2B, then we highly recommend hiring a LinkedIn specialist. Although LinkedIn is also becoming increasingly popular for many industries in Dubai if your target audience includes Chairman, CEO’s and other decision-makers e.g. Realtors are doing exceptionally well in generating leads from LinkedIn. You must remember that someone great at Facebook marketing, might not necessarily be so great with Instagram and LinkedIn.
- For fast results, you may have to invest in paid ads. All social media platforms have become very commercial. They intentionally restrict the reach of your posts to entice users to invest in more lucrative ad campaigns. Therefore, you may want to find a freelancer who has experience in running ads on your chosen platforms. Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms all over the world, including UAE.
With the job description and the budget in hand, you’re finally all set to upload your job post on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, and other leading social media platforms with a well-diversified audience. Here is the secret sauce that not many business owners know. There are dedicated websites in Dubai for hiring freelancers in UAE for FREE. All you have to do is sign up for a free account at Bawabba to gain instant access to thousands of freelancers in the UAE available at your disposal.
Step 5: Shortlist And Interview Freelancers
Once your job post goes live, it won’t be long until the first batch of applications hits your inbox. Shortlist freelancers you would like to interview by screening their applications. Alternatively, If you do not wish to be bombarded with irrelevant job applications then login to Bawabba and start contacting suitable freelancers that match your requirements. This way, you will not have to spend hours shortlisting suitable freelancers. You can leave them a message with your requirements without having to leave the website and start receiving responses from highly talented freelancers of your choice.
The next step is to arrange an in-person or over-the-phone interview with the shortlisted freelancers. At this stage, you must go back to your marketing goals and the job description you had created in Step 1 and 2. Consider profiles that match the specific requirements of your company. Platform-specific interview questions can help you gauge their level of proficiency with your chosen social media platforms. Share a newly launched social media marketing campaign and seek their opinion about the campaign. This will ensure the right freelancer is hired who has an adequate amount of knowledge of the local market.
Once you have found your ideal freelancer, there is no need to apply for their UAE visa or health insurance. Now freelancers can get their own Freelancers Visa In UAE which gives them the license to work in UAE. You do not even need to accommodate them in your office, as most freelancers prefer to work from home, a co-working space, or a nearby cafe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you must be very clear about your business goals, skills, and experience requirements. Then you should create a suitable job description highlighting the responsibilities of the freelancer. You also need to allocate a budget for sourcing the right candidates. You can avoid the high cost of recruitment and selection by using a freelancing platform in U.A.E. to gain direct access to thousands of talented social media marketers in the UAE. The shortlisting process is much easier if you are directly contacting suitable freelancers rather than posting a job online and receiving hundreds of irrelevant applications. You can experience instant success with the 5-step process to get the right freelance social media marketer in Dubai today.
