Is Your Company Ready to Outsource Social Media? Pros and Cons.
Looks easy enough, but how you manage your social media presence can affect your business or organization’s bottom line. No matter whether you take the task in-house or outsource to a pro, the cost of social media management is an investment you should weigh.
Effective Social Media Management Starts with Frequency.
“We have social pages, but we don’t stay current on them.”
We hear this a lot from businesses that have done the first step of due diligence and set up their profiles or claimed their business names. But the fact is, if managed properly, social media can have major relationship-building benefits with a community of potential brand advocates that are right at your fingertips.
According to a 2018 report from Social Media Examiner, 87% of marketers believe social media helped them grow their exposure. 78% reported a rise in traffic and 53% suggest their social media activity improved sales.
The name of the game is being consistent enough to be relevant.
How frequently should you post on social media?
A good rule of thumb is Facebook: 1 post per day. Twitter: 15 Tweets per day. Pinterest: 11 Pins per day. LinkedIn: 1 post per day. Instagram: 1-2 posts per day.
Who Should Post for Your Business?
No one understands your business better than the internal teams. Which means you’re the best person to talk about and advocate for your brand online. In fact, there are many online tools that have simplified the management of social media. But are you the right person for the task?
Remember, social media well done is frequent and consistent. If you can invest the time to create engaging posts coupled with compelling videos or images, then you can totally own it. But if your attempts will leave you posting half-hearted content and made-from-scratch graphics, it’s a job best left to the experts.
Outsourcing to Experts
Properly done, social media management can cost between $500-$1,000 per month. Consider these points as you weigh the pros and the cons:
Hiring an expert brings efficiencies:
Of course, you can craft a solid post and create a graphic and speak the brand language, but can you move swiftly through these platforms to avoid spending too much time away from day-to-day business?
Outsourcing to a social media expert brings efficiency. Because they know their way around the platforms, recent Facebook updates and how to manage advertising and notifications, they are simply more efficient.
Hiring an expert keeps the focus on the customer, not marketing:
You think this social media thing is about pushing a product or marketing your brand, but it works in the opposite direction. Good social media posting engages users with great content and thought-leadership associated with your brand. In turn, this helps develop the relationship and the customer appreciates your brand as being:
- Being an authority on topics
- Being engaging
- A brand that doesn’t push product in a “salesy” way
That’s how you become a stronger brand and become top-of-mind next time the need for your product arises. People want to work with brands they know and trust and a social media expert recognizes that the best way to do that is establishing relationships.
An expert has an outsider’s perspective
Have you ever been just too close to something that you’re unable to see other points of views? That’s a common problem with companies that run their own social media. Negative feedback or reviews cause you to become defensive and not see things objectively from the customer’s point of view. That’s another value of hiring an expert. His or her unbiased perspective helps them diffuse customer issues and lead with a positive response. They might even be able to help you understand the insights and analytics to better understand what your customers actually want or identify feedback to improve your processes.
Paid to be reliable
If you contract with a social media manager to post X times weekly, you can easily see their progress by simply visiting your social pages and pay accordingly. But a good social media expert will schedule posts ahead of time, allow you to review and approve them and then set them to launch. Whether you use a contractor or an agency, if you’ve set expectations upfront, you’re likely going to get quality posts that meet expectations.
How will you manage your social media presence?
Are you ready to manage your social media yourself or outsource?
No matter how you move forward, Fajen Consulting can help train you to be your own social media expert or manage social media on your behalf with reliable, quality, compelling content and design.
Reach out to learn more about our level of social media expertise.