How to Successfully Outsource Social Media for Your Business
From startups to big Fortune 500 companies, many outsource social media to remain active and relevant on the Internet. There is no doubt that social media is essential and can be a contributing factor to the success of any business; but then, as a business owner, managing the daily activities of your brand and handling your social media at the same time could be a pain.
However, it is okay to decide not to jump right on into outsourcing your social media because that company/agency/ freelancer would become the voice of the brand.
If you have always been the voice behind the message and have handled everything yourself, it will be a little unsettling to give someone else the reins.
After all, what you put up in social media represents your business and brand.
Hiring the wrong people who have no idea about the market and the target audience can mess it up. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t deter you from getting an efficient social media management agency for your business.
Now, there are various factors that you should consider before you take this step.
In this post, we’ll also be telling you about the benefits of outsourcing social media management and marketing. So, read on!
Every business can outsource social media
You don’t need to have a big enterprise to have a social media team. Having big capital and funds would mean you can invest in having an in-house social media team. But you can save more when you outsource social media services.
Outsourcing social media services is especially a great idea for small businesses looking to make it big globally. If you are dreaming high and above, then this option will give you more results for a lesser amount of money.
Small businesses get a chance to compete in the E-Commerce era
These types of businesses mostly don’t get the fame and appreciation it deserves. This is mainly accredited to the lack of visibility in the market. Small companies generally have a low budget to work with. They don’t always have the budget to go with flamboyant and larger than life advertisements and promotional activities.
Their visibility is then on the mercy of the locals and loyal consumers. One cannot depend on this type of advertising if one wants to grow bigger. In such situations, social media outsourcing for small business helps.
They are relatively cheaper and do more than just advertising the traditional way. Hence, social media marketing does more than that. They focus on communication. They not only communicate the idea and message of the brand, but they also interact with the consumers. This gives small businesses equal footing with the rest of the prominent organizations and brands on a global scale.
In-house versus outsourced social media marketing
When considering outsourcing your company’s social media, this is the second most crucial point that may come to your mind. Why not go for an in-house team rather than outsourcing social media?
We are going to explore both sides to gain a better perspective:
1. The traffic may not always favor the in-house team
Most of the traffic comes after office hours. If you have an in-house team, you would be able to schedule posts on after-office hours.
However, when it comes to communicating with potential leads who contacts your company online during your after-office hours, your in-house team may be unable to attend to them.
2. There is just not enough time when it comes to responding
The in-house team will barely have 6-7 active hours to focus on social media marketing.
In this time, they will be dividing their time in creating content, replying to queries and comments, and working on feedback. Hence, there is not enough time to respond to clients- especially 24x7.
3. The In-house team would know more intimately about the brand
It is true that any freelancing social media management or outsource agency will take some time to understand your brand.
In this case, your in-house team will be well-versed with your brand than the others. Yet, it is a temporary problem, and the results of outsourcing outweigh the former.
The benefits of outsourcing social media for your business
1. It gives you target-oriented results
If you are looking for a social media team who will respond on all social media platforms on your behalf, this will be beneficial for you. Outsourcing will lighten the burden on your existing in-house social media team as well. It helps in dividing the work in chunks and delegating it to more people.
2. They know what works for a specific theme
Maybe you want to target your audience on specific social media platforms. Outsourcing to these social media experts would help you with bagging them all. These experts will exactly know what to do and how to formulate the plan to get you the results you want.
3. It is cost efficient
You wouldn’t be paying for their insurance, transport, medical leave, etc. You can work on each contract with whomever you deem fit. If you don’t like the work of a specific agency, freelancer, etc., you have the freedom to change it without compromising much. You can also negotiate the price accordingly as well rather than having an in-house team with not much active in-flow of work.
4. It will save you A LOT of time
Do you know the social media tools that could help you with your brand promotion? When you have no clue about how to do your thing on these social media platforms, then it is advisable to consider outsourcing it as you don’t necessarily need to do it all on your own. Save your time with outsourcing your social media management.
What should I base my decision about outsourcing social media?
Now, when trying to outsource your company’s social media management, there are certain questions that you need to ask yourself to ensure that you outsource correctly. These questions are:
1. What is the theme of your business?
When you deeply understand the theme of your business, you will be better able to make people you hire understand. There are times when you may not know how to represent your business on social media effectively; hence, these people will help you formulate the image of your brand.
2. Do you have the content to publish?
Another factor to consider is whether you have content that could be used for your Social Media. Perhaps, you have the content, but you probably do not know how to advertise and market your brand. Also, sometimes, we don’t know what kind of content will suit our brand. From captions to hashtags, there are a lot of things that would go with the content to make it popular. When in doubt, consider outsourcing social media.
3. Do you have account on multiple social media platforms?
If you have, then you know you may be flooded with queries and responses from all directions. This also adds to the responsibility of replying to each one of them. Therefore, in such case, you would need a social media management personnel to handle it for you most especially, when you don’t have the time to go through each one of them.
4. Do you know how to be social on the Internet?
This means using the right social media management tools to enhance your identity online. Don’t just publish content, interact with your audience. If you don’t know how to and you wouldn’t want to risk it, it is better to hire social media experts who would know how to do it for you.
What options do I have if I want to outsource social media?
Freelancers
You can find freelancers on many job search engines. You would need to go through each of the profiles and match them with your theme of business. If they have the necessary experience in areas that you need and are apt at it, you can hire them. Some offer a wide range of services, while some are very specific about the role they play.
Tip: To outsource your social media successfully, it is advisable that you hire a freelancer who has previous experience in the Social Media Management field. By doing so, you are sure that your company will be getting the very best hands on deck.
Social media agency
These agencies formulate content or just publish content that you provide and use social media tools to propagate the message. They monitor the progress as well and tell you what is working and what is not. They give you a report as well to provide you with a brief analysis of the project. For Social Media Agencies, they tend to have various employees who are skilled at Social Media; hence, hiring them could be beneficial to your company.
Growth agency
These are the dedicated agencies who don’t stop at anything.
Social media agencies or freelancers might just give up at some point or after a few hurdles. However, growth agencies stick with you through thick and thin.
You can say that growth agency gives you the best of both worlds and more.
They do the analysis, do the strategizing, provide feedback, and formulate more plans and campaigns.
They also offer services that are specific to the theme of your business.
Back to you
Conclusively, to successfully outsource your company’s social media, it is essential for you to ensure that you hire someone or a company with previous experience; preferably, someone with prior experience in your business niche or industry.
Also, requesting for results or case studies of the company’s past work could be beneficial to help you decide if such social media personnel or Agency will be the right fit for your business.
Nevertheless, these are the factors that would help you to outsource social media management for your business successfully.
With this information, you will be able to take the right decision for your online business presence.
Karen is a senior technical writer and copywriter here at GrowFollowing. Her area of expertize are social media apps and new media.