What Questions Should I Ask My Social Media Manager?

The Questions That Separate Good Managers from Good Presenters

Some social media managers are excellent at presenting their work. The monthly report looks polished. The engagement screenshots look impressive. The caption examples are well-written.

Some of those same managers are not producing business outcomes.

The questions below are designed to close that gap. They are not questions about creativity or brand fit. They are accountability questions that test whether the person managing your social media can connect their work to the thing that actually matters: your business performance.

Ask them at the first monthly meeting. Ask them every month after that. The quality of the answers will tell you what the engagement rate cannot.

The 6 Monthly Accountability Questions

1. Which post produced the most meaningful result this month, and why do you think it worked?

This question separates a manager who analyses their own work from a manager who posts and reports without conclusion. The answer you want is specific: "The post featuring the lamb shoulder special generated 47 profile visits and 12 link clicks, and we saw a spike in reservations that evening. The combination of natural light photography and the price mention in the caption drove the click-through."

A red flag answer: "The Reel got great engagement." Great compared to what? For what business purpose?

2. What content did not perform this month, and what are you changing as a result?

This question tests intellectual honesty. A social media manager who only highlights wins and never discusses underperforming content is either not analysing their work or not comfortable sharing the analysis. Both are problems.

The answer you want shows learning and adaptation: "The behind-the-scenes Stories we ran on Tuesday underperformed relative to the food photography posts. We're moving behind-the-scenes content to Friday when our audience is more likely to be planning the weekend."

A red flag answer: "Everything performed well this month."

3. What is our current engagement rate, and how does it compare to last month?

This is a direct metric question with a direct number as the correct answer. A social media manager who cannot name your current engagement rate without looking it up during the meeting is not monitoring your account closely enough.

Industry benchmarks in 2026: Instagram average is 1.5 to 3.5% for business accounts. Food and hospitality accounts with good photography typically sit at 3 to 6%. A consistently declining engagement rate is a signal the content strategy needs adjusting.

4. How many people discovered us this month through non-follower reach, and where did that traffic go?

This is the growth question. Reach among non-followers tells you whether the algorithm is distributing your content to new audiences. Profile visits, website clicks, and new followers following a piece of content tell you whether that distribution is converting.

A manager focused only on keeping existing followers happy without expanding reach is managing an account, not growing a business.

5. What are you planning for next month, and what is the reasoning behind those choices?

This question reveals whether your social media manager thinks a month ahead or a post ahead. The answer you want is a content calendar rationale: "We have your winter menu launching in the second week, so we're front-loading the first week with current menu content to build appetite, then transitioning with a launch post and a Story sequence. We're also proposing a short Meta Ads burst to extend the launch reach beyond your current followers."

A red flag answer: "I'll send you a calendar next week." They should already have it.

6. What would you change about our current approach if you could?

This is the trust question. A social media manager who has been with you for more than 3 months should have observations about what is and is not working that they have not yet implemented. Either they have not been paying attention, or they do not feel comfortable sharing. Ask directly. You want the honest answer.

Red Flag Answers at a Glance

What These Questions Are Not Asking

They are not asking your social media manager to defend their creativity. The photography might be excellent, the captions might be well-written, and the brand voice might be consistent. Those are inputs, not outputs.

The outputs are the things above: reach growth, engagement rate, traffic to your booking page, enquiries from Instagram DM, revenue tied to a campaign.

A social media manager who is doing excellent creative work and cannot connect that work to business outcomes needs a better reporting framework. These questions create that framework.

Adelaide Socials provides monthly reporting to every client covering all of the above metrics, not just reach and follower count. If you want to understand what a real social media management reporting relationship looks like, get in touch.

FAQ

What should I ask a social media manager in a monthly meeting?

Ask for your current engagement rate, the specific post that produced the best business outcome, what did not perform and what is changing, non-follower reach and where it went, the plan for next month with reasoning, and what they would change if they could. These six questions cover strategy, analysis, and forward planning.

How do I know if my social media manager is doing a good job?

A social media manager is doing a good job if: engagement rate is stable or improving, non-follower reach is growing, organic content is producing measurable website traffic or enquiries, and they can explain the reasoning behind their content choices before you ask.

What metrics should a social media manager report on?

Core monthly metrics: engagement rate (likes plus comments plus saves divided by reach), non-follower reach, profile visits, website clicks, follower growth, and any direct business outcomes tied to campaigns. Vanity metrics like raw follower count and total impressions without context are less useful.