Notes

Can you please tell me a little about your most and least favorite social media sites to use?
You probably already know the basics of what social media sites the applicant is comfortable using just by reading their resume, but this question gives a more in-depth look at the strengths and weaknesses of the social media intern. It can help you discover whether they would be comfortable using pages your organization prefers so you can see how compatible they would be with your company. What to look for in an answer:
* Understanding of popular social media sites
* Detailed pros and cons of certain sites
* Excitement and interest in social media
Example: "I love Twitter because the trending features make it easy to see what's popular right now, and I dislike Snapchat because of its limited uses."
Do you have any suggestions for how you would improve our current social media campaigns?
When you bring up this question, you are testing the candidate to see whether they have taken the time to look up the basics of your company beforehand. Their answer also gives you some insight into how comfortable the intern is with promoting things through social media. Using this question can let you learn a little about the applicant's thought process behind social media posts. What to look for in an answer:
* A willingness to suggest recommendations for improvement
* Knowledge of current social media campaigns
* Sound reasoning behind their suggestions
Example: "Your Instagram does a great job of promoting products, but I think you could engage users even more by posting customer-submitted photos, too."
Can you tell me about any familiarity you have using social media analytics, monitoring or publishing tools?
Using this question in a social media intern interview allows you to find out if the candidate has more than a basic understanding of social media. Questions that get into the details of tools used to track and improve social media outreach tell you whether the person has any experience using social media to actually create campaigns instead of just chat with friends. What to look for in an answer:
* Basic understanding of commonly used tools
* Confident discussions of which ones work well
* Examples of how they use tools
Example: "I've used Google Analytics to get reports on who views my content. It's helpful for seeing which pages encourage and discourage user interaction."
What would you do if you noticed a fellow intern copying social media posts instead of creating their own original content?
This question is mainly helpful because it tells you how the intern would interact with others in the office. You can learn whether the applicant is likely to spend their time doing problematic things like arguing with peers or trying to hide their friends' inappropriate behaviors. It can also be useful because their answer tells you a little about the candidate's own ethics and diligence. What to look for in an answer:
* Expressing a desire to improve workplace efficiency
* Ability to handle matters tactfully
* Willingness to comply with company procedures
Example: "I'd encourage the fellow intern to put more effort into their work. If that didn't change anything, I'd privately mention the issue to a superior."
How would you handle a situation where you had several time-sensitive posts to make and various office tasks to complete in a single day?
This question lets you judge the candidate's skills in a key part of being an intern. Since they help out with a little bit of everything around the office, you need a social media intern capable of multitasking and juggling a lot of projects. This question helps you see if the candidate is up to the task. What to look for in an answer:
* Strong organizational and scheduling skills
* Ability to multitask and prioritize time
* Remaining calm when considering a busy workday
Example: "I'd make a schedule with computer or phone alerts for when everything had to be posted. In between posting things, I'd finish the other tasks."