You’ve got Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest campaigns planned through year’s end, everything is humming along smoothly, and your analytics look great. Suddenly! Your social media manager announces she’s taking a job overseas!

1. What To Do When Your Social
Media Manager Quits

2. Here’s a five-point plan to
save your sanity and keep
your campaigns on track.
You’ve got Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest
campaigns planned through year’s end, everything
is humming along smoothly, and your analytics
look great.
Suddenly! Your social media manager announces
she’s taking a job overseas!
Photo Credit: pixabay.com

3. 1. Change the passwords on all social media
accounts immediately.
No matter how amicable the split, revoking your former
employee’s access is as necessary as taking back an office
key or withdrawing intranet privileges. Any social media
manager worth his salt will be expecting you to do this
and will understand.

4. 2. Take inventory of scheduled updates and
planned content.
• Know what’s already slated
to be published, and where,
so you’re not duplicating
efforts as you design your
plan of attack.
• Corral the data in a shared
document or, better yet, a
calendar. Google Calendar is
a great (and free!) option.
You can even find some
templates just for social
media planning.
Photo Credit: Flickr

5. 3. Identify who will manage your social media accounts
until you find a permanent replacement.
• Have a solid understanding of how social media for business works.
-It’s far more involved than exchanging snarky remarks over Twitter with your friends
during the Oscars, so select someone with at least some experience.
• Knows your company’s brand, message, and overall goals, and be able to
communicate them clearly across all social media channels.
• Interacts with followers with the same level of professionalism you expect
from your customer service representatives and sales team.
• Is available to monitor your social media channels all day every day,
including spot-checking on weekends.
Remember, this is the public face of your company we’re talking about
so you don’t want to entrust the responsibility to just anyone. The
interim person, or people, you select should:
Your Twitter and Facebook followers expect you to be
responsive so it’s a smart idea to have multiple people
watching your accounts even if only one or two people
are authorized to respond on the accounts themselves.
Photo Credit: pixabay.com

6. 4. Review sales goals, upcoming holidays or events, and
anything else that may affect your social media updates
in the near future.
• Craft several days worth of status
updates, Twitter posts, and
Facebook messages, then use
your editorial calendar to
determine the best times and
days to schedule them.
Photo Credit: Flickr

7. 5. Now you’re ready to begin your search for a
new social media manager.
• Online staffing services like Elance or oDesk
may seem like a good place to start.
Since all communication typically takes place over the service’s messaging
platform, you may experience significant lag time trying to work out details
with the contractor you’ve chosen.
Additionally, many companies find the extra costs of using a staffing service
prohibitive so do your due diligence before diving into this option.
Photo Credit: Flickr
But! Be prepared to sift through a lot of potential
mismatches before you find the right person.

8. Hopefully you’ll never need to implement an emergency management plan
to keep your social media accounts humming, but it’s good to have a back-up
strategy just in case.
In the end, you may discover that bringing in an outside social
media management team like Real-time Outsource to oversee your
campaigns is the best option.
With several skilled social media experts
assigned to your account, you never have
to worry about your customers going
unheard.
If someone needs a day off or takes a
spontaneous trip to the Azores, you know
your accounts are covered without
missing a beat
Photo Credit: Flickr