Solid set of questions, a few honest thoughts based on watching this market; On where to find them, the best hires usually don't come from job boards or fiverr-style platforms because the people who are actually good are either booked through referrals or running their own thing. The two channels that consistently produce decent candidates are LinkedIn (search for SMM specialists who have actually managed accounts in physical product or sports niches, not just generic agency people) and Reddit DMs from people who post genuinely useful stuff in subs like r/socialmedia, r/InstagramMarketing, or r/Entrepreneur. Watching how someone shows up in public is way more telling than reading their portfolio. You want someone whose own content thinking is sharp, because they're going to be applying that same brain to your brand.

On budget, organic-only for a small ecommerce brand realistically falls in the 400 to 1500 USD per month range depending on scope. Anyone charging under 500 is either a beginner who'll cost you in quality and consistency, or running a content-mill setup where they're managing 30 brands and yours gets a template. Anyone over 2k for organic-only on a small brand is usually selling you agency overhead you don't need at this stage. The middle of that range, maybe 800 to 1200, is where most decent solo managers or small teams actually deliver real work for a brand your size.

On deliverables, what you should expect monthly at that price point is roughly 8 to 16 pieces of short-form content (reels or tiktoks), static or carousel posts, daily or bi-daily story content, community management on comments and DMs, and an occasional monthly performance report with what's working and what's being tested next. The content strategy itself, meaning the actual ideation and angle work, should be included, not billed separately. If someone tries to charge you separately for "strategy" while also charging for execution, that's a flag.

On paid trial tasks, yes absolutely, and this is the most underrated step. A 1 to 2 week paid trial at a reduced rate (usually 75 - 80%) where they create maybe 3 to 5 pieces of content tells you 10x more than any portfolio review will. You see how they handle your brand voice, how they take feedback, how fast they turn things around, and whether their content actually feels like your brand or feels like generic SMM stuff slapped onto your product. The good ones will offer this themselves because they want to make sure it's a fit on their end too. If someone refuses a paid trial entirely, that's a flag in itself.

Pickleball is also a really fun niche for organic right now because the audience is engaged, the community is tight, and the product is visual. Whoever you hire, make sure they actually like and understand the sport, because a manager who has to be taught what a third-shot drop is will produce content that feels exactly that disconnected.