What Should You Give Your Social Media Manager Before They Start?

Hiring a social media manager is an important step toward building a more consistent online presence. But before they can plan content, publish posts, or manage your accounts, they need to understand your business, your audience, and what you want your social media to accomplish.

Without clear direction and the right resources, even a capable social media manager may spend unnecessary time searching for information, requesting missing files, or guessing what your brand should communicate.

A smoother onboarding process starts with preparation. Here's what to provide your social media manager before they begin.

1. Your Brand Guidelines and Visual Assets

Your social media manager needs to understand how your brand should look and sound across different platforms.

Prepare a brand folder containing:

• Your official logo in high-quality formats

• Brand colours and font names

• Brand guidelines or a brand book, if available

• Product or service photos

• Approved graphics, videos, and other visual assets

• Examples of previous content that represent your brand well

Also explain your brand voice. Should your content sound professional, friendly, educational, playful, or direct? Are there words, phrases, or visual styles your business avoids?

These details help your social media manager create content that feels consistent with your business instead of making every post look or sound different.

2. Information About Your Business and Services

Your social media manager cannot communicate your value clearly without understanding what your business offers.

Provide a short business overview that explains:

• What your business does

• Which products or services you offer

• What makes your business different

• What problems you help customers solve

• Your service areas or target locations

• Your main business priorities

Include important details about your offers, pricing, service limitations, and frequently asked customer questions when relevant.

For example, if you run a virtual assistant agency, your manager should understand the types of support available, the businesses you serve, and how potential clients can inquire about your services.

The more accurate the information, the easier it becomes to create useful and relevant content.

3. Your Target Audience

Social media content works best when it speaks to a specific audience rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

Share what you know about your ideal customers, including their:

• Industry, role, or demographic characteristics

• Common challenges and frustrations

• Goals and priorities

• Questions before making a purchase

• Reasons for choosing your business

If you already have customer personas, audience research, customer feedback, or frequently asked questions, include those resources.

Your manager can use this information to develop content that addresses real customer needs. If your audience research is incomplete, say so. Your manager can help identify gaps and recommend ways to learn more about your audience.

4. Access to Social Media Accounts and Tools

Your manager will need the appropriate access to carry out the work you've agreed on.

List the social media platforms they will manage, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Pinterest. Also identify any supporting tools they will use for scheduling, analytics, design, communication, and project management.

Before onboarding, confirm:

• Which accounts are included in the role

• What permission level the manager needs

• Who owns the accounts and retains administrative control

• Whether scheduling and analytics tools are already in place

• Who can resolve access or technical issues

Use official account invitations and role-based permissions whenever possible. Avoid sharing personal passwords in chat or email, and enable two-factor authentication where available.

Access should be sufficient for the manager to do their job without giving unnecessary control over business accounts or sensitive information.

5. Your Social Media Goals and Priorities

Your manager needs to know what success should look like for your business.

Social media goals may include increasing brand awareness, building an engaged community, generating inquiries, driving website traffic, promoting services, or supporting product sales.

Choose the main priorities instead of treating every objective as equally urgent.

Discuss how performance will be reviewed. Depending on your goals, useful metrics may include reach, engagement, profile visits, website clicks, qualified inquiries, or conversions.

If you have existing analytics, share them so your manager can establish a baseline. Avoid setting arbitrary targets before reviewing your current performance, available resources, and business objectives.

Clear goals help your manager choose suitable content formats, topics, calls to action, and reporting methods.

6. Your Content Preferences and Approval Process

Content creation becomes more efficient when everyone understands how ideas move from planning to publication.

Explain your preferences for content types, posting frequency, platforms, promotional messages, and topics that should be avoided.

Then establish an approval process. Clarify:

• Who reviews captions, graphics, videos, and campaigns

• Where drafts should be submitted

• How much review time is expected

• How revisions should be communicated

• Who gives final approval to publish

You should also agree on how urgent announcements, corrections, and time-sensitive posts will be handled.

A simple shared content calendar can help everyone see what is planned, what needs approval, and what is ready to publish.

7. Examples of Content You Like and Dislike

Examples are often more helpful than vague instructions.

Share a few posts from your own accounts or other brands that illustrate the style you want. Explain what you like about each example, whether it is the writing, design, structure, topic, or way the brand communicates.

It is equally important to show what you want to avoid.

For instance, you may prefer educational content over constant promotions, simple graphics over crowded designs, or a professional tone instead of excessive slang.

Make it clear that examples are references, not necessarily content to copy. Your social media manager should use them to understand your preferences while developing original content suited to your brand.

8. Your Competitors and Market Context

If you have identified competitors or relevant industry accounts, share them with your manager.

Include direct competitors, businesses targeting similar customers, and brands whose social media approach you find useful.

Explain what you want the manager to understand from these examples. You may want to identify content gaps, review common customer questions, observe industry conversations, or find ways to differentiate your business.

Competitor research should inform your strategy, not lead to copying another brand's posts or identity.

If you have not completed this research, your manager can help identify relevant accounts as part of the initial strategy work.

9. Your Communication Preferences and Working Process

Agree on how you and your social media manager will communicate before regular work begins.

Clarify the primary communication channel, preferred update frequency, expected response times, meeting schedule, and how tasks will be tracked.

It also helps to identify who the manager should contact for questions about services, customer concerns, technical issues, or approvals.

For a remote working arrangement, document responsibilities and deadlines so both sides know what is expected. This reduces confusion and makes it easier to resolve questions without unnecessary back-and-forth.

10. A Clear Brief for the First Month

Finally, give your manager a practical starting point.

Your first-month brief should outline the main priorities, important dates, upcoming launches or promotions, expected deliverables, and any existing content commitments.

It should also identify what is already available and what still needs to be developed. For example, you may have approved brand assets but no documented content strategy, or established social accounts but incomplete analytics.

A realistic starting brief helps your manager prioritize the most important work instead of attempting to change everything at once.

Create a Smoother Social Media Onboarding Process

You do not need every document to be perfect before your social media manager starts. Begin with the essentials: clear business information, brand assets, audience details, account permissions, goals, and an agreed approval process. Your manager can help organize the remaining information as the working relationship develops.

Good onboarding creates a shared understanding of your brand, responsibilities, and priorities. It also gives your social media manager a stronger foundation for creating content that supports your business goals.

If your business needs help with social media management or other remote operational tasks, Level UP VA Services can help you explore support that fits your needs. Visit https://www.levelupvaservices.com/ to learn more about building the support behind your growth.