Social media has become extremely popular among businesses. As a result, more and more companies are trying to use social media marketing campaigns to promote themselves.
So if you’re looking to grow your business performance using social media, you’ll soon run into the problem of finding enough qualified people to handle your account.
That’s where outsourcing comes in.
Outsourcing your social media means hiring people from outside your organization to take on work that you don’t have time or resources to do yourself.
Sending out messages through social media networks can be costly, after all. That’s why businesses spend millions of dollars every year to create and manage their social media presence–with the results to show for it.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s social media strategy, consider outsourcing your efforts.
Even if you don’t have an in-house marketing team or a million bucks to spare, a reasonable budget and a small but trustworthy team are enough to get you started.
Still on the fence?
Read this article and learn why outsourcing your social media efforts makes sense.
- How does outsourcing social media work?
- Why do companies outsource their social media?
- What are the pros and cons of outsourcing your social media marketing?
- What should you consider when outsourcing your company’s social media?
- What should you look for when choosing the right social media agency?
How does outsourced social media work?
Outsourcing your social media doesn’t mean giving up control over your company’s social media accounts.
When outsourcing social media marketing, you hire someone else or an agency to do what you would normally pay an employee to do.
You still set the direction and goals for your social media campaign, but you trust they will execute those plans.
This way, you focus on other aspects of your business, like growing your customer base. Or having your team focus on what your team does best, like sales and product development.
The social media management agency will be responsible for posting content, interacting with followers, answering customer inquiries, handling comments, and keeping track of everything going on in your social network.
The good news is that you don’t have to worry about updating your profile, managing your brand image, growing your sales numbers, etc.
And if you decide to get your account back under your own control, it’s easy. Just contact your social media agency.
3 Reasons companies outsource their social media management
Social media has become ubiquitous, and many business owners are outsourcing their social media management to save time, money, and resources.
But why?
What’s driving this trend?
We all know how to send a tweet and update our Facebook status, but do you really know how to target your campaigns to maximize success and generate the business leads you desire? If not, you have two options – spend months researching into social media trends and improving your knowledge or outsource your social media to somebody who knows exactly what they’re doing.
forbes.com
There are several reasons businesses outsource their social networking activities, but we can sum most of these up into three:
- They lack expertise.
Many business owners feel they need someone else to manage their social media accounts. This could be because they don’t know what to do for themselves. Or because they have found no one they trust to help them.
Businesses are outsourcing social media management because they believe that content creation is not their core competency.
They feel that spending hours creating great content will distract from their core business and cause them to lose customer retention.
If you’ve been tasked with running your own social media campaign, you probably don’t have the right tools or training. And even if you did, you’d likely lack the experience necessary to make sure things go smoothly.
- They lack time.
Most business owners don’t have lots of time to manage their social media platforms.
If you’re like most businesses, you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of hours required to run a successful online presence.
In addition, sometimes you simply can’t get involved in social media yourself. Maybe you’re too busy at work, or maybe you’re trying to juggle multiple projects.
You may even have a full-time job already. So how can you expect to maintain a successful social media presence without taking time away from your business responsibilities?
- They lack money.
Social media requires constant updates.
If you’re paying for these services yourself, you can only afford so much. And then there are costs like website design and hosting fees. These things add up quickly.
There’s one last reason business owners outsource their SMM–it’s less expensive than hiring an employee that you are yet to train to get it right.
In fact, you can hire an entire team of experts for a fraction of the cost of managing your own social media accounts.
What are the pros and cons of outsourcing your social media marketing?
The Pros
There are several benefits to social media outsourcing.
- To begin with, you’ll save time.
By delegating tasks to specialists, you or your team members can free up time to focus on other aspects of your business.
You won’t have to worry about updating your pages, responding to comments, or posting new content. Your outsourced social media specialists will take care of this for you.
- You’ll also gain access to more resources.
When you delegate your social media duties to professionals, you’ll gain access to a wider range of skills and experience.
A social media expert will be able to provide advice on topics such as branding, digital marketing growth tips, SEO, link building, analytics, and more.
- Your company will benefit from increased exposure.
Outsourcing your social media efforts gives you the opportunity to reach a larger audience.
By working with a professional service provider, you can ensure that your brand’s message reaches the people who matter most.
- Your company will get better results.
Outsourcing your social media management means that you’ll get better results.
When you hire social media specialists to manage your social platforms, you’ll receive professional advice from social media experts who know how to market to your target audience online.
This will help you get better results faster.
You save money.
Finally, outsourcing your social media helps you avoid costly mistakes.
Since you won’t have to worry about making mistakes, you’ll save both time and money.
Outsourcing is typically more cost-effective than hiring someone in-house. You’ll need to factor in the time it takes to hire, train, and develop new team members into your costs. On top of that, the average annual salary of a social media manager ranges from $34,432 to $56,571. One of the benefits of hiring an agency over an in-house specialist is that you get an entire team for less than the price of one full-time hire.
businessinsider.com
The Cons
While outsourcing has many advantages, it does come with some drawbacks. Here are things to consider before signing up:
First off, you should be aware that outsourcing your social media doesn’t mean that you won’t be held accountable for the results. Customers will still associate your company name and brand identity with your social media activities.
If they don’t like what they see, they may stop doing business with you.
