Hiring a social media manager is a big decision. They’ll be trusted with your brand voice, your community and often thousands of pounds in ad spend. You’ll be working with this person closely, so it’s a time investment as well. Lots of people say they do social media now and often a lot of their years of experience comes from them including time they’ve spend managing their own accounts, or various ‘brands’ they’ve set up. In this job, actual hands on experience and talent matter more than anything else.

So when hiring for a social media manager, the portfolio is an essential place to see what brands they’ve worked with and the results they’ve had. Social media freelancers and agencies obviously aren’t going to highlight their worst work. Some of their best work you may not get to see because of non disclosure agreements. But it’s a snippet of what they’re proud of and what they can do. It gives you an idea about the kinds of emotional pressure and performance stress they may be used to being under. (Oh hi 👋) So it should be an important basis of your decision.

The problem is not all protfolios are created equal. Some are glossy but vague, others are padded with projects that don’t reflect reality. Some avoid portfolios althogether, hoping you’ll judge them on their own instagram instead.

To add mischief to the mix, business owners and marketing managers often don’t really know what should be in a portfolio either. So I wrote this guide based on what to look for, the red flags to avoid and why a curated portfolio can be more useful than scrolling through a live account.

Why Does a Portfolio Matter?

Social media management can look deceptively simple. A few Canva graphics, trending TikTok sounds, bingo. But running channels successfully means pulling together strategy, content, community management, ads and reporting. Usually under pressure from stakeholders with real money on the line.

It’s imperative that the person running your account can enhance your brand and not destroy it for the sake of increased TikTok engagement.

A portfolio is where a manager proves they can do all of that. If they’ve got a good one? Trust me, they’ll lead with it. There’s nobody worth booking who doesn’t want to show off their port.

What a Strong Social Media Management Portfolio Should Include

1. Tangiable results (not just vibes)

Look for numbers that show real growth. That could mean increased reach, follower growth, engagement, conversions, or ad return on spend. Each business has different numbers that they look for when deciding whether a campaign was successful. For an FMCG brand, that might have been reach. For a B2B lead generation campaign, they maybe don’t care about how many followers they picked up. So before you say ‘reach/followers/engagment is just a vanity metric’ have a think about what that particular brand may have required. Some of my brands have asked for huge reach, some followers, some only cared about direct sales. Not all customers want sales from their social media channels and see it as a different part of their funnel. And often, we don’t promise this with organic social media either.

If a portfolio only shows content without the numbers, that’s okay for content creators, but if you’re looking for someone who understands strategy and management, it could be a pass.

2. Breadth of responsibilities

Social media management is rarely just “posting.” A solid portfolio should show the full scope of skills that you’re hiring that person for. Where I can’t show in my portfolio (such as for community chat, reporting etc) I tell. The reason I list my responsibilities transparently is, sometimes people include items in their portfolio that they weren’t super involved with.

For example I have assistants who worked scheduling my content and responding to instagram comments, and sometimes they’ll put those brands and my work in their portfolio. This isn’t uncommon in the industry. I’m not against people using portfolio items from previous campaigns they worked on under different businesses, in many areas people will manage a project entirely even though their boss is taking the money.

When you work for yourself such as I do, this doesn’t stop me from being involved with other teams. There’s some KILLER names in my work history that I don’t use in my portfolio because my work with them was part of a much wider project. For example, I may have written the social media posts but someone else worked on strategy and some others on the graphics. This is why you’ll see a list of my responsibilities and where a photographer, or outside agency has been used, I always credit their role in the team.

Be weary of people who will list a big name in their portfolio, but don’t really break down in detail what they actually did for them. If it were a graphic designer, there would be such a big difference between rebranding Coca Cola and using another designers assets to populate an E-shot, but many people will never explain the difference to you.

3. Industry adaptability

Every sector has its own language and challenges (particularly from trading standards). Beauty, tech, healthcare, B2B, and retail all demand different strategies. A good portfolio will show the manager knows how to adapt.

A question that comes up all the time: “Have you worked with a brand exactly like mine before?”

On the surface, it sounds logical. If you’re a skincare brand, surely you need someone who’s run other skincare accounts? If you’re in B2B, maybe you want someone who only does B2B?

But it’s not always necessary, and in some cases, it’s a disadvantage. If someone has only ever run accounts in your niche, chances are they’re recycling the same playbook over and over.

