As a social media consultant, I will be honest: There are just some clients who make it hard for me to do great work for them. These clients are very rare, but they are so exhausting that they usually stick out more than any other clients.

Sometimes I feel like screaming, “I JUST WANT TO DO GREAT WORK FOR YOU.” But I don’t. Instead I realize great work is impossible for this client. And I wait it out until the end of the contract. Unsurprisingly, I do not renew with this kind of client.

Most clients don’t fall under this umbrella, but most clients could benefit from learning how to work with a social media consultant a little better. If you’re saying to yourself, “Inspiring a consultant is not a part of my job,” then we especially need to talk. Whereas inspiring might not exactly be your job, working with a consultant in such a way that you create great work together is definitely a part of your job. And by inspiring them, you will be halfway there.

So let’s talk about how to inspire your social media consultant.

Create goals together

At first, I was going to write something about having clear goals to share with your social media consultant, but that’s not exactly right. Why? Because you likely know a lot of the big picture goals, but maybe are a bit fuzzy on how those day-to-day goals fit into those big picture goals. A social media consultant can listen to those big picture goals and translate them into what should happen day-to-day.

So how does this work?

Every social media consultant has their own way of doing things. I give my new clients an in-take document that includes a question about their goals for their social media program. I ask them follow-up questions based on their answers, which then leads to a strategy document that has social media goals lined out. We then negotiate those goals before the program gets started until we’re on the same page. And then we fine tune them as we proceed.

Although clear cut goals would be nice and straightforward, the reality is that this process is all about learning together. So creating initial goals together and then working on them to fit the current social media landscape and business goals ends up being a much better solution to get organizations to where they want to be.

Open and clear communication

And to adjust those goals as needed, of course you need open and clear communication. But you also need it to build trust and a relationship with your social media consultant.

I had two very different clients at one point. I had regular meetings with one of them that included telling me about any upcoming projects and any issues that I should anticipate. They gave me loads of information. And I could tackle anything that might pop up with a prepared response that we had already agreed upon.

And then there was the other one…

Every meeting was just a list of what I should be promoting at the moment. There was no talk of the future or any problems I should be looking for. In fact, they’d go out of their way to not tell me about problems. So they always caught me by surprise. I had no planned responses, and we had to do everything on the fly. I brought this up and noted that life would be easier for all of us if we planned. The response was that they didn’t need to plan to make my life easier. So we went on until I fired them. Because working with limited communication only increases made-up fires and decreases my quality of life.

Inspired content doesn’t happen when my quality of life is suffering from problems that could have been foreseen. Instead, my time with my client is eaten up as I feel absolutely beaten down.

Recognize contributions of your social media consultant

This one is so simple, but effective if you’re looking to inspire your social media consultant. Just recognize their contributions. Anyone who works in social media spends a significant portion of their day being told not great things. So if you take a minute to actually build them up, it goes a long way.

I was in a meeting with my client and their partners once. We had to go around to introduce ourselves. Before I even had a chance to do my intro, my client introduced me themselves. They said that I was a part of their team and then bragged about some of the things I had done with them. It was unexpected. I had never had a client say so many nice things about me so openly like this.

Do you know what I did after that meeting? I went home and I worked even harder for them, trying to make their social media presence my masterpiece. Knowing how much I was appreciated made me want to raise the bar even higher. It’s honestly the single most motivating factor for me and most other social media consultants.

But it doesn’t have to be as big as stopping a meeting to tell all of your partners how much you appreciate them. It can just be little, consistent notes about how great their work is. But don’t completely skip the big gestures altogether. Maybe make it a rule that once a year you do a big gesture that underlines exactly how much you appreciate them. Make it personal and from the heart. It will go a long way towards motivating them year round.

How are you inspiring your social media consultant?