Imagup General Magazine 2024
These days, it’s common knowledge in the world of business that the growth of your business, as well as your brand, are hugely affected by your presence on social media. You cannot just be present either. How you go about managing your social media presence greatly affects the standing of your company’s brand. It is a monumentally bad idea not to make sure your plan is well thought out, organized, and systematically put into action.
Why Should I Pay Someone to Do Social Media for My Small Business?
Someone, not whoever is available, should be put in charge of social media for your business. Maybe you are adept in this field, or someone in-house is. Many times a relative with this type of know-how is hired and other times, an outside consulting or service firm that specializes in social media.
To manage social media, it takes more than making a weekly or daily post. You must be upon current tools, apps, and trends. You have to be able to handle every nuance of brand identity. Building strategic alliances, building community, knowing how to put KPIs and ROIs to work for the betterment of your company, and understanding copyright and image sourcing are just a few the other things it takes to manage social media effectively. To a specialist, it is more than a job, it is an art.
How Much Can I Expect to Pay an Agency for Social Media?
Accountable to you, they usually keep up on your metrics and make them work for you. They make a well-devised plan for your company and then, they work it. That is what a social media management company does for you. You can expect to pay these companies from $500 to $3,000 per month. Freelancers and consultants can charge roughly the same, but most cannot give you nearly the same services.
Is it Better to Hire a Company or Do Social Media In-House & Why?
Each situation is different. Maybe your son-in-law, who is “gifted” in social media “stuff”, is different than all the others. I would recommend considering these facts before you decide. You will pay social media management firms around one-third less per year than someone in-house, plus they don’t require health insurance or vacations.
Next, with someone in-house, you are limited to one person’s experience and vision of what your brand should look like on social media, while with the team at an agency, you get many insights into what your brand needs to look like to your core audience. Also, your in-house person’s scope of the latest tactics and trends could be limited, and for this, you could suffer losses. A social media firm constantly stays current on these things and more.
Also, many times, an in-house social media manager has more than one job, and that usually means that social media takes a back seat to the other. It doesn’t take much neglect to let your competition pull ahead. This is why your social media management firm is on the job 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Not only does it get tending day and night, but comments get replied to and posts get posted. Essentially, the work gets done when people quit or get fired, take a vacation, or get sick.
How many times have you encountered someone at a restaurant, hotel, shoe store…it is outrageous that no one wants to do one tiny little bit more work than they absolutely have to, just enough to get paid and not get fired. Your social media management employee maybe that way, and you may not know. What if they are doing just enough to keep their job. It is affecting your brand and your bottom line. A social media management firm will take pride in what your brand looks like, as that is their reputation on the line, too.
A firm that employs social media management specialists will employ an array of talent, such as experts at design, copyrighting, posting blogs, creating videos, and much more. So, you are buying experience and talent. If one person from the team is out on a particular day, the other members can take up the slack. That is why it is the norm now for businesses to have their employees work in teams – because they are more productive and do better work.
An agency will give you the upper hand when it comes to talent, and thus, a greater chance of getting your desired results, over that you will get with an in-house employee. With an agency, you’ll have someone manning your social media day and night. Also, for an agency to succeed, they must help their clients to succeed, so they will work harder for you.
What Are Some Red Flags to Watch for When Hiring an Agency to Do Social Media?
You have decided on a social media management firm but do not know where to start to find the right one. Here are a few red flags to watch for when vetting a social media management agency. Firstly, if they offer you miracles overnight, run away quickly. There are no miracles in social media. It takes time and methodical hard work. The same thing is not going to work for everyone. You need an approach that is tailored just for you, and that itself does not happen overnight.
Next, if you are the first client in your industry that this agency has worked for, run quickly. Maybe they will do a great job. Maybe they will not. Do you really want to let them experiment on you?
Then, if they are promising you new followers but know nothing of conversions, run away quickly. It is the conversions that truly make a difference in your bottom line. Do they know how to use ROIs and KPIs? How are they going to influence followers to purchase your products? Also, how do they market themselves? If they do not market themselves well, they will not be able to market you any better.
Lastly, quality tools are important. Analytics, hashtags, images – what tools do they use to manipulate these? Are they top- shelf? This is important. It is how your data will be used.
Your social media presence should shine. At BizIQ, we take pleasure in making sure your social media shines brighter than those around you. We take seriously social media strategy, account management, social media customer service, account growth, and advertising. Please contact BizIQ today for a consultation.