Second, you must make sure that you’re getting quality work. It’s important to choose a reputable service provider so that you can trust them with your social media account. The last thing you want is for your followers to notice that something isn’t quite right.
Third, you must be prepared to give up control. While it’s true that you won’t have to monitor your social media accounts yourself, you will lose the ability to make changes at any time.
Finally, you should understand that outsourcing social media isn’t always the right solution for every business. It depends on the size of your organization, the type of industry you operate in, and your budget.
What should you consider when outsourcing your social media efforts?
After all is said and done, should YOU consider outsourcing your social media management? Well, it depends on your company’s size, industry, and budget. Here are some guidelines to consider:
Small Businesses
For small businesses, outsourcing social media can be a smart move.
You’ll still retain complete control over your brand, but you won’t have to spend as much time and energy on managing your social media channels.
This makes sense for smaller businesses that don’t have the same level of marketing needs as larger corporations.
Smaller businesses usually have fewer employees and less money to invest in marketing campaigns. As such, they often rely on outside agencies to handle their social media management tasks, including creation of different content types.
Medium-Size Companies
For medium-sized companies, outsourcing social media management is also a good idea. For example, if your company has over 50 employees and spends $10,000 per month on advertising, you should seriously consider outsourcing your social media.
As mentioned earlier, it takes a lot of work to maintain a presence on social media channels.
The time spent on each channel varies based on how many people follow you and what type of content you share.
If you don’t have the resources to dedicate to your social media, then outsourcing your efforts may be the best solution.
You can focus on the major aspects of your business while someone else handles your social media accounts.
Large Corporations
Outsourcing isn’t always a viable option for large corporations. If you’re spending thousands of dollars every month on social media advertising, then you probably need an internal team to manage your accounts.
However, sometimes outsourcing makes sense.
If so, you should only hire someone who specializes in social media management, or a social media consultant. Or you can have agency augment certain tasks for your company that they can do better than your team.
Such as what?
How to choose the right Social Media Agency
When choosing a social media agency, there are three main things to consider:
- Experience
- Reputation
- Pricing
Experience
Nowadays, it’s important to look at the experience of the agency when choosing them. Social media as a business is a low-entry barrier, so anyone can be a social media “expert.”
A good social media agency will have years of experience managing clients’ accounts and catering to your target audience online.
They should also have a track record of delivering high-quality work. After all, if you’re going to entrust your social media to someone, you want to make sure that they know what they’re doing.
Reputation
The second thing to consider is the reputation of the agency. Look into their reviews online. Do they have any complaints or negative feedback? Is their customer service responsive? How are they engaging? What are their social media profiles and platforms like.
Someone I spoke with asked me about the social media profiles for my company. She said “…because it’s like being a plumber, they are great at what they do but their house also needs plumbing.”
It is very easy to find us online. And check out how we do social media marketing.
Pricing
The last factor to consider is the pricing structure. How does the agency charge for their services? Are there additional fees for specific features like analytics and social media marketing tools? Cheap doesn’t always mean the best.
Make sure that you compare pricing across different agencies so that you can determine which one offers the best value for money and the most benefit coverages.
A few tips when outsourcing your social media efforts
There are several factors to consider when deciding whether to outsource social media management. It’s important to weigh those factors against your own preferences and business needs before deciding.
The first step to any good relationship is communication.
If you want to communicate effectively with your new social media manager, here are some tips:
- Be clear about what you expect from them
Once you’ve decided who you want to handle your social media accounts, make sure you set expectations early on.
Ask questions about how long it takes to complete social media management tasks, what kind of support you can expect, and how frequently you’ll receive updates.
Be specific.
- Communicate clearly
You can’t expect your social media manager to understand everything about your business.
But being clear about what you want and expecting them to deliver results is key to a successful partnership.
- Keep the lines of communication open
It’s easy to lose touch with your social media manager once you’ve hired them. But you shouldn’t let that happen.
Stay in touch and check in periodically.
Yes, periodically because you wouldn’t want them in front of their inbox daily responding to you instead of doing their job as your social media marketer.
- Hire people who understand your company
Remember that you hired them specifically to represent your organization.
Therefore, be sure to select someone who understands your company’s culture and values, and industry.
You can also educate them about that so they are better armed for you. That’s what our clients do to help us help them become better at communicating with their audience.
- Make sure you know what you’re getting into
Don’t just assume that you’re getting a good deal.
Before you sign anything, ask questions about what potential benefits they’re going to include in their service package and what they’re going to charge for each task.
Will you be tied to a period of time? Or is it month-to-month?
Outsourcing: save more by doing less
To put it simply, outsourcing social media for businesses saves money and allows you to focus on other aspects of your company. It may sound like a no-brainer, but many small businesses don’t realize that it’s possible to save time and money without sacrificing results.
However, there are certain things that you should remember before making this decision. It’s not always easy to find an agency or freelancer who can provide high-quality services at affordable rates. So, make sure that you choose a reliable provider who can deliver results.
By using an experienced social media management firm, you can save time and energy while increasing exposure to potential customers.
If you’re looking for a team of specialists that can handle your social media, you’ve come to the right place. Whether it is posting content, monitoring engagement and ad performance, scheduling posts, visual content, and more, we, at Social Success Marketing, have the social media expertise you need.
