Imagine a business with stores and online enquiries whose page has been updated irregularly by staff. Before interviews, collect recurring customer questions, campaign dates, prohibited brand language, usable photos and videos, and the person who will receive customer enquiries. Ask each agency to show a sample content calendar identifying the topic, platform, required assets, approval deadline and publishing owner. If several platforms are involved, clarify whether one master post will be adapted or whether each platform receives a distinct treatment. Establish the internal decision maker, backup contact and approval deadline, and ask whether existing post data can be transferred. The proposal should also show the steps from discovery to the first publication.

A proposal that merely says “social management” leaves room for disputes over formats, revisions and delivery. Split the procurement brief into planning, copy, graphic or video assets, scheduling, comment and message routing, and monthly review. For each item, specify file format, delivery date, approval owner and the response when an item is rejected. Ask: What does the monthly deliverables list look like? Who receives source files? How are urgent campaigns inserted? Are complaints and orders handed back to our team? How are delayed assets or unconfirmed facts tracked? Require the agency to identify excluded work and use a sample cycle to check staffing, revision rounds and responsibility boundaries. These answers reveal operational fit better than polished examples alone.

The main operational risk in social work is often not creativity but undocumented access, assets and responsibility. Before signing, list the owner of every page, advertising account, asset folder, analytics tool and customer-service entry point. Use the platform’s formal permissions instead of shared personal passwords, and define how administrators are added, removed and transferred at exit. If the agency responds to comments, document the topics it may answer, escalation triggers for sensitive cases, service hours and the location of the record. Internal staff should know exactly when to take over so customers do not receive conflicting answers. The contract should also identify the registration email, two-factor authentication, permission period and change-notification owner, while the business retains the highest administrative control. Confirm the licence scope and records for images, music, fonts and third-party tools.

Acceptance should not stop at checking whether the last post was published. Request editable copy, design source files, video captions, asset-licensing records, the schedule, reporting definitions and an account register. Run a simulated handover: the business logs in, verifies permissions, downloads the files, checks links and tracking settings, and reviews open items with the agency. Ask how long assets are retained, who can alter advertising, whether source files are included, and who handles a locked account or staff change. Confirm that the business can independently understand naming rules and report fields after transfer. The acceptance record should list missing items, due dates and owners, so unusable files are not discovered only at the end of the engagement. This turns agency work into a transferable operating asset.

A performance meeting should answer whether content created a meaningful next step, not simply chase follower or like totals. Before engagement, separate organic activity from paid promotion and agree on signals such as traffic source, depth of engagement, profile or link clicks, qualified enquiries and the sales follow-up record. Define “qualified” internally—for example, an enquiry within the service scope, with contact details or a completed booking—so repeated messages and irrelevant comments are not counted as business value. Confirm who exports the data, how often it is updated and how far back it can be traced, while distinguishing platform statistics, website analytics and customer-service records. If the goal is education, traffic or after-sales support, use separate questions rather than one number for every task.

A useful report supports the next decision. Ask for a monthly explanation of which topics deserve expansion, which assets need revision, who received each enquiry and why a platform or content change is recommended. When advertising is involved, separate media spend, management work and organic content. Acceptance questions include: Can every report item be traced to a post or campaign? How are duplicate enquiries removed? How are sales records fed back? Who approves next month’s changes? For unusual results, require possible causes, missing information and a method for the next check rather than an unsupported success or failure claim. Record each decision, owner and due date, then review completion in the following cycle. If data cannot be connected to concrete actions, the business cannot judge whether the engagement still fits its purpose.