Questions to ask a social media agency before signing

The questions

Ask all fourteen. The answers to the last four matter more than anything in the proposal, and they are the ones agencies are least prepared for.

• What commercial outcome will you report against, and how do you define it?
• How many hours a month does this retainer represent, and who does them?
• Who exactly works on my account, and what else are they working on?
• What do you need from us each month for this to work?
• How do you produce content about our work if you are not on site?
• What happens if we do not supply material one month?
• Who handles comments and messages, and inside what hours?
• Is paid budget included, and do you charge a management percentage?
• Who owns the accounts, the content and the data if we leave?
• What is the notice period and is there a minimum term?
• Show me an account like mine and tell me what the enquiry numbers did.
• What would make you tell us to stop spending on this?
• What went wrong on a recent client account and what did you change?
• If this is not working in six months, how will we know?

Why the outcome question comes first

Because the answer tells you what you are buying. An agency that answers in posts, reach or engagement is selling activity. An agency that answers in conversations, enquiries and cost per enquiry is selling outcomes.

Both are legitimate products, but only the second can be judged. If the answer is activity, the contract should be priced accordingly and you should keep the outcome measurement yourself.

• Set social media goals and KPIs that survive a board meeting

What does a good answer on hours sound like?

Specific and unembarrassed. Roughly 18 hours a month, of which four are senior time on strategy and review, ten are production, and four are community management, is a good answer.

Reluctance to answer is the signal. Every agency knows its own capacity model, and an unwillingness to convert a retainer into hours usually means the hours are lower than the price implies.

• Social media agency pricing in the UK

Why ask what they need from you?

Because the most common cause of failure is not agency capability, it is the absence of raw material from the business. An agency that has thought about this will have a clear answer: a shared photo folder, a monthly call, a named approver, and customer questions forwarded as they arise.

An agency that says nothing, we handle everything is either inexperienced or planning to produce generic content. Nobody can make content about your work without access to your work.

• In-house versus agency social media for UK businesses

The ownership and exit questions

Ask them before you sign, because they are almost impossible to negotiate afterwards. You should own the accounts, the ad account, the content produced, the creative files and the data.

Watch for arrangements where the agency creates pages under its own business manager, retains ownership of creative files, or holds the ad account. All three are common and all three make leaving expensive. Agree in writing that accounts are yours and access is granted, not the reverse.

• Social media audit checklist for small businesses

The four questions that reveal the most

What would make you tell us to stop spending on this? A good agency has an answer, usually involving conversion problems downstream of social. An agency that cannot imagine recommending less spend is selling, not advising.

What went wrong recently and what did you change? Everyone has failures. An agency that claims none is either new or not being straight with you.

If this is not working in six months, how will we know? The answer should be a specific number and a review date, agreed now.

And: show me an account like mine and tell me what the enquiry numbers did. Reach figures are easy. Enquiry figures require the agency to have been measuring the right thing all along.

How should you run the first 90 days?

Agree the first quarter in the contract, so both sides know what good looks like before anyone is disappointed.

A reasonable shape: month one is audit, access, strategy and the first content batch, with limited publishing. Month two is a held cadence and tracking live. Month three is the first meaningful report and one recommendation about what to stop. Judging an agency on enquiries in month one is unfair and produces the wrong decision.

Set a review meeting for day 100, in the calendar, at the point of signing. The agencies worth working with will welcome it, because it replaces a vague sense of whether things are going well with a specific conversation against agreed expectations.

• Month 1: audit, access, strategy, first batch.
• Month 2: cadence held, tracking live.
• Month 3: first real report and one stop recommendation.
• Day 100 review booked at signing.

Next step

Take the list to every agency you shortlist, including us. The comparison between answers is more informative than any individual proposal.