If you’ve been struggling with outsourcing your social media management, you’re going to love this article. Social media is a powerful marketing tool, but it’s also a time suck. If you’re using social media as part of your business strategy, chances are you don’t have time to manage all those accounts yourself. But what if you could outsource the work? What if there was someone who could manage your social media presence for you?
That’s where outsourcing comes in. And yes, it’s possible to outsource social media management without losing control over your brand or losing a bunch of money. Here are nine proven principles for outsourcing social media without getting burned:
- Do Your Homework
Before delegating any aspect of your business, you need to do some homework. Make sure you know exactly what needs to be done before hiring an outside contractor or agency. The last thing you want is for someone else’s mistakes to cost you money and time down the road.
- Your Outsourced Partner Should Be Local
The first principle for outsourcing SMM is that your partner should be local or speak your language fluently. That’s because you need someone who understands your audience, who can connect with them better than you can from thousands of miles away, and who can translate their feedback into actionable data for you.
- They Have Experience With Small Businesses
A social media manager who has experience working with small businesses can better understand your needs and create solutions that will work best for you. If they don’t have any experience, they’ll struggle to provide quality work and may even charge more than they should — which will cost you more money in the long run.
- Hire Someone Who Knows What They’re Doing
While some people may have experience managing social media accounts for other companies, it’s important to look for someone who has experience managing your specific type of business as well as the type of business that you want them to manage (for example, if you own an accounting firm, then look for an accountant). This will ensure that they know exactly how to market your brand and can provide value-added services that improve your overall marketing strategy.
- Know Your Audience
Don’t hire someone who’s just going to post whatever they want and hope for the best. As much as possible, you want someone who understands your audience and can create content that engages them on a personal level. If possible, try having them do research before they start working for you so they have some understanding of who you are as a company or brand and what type of content would resonate with your followers.
- Define Your Expectations
Before you hire someone to manage your company’s social media accounts, it’s important that you set clear expectations for what they will be doing. You need to decide what kinds of posts they should be making — for example, should they post on all platforms daily? Or would it make more sense for them to post once every week? Also, consider how often you want them to respond to comments and direct messages from customers. The more specific you can be about what type of content and interactions you want from this person, the better off everyone will be in the long run.
- Branding
Don’t outsource your brand identity. It’s important for any company to maintain control over its brand image. That means making sure that every post published by an outsource Social Media Management agency aligns with your company’s branding strategy and messaging guidelines. The same goes for hiring freelancers who manage individual accounts — make sure they know what kind of content you want them to share, so it fits in with the rest of your content strategy.
- Consistent Posting
The most important thing that an outsourced social media manager can do is post consistently. You don’t want all of your posts to come from one person or even one department. An outsourced team ensures that there is always fresh content being posted on your behalf, which gives you more exposure and leads people back to your website or blog.
- Responding To Comments
Another common task for an outsourced social media manager is responding to comments on your accounts. Ideally, you’ll want someone who can respond quickly and professionally so that customers feel heard and valued by your brand.
Conclusion:
It is important to keep in mind that, when outsource social media management, you are putting in the hands of a third party one of the most fundamental parts of your online business. Even if the agency or individual you choose is highly qualified, how they make use of the information and resources provided will be linked to how successful your marketing efforts are. It is, therefore, essential to thoroughly screen your potential outsourcers so as to run only with those that meet your needs and standards.
