It’s likely your business will feel it needs to have a digital marketing strategy, and social media will be a large part of that. However, getting social media right is so important to your brand, and you may feel that you don’t have the time or expertise for that.
It’s also true that hiring a dedicated social media manager is likely to be more expensive than outsourcing your activity to a marketing agency. Therefore, this article will look at the subject in more detail. Discussing some of the main advantages of outsourcing and debunking the myth that you need to manage these things yourself for success.
Frees up your time to work on other aspects of your business
If you’re running your business with a small team or maybe even doing everything yourself, then your time is going to be incredibly precious. Getting social media right means being able to create stunning visuals and to update your profiles regularly. It may even mean posting during unusual hours if you’re trying to reach a global audience.
Understandably, you may think your time is better spent on generating customer business and other forms of marketing. However, social media can also help towards those goals, so it’s worth spending a decent amount on it through a marketing agency. In this way, you can see the benefits without taking time away from your business.
Keeps your social media active if you want to take a break
If you are running your business by yourself, then there may be times when you want to take a break. The problem though is that leaving your social media accounts quiet during this period can lead to followers and engagement levels dropping off. So, this means you may want to manage a lot of your social media yourself but utilise an agency during certain times.
When you do this, it will still appear that your business is operating normally even if you are taking a break. So, when you are ready to get back to work, you won’t have lost followers or momentum that you then need to get back. As a rule, it’s a good idea to keep things active the whole time, and outsourcing is a useful way of accomplishing that.
Outsourcing as an educational tool
It may be that you don’t want someone to manage your social media content for you but need some help to get started. There’s a variety of social media services you can get, such as merely getting accounts set-up in the first place. Presentation counts so getting this ready through a professional is a good idea.
You may also need help in deciding what times are best to post or the sort of content you should be putting out there. Hiring a social media consultant can help you with that, and they can also give your accounts an audit, so you know what you’re getting right or wrong. Getting this expertise, in the beginning, can be crucial to avoid making elementary mistakes that could be hugely damaging to your brand.
Social media isn’t all about selling
The last point touched a bit on mistakes that you can make. More specifically, one of those mistakes that new brands often make is thinking social media is purely a sales tool. Therefore, they post promoted content infrequently. The two problems with this is you’re trying to sell rather than engage, and you aren’t updating your accounts regularly.
Any followers or fans will wonder the reasons they should purchase from you with no knowledge of your brand and an account that doesn’t even appear to be active. As a rule, social media is not a place for the hard sell – and encouraging engagement should be your way forward. By outsourcing, the agency or freelancer you use should know this and make sure you are getting your digital marketing output right.
Getting social media right is an art
You may have played around on social media before and think you can efficiently run your brand accounts. Keep in mind though that getting things right is an art form, and you might be better off outsourcing it to a team of professionals that work on this sort of thing every day. As mentioned in other points, you want to be careful not to damage your brand through elementary mistakes.
For example, social media is about your audience, so a good social media manager will tailor your offering for that specific audience. Of course, this involves going through social media and Google Analytics to zero in on their interests. It’s equally worth remembering, the best successful social media brands use stunning visuals, and you need to be comfortable creating them, so this may be different to the Facebook status updates you are used to posting.
Most brands now realise the importance of a robust digital marketing strategy and the role social media has in that. The significant decision though is on whether you manage that in house or look to outsource it. Of course, there is no right or wrong answer to that it just depends on your individual circumstances.
Remember though if you do choose to outsource it frees up your time for other aspects of your business, keeps your social media active if you want to take a break, outsourcing can be used as an educational tool, social media isn’t all about selling and getting things right is an art.
If you need help with your Social Media, please get in touch at Your Digital Agency or Flat Rate Social Media.