1. Who actually does the work?
Ask to meet the people who will run your account, not just the person selling it. Many agencies win the pitch with seniors and hand the work to interns or freelancers. Ask whether ads, design, video and web are done in-house or outsourced, and how many accounts each person handles. A team that does the work in-house can move faster and is accountable for the result.
2. Whose name are the ad accounts in?
Your Meta Business Manager, Google Ads account, pixel and analytics should be in your name, with the agency added as a partner. If an agency runs ads from its own accounts, you lose your data and audiences when you leave. This one question filters out a surprising number of agencies.
3. What will the monthly report measure?
Impressions, reach and followers are easy to inflate. A serious agency reports on the numbers that pay your bills: cost per qualified lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend and revenue. Ask to see a sample report from a real client, with the name hidden.
4. What happens in the first 30 days?
A clear onboarding plan is a sign of a working process. You should hear about an audit of your current accounts, tracking setup, a content calendar approved in advance and a date for the first campaigns. Vague answers here usually mean vague months ahead.
5. How much content will we actually get?
Get the deliverables in writing: number of reels, static posts, carousels, ad creatives and shoot days per month. Creative volume drives ad performance, and it is the line agencies cut first when margins get tight.
6. What does it really cost?
Separate the agency fee from ad spend and production. Ask what is included, what is extra (shoot days, models, travel, paid tools) and how the fee changes as you grow. In India, social media management typically runs from ₹25,000 to ₹1,00,000 a month depending on volume; anything far below that range usually means very little content or very junior people.
7. Red flags to walk away from
Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed sales. Ad accounts in the agency's name. Long lock-in contracts with no exit clause. No real work to show in your category. Reports that never mention revenue or leads. Pressure to sign on the first call.
8. Questions about fit
Ask which brands like yours they have worked with, what didn't work and why, and how they handle a bad month. An agency that can talk honestly about failures will be honest with you when your numbers dip.