Should I Outsource my Social Media?

Should I Outsource my Social Media?

I have been managing social media accounts and teaching people how to use social media for business for the last four years. The question that most people want to know the answer to is ‘Should I outsource my social media or should I manage it myself?’ There is no right or wrong answer to this, everyone has different time constraints and different business requirements. I would recommend choosing very carefully, and avoiding outsourcing to non-English speakers or outsourcing this task to India.

The Advantages of Outsourcing your Social Media

By outsourcing your social media, you can (if you choose the right professional) ensure that your social media marketing accounts are in charge the hands of a good marketer. That is, provided that you choose the right agent or company. There are many good social media marketing managers and companies out there. If you would like a freelancer, you can recruit People Per Hour or E Lance. It is a good idea to make sure that you get someone with both experience and a qualification. A year into my social media marketing career, I took a BTEC in Social Media for Business. This gave me more confidence and the knowledge of a structured marketing approach.

Another advantage of using a social media marketer is that it will save you time. A professional social media marketer might be able to do the job more effectively and to a high standard. They are extremely useful as your company grows, particularly in the area of reputation management. Many people do not handle complaints in the right way. In these situations, it is a good idea to have a professional social media marketer at hand.

The Disadvantages of Hiring a Social Media Marketer

It is easy to think of the positives of having your social media account managed, particularly as it will save you time. However, remember that you will still need to proof read the posts and oversee your account. You do not want a social media marketer who posts directly onto your Facebook or twitter account without you approving the material first. Social media marketing should work in exactly the same way as print based marketing, which means that everything will be checked by the business owner before publication. If it takes you just as long to double check the posts and accounts, it may be just as time-consuming for you to run the account yourself.

You should check that the freelancer or company you are using has insurance and a complaints procedure or guarantee in case anything was to go wrong. Remember that when you give your password for social media accounts to someone, they could bring down the reputation of your business overnight. This may be intentional or unintentional, but you are giving them the power to do so. If you choose a cheap social media marketer, the result might actually be detrimental to your business. You do not want anyone posting on your social media sites things that are inappropriate or with incorrect spelings. The high cost of a social media marketing agency may mean that outsourcing is not cost-effective at all.

I have heard horror stories of inexperienced agents with English as a second language ruining small businesses social media and online reputation. In fact, in my early days of business, I experienced a difficult situation myself. An employee of mine incorrectly tweeted without permission from one of my clients accounts, which was not within the requirements of my client. We lost a business as a result. Since this experience, I only ever manage people’s social media accounts myself.

The best Person to Manage your Business Social Media Account is YOU!

Unless you have a massive budget, or need a team of more than one social media marketers, I highly recommend that you manage your social media account yourself. You know your business more than anyone, and are the best person to manage social media on this business’s behalf. If time is an issue for you, there are ways to speed up the process of social media marketing. You can download apps for Facebook, Twitter and Linked in onto your Smartphone, and choose a social media marketing management tool such as Hootsuite to help you.

Social Media Training

If the problem is that you do not know how to use social media platforms, it is easy to get training online or in person. To learn the basics of the social media platform, you probably need between three and five hours of tuition per platform to fully utilise the features. You can book a social media training session through trumpeter media by calling (07840) 380352. Training sessions can run in person in Oxford or York. For a higher charge, I can come to you to teach you social media. You can also be trained online through your Skype or Google plus account. I wish you all the best in your social media training or outsourcing.