Although many marketers choose to use their job to access a particular industry they care about such as beauty, fashion or sport. Marketing and business is the industry that I care about. The thing that sets me aflame, is achievment, making people money as they hoped I would, raising peoples profile beyond their expectations. When I get an ad campaign running and profitable, I feel urgently cool. When I run an account with a community who really care about the business, I feel protective of it like it’s my baby. So the thing that excites me is a product or service that could explode if only it has the right marketing. And for me that ranges from Christmas Decorations and Perfumes, to Manhole Opening Tools. There are only a few of us out here as psychopathic as this that they genuinely read Success Magazine and The Economist for entertainment, but exist we do.

So rather than asking ‘have you worked in my niche?’ (Although for me the answer is usually, ‘probably’ to be fair.)

Ask:

Can they show they’ve taken complex or specialist topics and made them engaging?

Do they demonstrate adaptability accross different audiences? Or are they working with the same old Canva templates and TikTok trends for each account?

Can they link social media activity to measurable results, regardless of industry?

And you know, if you’re working with an intelligent person they’ll probably be able to work out what you do and how to sell it. And if they can’t? There’s a chance your customer won’t get it either.

4. Testimonials

Portfolios should include client voices. A one-liner isn’t enough; look for specific feedback about results and working style. Remember this is a person you need to get along with in some regards. They may have amazing content and results, but if they can’t actually meet deadlines, that’s all pointless.

I used to have a huge section of testimonials on my website, but in the end I decided to move them to my portfolio and my ‘extra’ portfolio I send over when prospects ask for a proposal which includes emails and numbers for people to verify that I’m only psychopathic in the ‘reads about business for fun’ way.

What most marketing portfolios are missing

1. Before and after data. Where did the account start? Context matters here. I’ve had accounts handed to me with a million followers already there, but disengaged. That’s a whole different challenge from a fresh start.
2. Proof of paid ads. Paid ads are a tricky one. Meta tracks purchases that the client may have gotten already. I’ve learned this year that ROAS is a difficult one. But I guess someone who sucks at ads won’t be able to get ANY ROAS. I think it’s good to have conversations about ads, ask me about accounts I lost sleep over but managed to rescue. Or the one the client didn’t even think I would be able to sell. It’s hard to convey the drama of advertising campaigns in statistics.
3. Agencies especially blur who did what. Are you getting these people on your team? Or are they sticking the intern on it or an external freelancer (who they might not have ever worked with before).

Social media portfolio red flags

1. Work they didn’t lead/weren’t heavily involved in.
2. Speculative mock-ups. With caveats. These can be useful for content creators to display their real skills. But if the person isn’t open that the portfolio item is a fantasy project for a fantasy client, don’t be fooled. When managing real budgets, navigating stakeholders and handling ad spend, work can look very different.
3. No portfolio. There could be genuine reasons why someone would have no port. I myself have been there. When I was starting out I worked with low budget clients who had low budget everything else. Their logos, websites etc weren’t something I really wanted my own brand associated with even though I was getting them great results. It was hard to get past this stage. For people starting out, portfolio building is hard. Still, if they’re in this arena it’s “give me a chance to work on something proper and show you what I can do” kind of material, and their fees should reflect that. If you’re going to invest in marketing, you want to see they can do what they say they can more than a few times.

Should you ask to see their current accounts?

This is a common request, but it’s not always fair and it can mislead you.

A live feed doesn’t show targeting, ad budget or strategy. It doesn’t reflect teamwork, on larger accounts not every post is the manager’s. Designers, copywriters or in-house staff may be contributing too. Social media managers are often under NDAs.

If the client is new, their feed may still show work from a previous manager. It can take weeks or months to pivot a strategy, test and build new results. Sometimes I’m hired to rescue a big old account, which means the first months are about fixing systems and stabalising performance, not instant fireworks. Yet you just see “1 million followers, poor engagement”.

It takes months, if not years to gain traction on social media.

That’s why curated case studies in a portfolio are a more reliable measure. They highlight work I can confidently say I led, and they show the results clearly. With most clients, I want them on my rosta for at least a year before I’m ready to show off.

So when people pass me a ‘send over the accounts you manage’ when they’re unwilling to look at my portfolio, I pass. I’m excited to show what I’m working on, but it needs to be in a conversation.

A social media manager’s portfolio is the clearest way to see what they can actually deliver. The strongest portfolios show real results, a wide scope of responsibilities, adaptability across industries, and client testimonials.

In short: the best portfolios prove impact, not just aesthetics. And they show you the person behind the results and the context of the project.