Social Media Client Questionnaire For New Clients

Social media, like any other marketing channel, needs a unique promotion strategy. Usually, this understanding comes only after several unsuccessful attempts, when a lot of time and money has already been spent. No doubt, such a strategy helps to understand the current situation, set long-term goals, and organize the entire process.

Let’s imagine you have just landed a new client and ready to get down to business. When creating a strategy, the first important thing is to work closely with the client, specifying all the necessary project details.

The SMM (social media marketing) strategy should be integrated into the company’s overall policy and obey the business and marketing processes. With that in mind, it is essential to use a social media questionnaire to build a winning social media strategy.

A social media client questionnaire is a document where a client answers various questions regarding his goals and visions for the project. 

Key objectives of such a document are:

• to help the customer accurately formulate their thoughts;
• to convey all input data to the performer;
• to get an opportunity to estimate the approximate cost and time of work quickly;
• to reduce the time spent on discussing and approving the project;
• to avoid misunderstandings and problems in the future.

Filling out a social media client questionnaire usually takes a couple of minutes if the business is clear about what they are looking for. At the same time, such a document can save dozens of hours in the future.

Why is a Social Media Client Questionnaire So Important?

The beginning of building a relationship with the client is a crucial step in providing excellent service. The more you learn about a new project’s tasks and goals, the easier it will be to continue working. A good questionnaire is crafted not to complicate life but, on the contrary, to make it easier.

To meet the customer’s expectations, the account manager must rely on accurate and reliable information — about the tasks that the client wants to solve, about the business itself, and the target audience. People are different and often have diametrically opposite opinions about quality, especially in such creative areas. In such situations, a social media client questionnaire is a document that records all the client’s wishes and other information necessary for the work.

Such a questionnaire may also act as an official welcome package to highlight your dedication and attention to detail. Along with the survey, you can tell a client a few words about your company, achievements, and the services you provide. Welcome your new customer in this professional way!

Moreover, the presence of a social media client questionnaire brief is an indicator of any marketing agency’s adequacy and professionalism. The company seeks to collect maximum marketing information. They do care and thrive to complete the job correctly and bring the client profit.

Questions to Include on a Social Media Client Questionnaire

The classic social media client questionnaire looks like a survey. The specialist prepares some questions for the client, and then the client answers them in as much detail as possible. There are no approved rules about how to create a document. You can add as many questions to it as you consider necessary.

The presence of a brief does not mean avoiding live communication with the client. But it helps simplify this communication, structure it, and get the most necessary information that will always be at hand.

Now let’s go through the main blocks of a social media client questionnaire offered by Agency Vista as an example.

1. Provide information about your business.

• Your business name.
• Your business website.
• Is it small/medium/large business/enterprise?
• Specify your business area (fashion/architecture/banking/etc.).

The marketing agency must clearly understand who they work with, who they promote and represent. This section is where the SMM department is getting the information about the scope of your company’s activities, the essential products, and services. You can also give a brief history of your company, key advantages over competitors. Be sure to include a link to your business website.

2. Where is your business located?

• What country is your business located?
• What state/city?

3. What languages do your customers speak?

4. What are your primary marketing objectives?

Here you can select all that apply:

• audience growth;
• brand engagement;
• customer satisfaction;
• increase sales;
• lead generation;
• reputation;
• website traffic.

Each long-term plan will help execute each unique client’s goals and objectives. And they need to be identified to understand what direction the agency needs to develop and what progress we have already achieved. At the same time, it is essential to remember that the goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and limited in time.

5. What networks are essential for your brand? Select all that apply along with the link to your business profile:

• Facebook;
• Google Business;
• Instagram;
• LinkedIn;
• Reddit;
• Twitter;
• Vimeo;
• YouTube.

The client needs to choose the social platforms they are looking at advertising on. If they are unsure, they should provide detailed information about who their ideal audience is so that the agency can make this recommendation. Research the availability of their target audience and the tools to reach it. Based on the results obtained, decide which social networks will drive the highest number of conversions.

6. What is your monthly marketing budget?

Understanding a business’s marketing budget will allow larger agencies with minimum budget requirements to filter through the noise and find their ideal clients. It’s also an essential step in being transparent about what the agency can deliver for that budget each month. 

7. When are you looking to hire an agency (timing should clear)?

That was a sample list of questions, and you need to adapt them to your work. Again, it does not matter if you ask five questions, 10, or even all 35; you should receive the most valuable client’s information to achieve the best result.

Mistakes to Avoid 

Writing a marketing questionnaire does not require any superpower or special skills. Everything you have to write is already in your head. You need to properly structure the available information and present it consistently in the document. Here are a few mistakes to avoid to prepare a good marketing brief:

1. There is no logic in the questions.

Try to build a logical structure in the document so that the client smoothly moves from one question to the next. You do not need to ask too many clarifying questions — this overloads the questionnaire, and an extensive questionnaire can easily scare off the customer.

2. Incomplete questionnaire.

Here, there is an opposite situation — there is a risk of not answering an important question, for example, about the project’s budgets or deadlines. After you complete a document, check it out. You can also go to the client’s website yourself and see the information there — you may have additional questions about the product or the presence of any sections about the company’s activities.

3. Difficult questions.

Complex questions should be reworded into simple and short sentences. You should also not add examples of answers to all of them — let the client think about formalizing the idea. This approach will allow the client to take a different look at the project and the company itself.

4. No feedback after filling out the questionnaire.

After you have received the brief:

1. Evaluate your work, describe the tasks, and make a plan for their implementation.
2. If any questions remain unanswered, meet with the client, and discuss them.
3. Warn the customer about the time frame for evaluating tasks and giving a response.

Of course, the opposite situation may happen when you receive the filled-in questionnaire, and the client disappears. Try to motivate the customer to fill out the questionnaire: tell them about the benefits for him and how it will help you as an agency.

Preparation of a Social Media Client Questionnaire

A social media questionnaire to onboard new clients should be in a tabular version or a survey form. To do this, you can use such tools as Google Docs/Google Sheet, MS Excel/MS Word, Google Forms, or a form on your website.

Conclusion 

Ok, a new client is in front of you, and it is time to get to work. It is time to make an introduction and collect the most critical information about your client’s brand. A social media questionnaire is the first document that begins cooperation between the agency and the client. It reflects the vital points of a potential request and captures the principal wishes of the customer. While the survey is a useful tool for business development, it is also essential to find an individual approach to the customer. Once you have the completed document in your hands, you can truly understand what your client is looking for and begin to create a strategy to get the best possible results.