What should a social media agencies selection checklist cover?

What to take away

The Communications Act 2003 received Royal Assent on 17 July 2003 and still frames UK communications regulation, so accountability belongs at the top of any social media agencies selection checklist.
Five areas cover most decisionsevidence, compliance, measurement, team and exit terms.
Ask for a named lead, a dated sample report and a fixed review date before you sign.
A checklist built for a test project will not fit a three-year retainer, so scale the questions to the spend.
Record why each agency scored as it did, so renewals have a paper trail.

Fix the decision before you write questions

A checklist only works if it matches the purchase. A single campaign, a rolling retainer and a multi-market pitch each need different weightings, so write your decision in one sentence first. Score every question out of five and set a pass mark. An agency that falls below the bar on compliance or measurement drops out, whatever the price.

Fix the decision first

Write the purchase in one sentence
Score every question out of five
Set a pass mark
Drop below bar on compliance or measurement

Questions to send before the first call

Which named people will run the account day to day, and have they worked in a comparable sector?
What did the last three monthly reports show, and who received them?
Which parts of the work are subcontracted, and who holds those contracts?
How are paid partnerships labelled, and who checks the label before publishing?
What notice do you need, and how is audience data returned at the end?

Evidence you can check

Start with two dated sample reports from comparable accounts instead of a slide of logos. Check who wrote them and whether the figures reconcile with what the client sees in platform reporting. Where client work cannot be shared, ask for a redacted dashboard walkthrough.

If you want to know which claims survive scrutiny, the explanation of how review evidence is gathered and scored sets out the tests used. Then test one claim yourself before the second interview. Ask for two client references and ring them without the agency on the call.

Compliance checks that hold up

UK communications and advertising sit inside a statutory framework, and the Communications Act 2003 is where that framework begins. Compliance ownership should be a named person, not a shared inbox.

The CAP Code for non-broadcast advertising applies to social posts and influencer campaigns, including content that runs without paid media behind it. Ask who signs off a post, how paid partnerships are labelled, and what happens when something is edited after approval.

Measurement and reporting checks

A monthly report is only useful if you know what it counts. Put the metric definitions, the attribution window and the platform sources in one document.

Audience evidence should sit behind the plan, and the IPA's publications and reports show how media strategy is evidenced in practice. If an agency cannot explain how it counts a conversion, it will struggle at renewal.

Commercial and exit checks

The fee breakdown matters, and so does the notice period. Ask who owns the creative, the ad accounts and the audience data. Confirm whether media spend passes through the agency or stays on your card.

Check the exit route too: how quickly data moves to you, and what happens to scheduled posts if the contract ends mid-campaign. Long notice periods raise the cost of a wrong choice. Where several agencies are still in play, the comparison methods this site uses explain how shortlists are weighted.

Decision table: match the checks to the situation

Choose

First test of social, budget under £2,000 a month: A fixed-scope project with weekly reporting
Regulated sector, such as finance or health: An agency with a compliance sign-off named in the contract
Rollout across several markets: One lead agency with local partners named in the contract
Renewal of an existing retainer: A fresh score against the same checklist

Avoid

First test of social, budget under £2,000 a month: Open-ended retainers with no exit clause
Regulated sector, such as finance or health: Anyone who cannot show a labelled paid partnership
Rollout across several markets: Unnamed freelancer networks
Renewal of an existing retainer: Rolling over because the team is comfortable

Common questions

How many agencies should be on the shortlist?

Three or four is usually enough for a clean comparison. Beyond five, scoring gets shallow because you cannot test claims properly with the time available.

Is a pitch or a paid test more useful?

A paid test answers more than a pitch does. It shows how the agency reports, who actually does the work, and how it handles a change of direction.

How often should the checklist be repeated?

At least once a year, and always before a renewal. Re-score the incumbent against the same questions you used to hire them, and keep the notes.