Communication Director Interview Preparation Guide

Creating profiles and pages and then posting content to them isn’t the job – anyone can do that. The ability to build and engage with the community is the qualifying test of whether someone is a social media manager or a social media user.

Engagement, brand reach, lead generation, and conversions. These are the essential measures of social media’s return on investment (ROI). They should also be able to more specific in terms of Google Analytics, metrics from software they use, or metrics from a specific platform. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that engagement on its own is success either. Without conversions that can be tracked back to that engagement, efforts have been unsuccessful.

Social media is an ever-changing landscape that requires constant and ongoing learning and adapt. Even the most experienced social media managers need to refine their skills. They update their strategies, learn and practice new techniques and stay on top of the latest changes to new and existing platforms.

A good response should mention social media, website, and story telling. Bonus points for considering video production and contributing to creative service planning.

Leave it to them to decide whether or not to tell you how they overcame the failure or if they learned anything from it. A good interviewee will jump on an opportunity to turn the negative into a positive.

Coming up with new and effective ways to market a product in such a tight economy is a tough challenge and these days customers have more power than ever. It is getting more difficult for marketing initiatives to effectively meet these new customer demands. Keep these and other factors in mind when tackling this question, relate your personal experience of the challenges you have encountered and discuss the creative ways in which you handled them.

A question like this indicates that you're already envisioning yourself in the role and thinking through a plan of attack, should you land the gig. It's also a sign that you're well aware that no job comes free of roadblocks. It shows that not only are you not afraid to deal with those challenges, but you're also prepared for them.

Do they take the time to go out? Do people bring lunch but eat in groups? Do folks normally eat at their desks because they're too busy to socialize? Asking this question serves as a great way to find out a little bit about the company culture. Plus, this is a more lighthearted question that might relax a stiffened atmosphere or lead to a conversation about shared interests.

This question shows that you're not afraid of critical feedback -- in fact, you welcome it. Interviewers tend to make note of red flags -- whether it be something on your resume or something you said -- to discuss with a colleague following the interview. This question gives them the green light to ask about any of the things that are holding them back from being 100% on board with hiring you.

I like this question because it addresses expectations in concrete terms. Beyond stock descriptions of good communication and analytical skills, what does excellence look like for that position?