On Meta and TikTok, an ad needs to give someone scrolling a reason to stop and consider your product. On Google Search, the agency must identify searches from people your product can help. Those jobs call for different skills, even when the same team manages both.
For paid social, ask to see how a customer insight became an ad and a test. For Search, ask why the team bought certain searches and excluded others. Both should connect their choices to what you can afford to pay for a customer.
This guide shows which work samples to request and how to score them before hiring an agency.
The short version: Judge paid-social and search agencies by the different jobs each channel requires. On Meta and TikTok, ask how customer insight becomes an ad worth testing. On Google Search, ask which queries the team buys or excludes and why. In both cases, the work sample should connect those decisions to an affordable customer acquisition cost.
Which paid media skills should buyers test first?
Test the skills that turn your business problem into a campaign decision. On Meta and TikTok, inspect concept development and creative learning. On Google Search, inspect intent selection, keyword judgment, and conversion economics.
Both teams must explain their measurement and spending decisions. Platform automation makes those responsibilities more consequential because the system acts on the goals you give it.
According to Meta’s Performance 5 guidance, creative diversification belongs alongside automation, data quality, simplified accounts, and results validation. An agency selling creative volume alone leaves several responsibilities unanswered.
Use this comparison when assigning the work. It describes different emphases, not exclusive job descriptions. Search needs persuasive messaging, and paid social still needs sound account management and reliable customer data.
| Skill | Meta and TikTok | Google Search |
|---|---|---|
| Customer judgment | Problem, motivation, hook | Query intent and buying stage |
| Campaign input | Distinct concepts and formats | Keywords, exclusions, relevant pages |
| Learning evidence | Creative test and next brief | Search terms and qualified outcomes |
| Commercial control | CAC, quality, spending limits | CAC, CPC economics, conversion value |
What should a Meta or TikTok creative work sample show?
A creative sample should connect a customer insight to an ad concept and test. Ask what distinguishes each concept. Have the team explain what would change its next brief.
Three edits of one video may test an opening without changing the central sales argument. Check whether the proposed variations explore different reasons to buy your product.
Give the team a hypothetical scheduling product whose buyers lose time coordinating meetings. Ask for two concepts: one showing calendar friction, another showing the cost of delayed customer conversations. Both should address a recognizable problem.
Then ask what stays fixed across the test. Changing the audience, offer, landing page, and video together makes results harder to interpret. Agree on the comparison before production begins.
According to TikTok’s creative guidance, tests benefit from substantially different creative. Its recommendations also cover early hooks, platform-native execution, and refreshing assets when results decline. That calls for judgment, not a fixed replacement calendar.
Request a real, anonymized example of a result changing the next brief. Our Meta creative testing guide covers that operating loop. A production schedule should leave room to act on what the campaign teaches you.
What should a Google Search work sample show?
A Search review should explain which demand the agency wants to capture and which searches it would exclude. Ask how each choice reflects your product and sales process.
Then examine the connection between search intent, ad, and landing page. The agency should defend its choices using lead quality and acquisition cost alongside the available query data.
For the same scheduling product, compare “appointment scheduling software” with “free weekly schedule template.” Ask what the searcher expects, whether your product fits, and which landing page could meet that expectation.
Do not exclude a query simply because it contains “free.” A free product tier might make it commercially relevant. Ask whether the searcher could become a customer or only wants a template.
Google’s Search guidance describes AI Max expansion through broad match and keywordless matching. Ask how the team reviews that expansion, evaluates outcomes, and corrects mismatches between searches and landing pages.
Have the agency identify a search it stopped buying and explain the evidence. Our Google Ads agency guide covers SaaS-specific selection criteria. Use the sample to test those claims against actual decisions.
Can the agency explain the CPC your economics support?
Ask the agency to calculate a planning CPC using your acquisition allowance and expected click-to-customer rate. Have it explain how that conversion estimate reflects your sales funnel.
Then change the assumptions and ask what happens to the budget. The team should explain the consequences before recommending bids or promising that cheaper traffic will solve the problem.
Consider a hypothetical business allowing $400 in advertising spend per acquired customer. At a 1% click-to-customer rate, its planning CPC is $4: $400 multiplied by 0.01. At 0.5%, the figure becomes $2.
Those are planning assumptions, not industry benchmarks or manual limits for Smart Bidding. Define whether your CAC allowance includes agency fees and production. If it does, deduct those costs before calculating the advertising allowance.
A cheaper click can still produce a more expensive customer. Ask to see the path from click to qualified lead to sale. Account for conversion delays before judging whether recent spending has paid back.
How do you score agency work samples fairly?
Score the reasoning and evidence behind each sample, using the same brief for every candidate. Ask for an example connecting a past campaign decision to its outcome.
Agree internally on which capabilities the role must own before comparing agencies. A persuasive presenter may understand the vocabulary without having done the work your account requires.
Score 0 for no evidence and 1 for a plausible explanation. Award 2 for a sample showing a decision and outcome. These scores structure the interview; they cannot predict campaign performance.
| Work sample | Evidence worth two points | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Creative test | Distinct hypotheses and follow-up brief | What changed after the result? |
| Search review | Intent decisions tied to lead quality | Which demand deserved more spend? |
| Economic model | Explicit CAC and conversion assumptions | What happens when conversion halves? |
| Measurement plan | Defined goals and quality feedback | What does the bidder count? |
| Ownership plan | Named decisions and approval boundaries | Who acts when results deteriorate? |
Who owns performance when the platforms automate delivery?
The agency should own campaign decisions within agreed limits. Your team owns business constraints and sales feedback. Name the creative lead, channel operator, and measurement owner before work starts.
In a small team, one person can hold several roles. Each responsibility still needs an owner with the access and authority to act when the campaign needs attention.
TikTok Smart+ automates targeting, budgets, placements, and parts of creative production with advertiser controls. Google’s value-based bidding guidance ties optimization to the conversion values and funnel stages advertisers supply.
Agree who approves new concepts, changes exclusions, adjusts spending, and returns qualified-lead data. Specify what happens when tracking fails. Those operating agreements matter as much as the person opening Ads Manager.
Our paid media with AI framework covers the broader operating model. Bring these work samples when evaluating paid media support so the discussion stays grounded in decisions the team will own.
Choosing the right skills gets easier once you know which account problem comes first. We can help you connect the hiring decision to that problem. Our Paid Media Analysis uses the information you share to identify 3 priorities for your next 90 days.
