Every man and his dog seems to be offering social media management services these days. And despite offering these services ourselves, I think there’s a question that needs to be answered:
Should you invest in a paid social media management service?
They’re not for everyone. Or at least, they shouldn’t be the only social media marketing that you do.
What are you trying to achieve from social media marketing?
Perhaps it’s imperative to growing your business and your future success depends on the performance of your social media marketing.
Or maybe, you want to use it to keep stakeholders updated on news and events.
Whatever your social media objectives, they need to be defined, as this should form the foundation of your decision on whether you should use a social media management service.
Don’t outsource all of your social media management
Regardless of what your goals are for your social media channels, you should always try to do some of it yourself.
The reasoning is simple: nobody is closer to your business than you and your staff.
No social media management company can learn as much as you know about your business, and they can’t react as quickly as you can to make any urgent announcements or post some exciting news.
If you’re a small business, it’s important to make it easy for customers to get to know you too.
Authenticity creates impact.
Do you have money, time, or both?
On the flip side, and this is the main reason why we offer social media management services, is time. Or lack of it.
Most businesses don’t have the resource to do an effective job in house. It takes talent too. Just because the apprentice spends all their time on social does not mean they would make an effective social media marketer!
If you’re a start-up and you’re struggling for cash, then you should learn the skills to develop your social media yourself initially. If you have a large budget but limited time, it makes sense to do the reverse – hire experts.
Ideally, you will have a reasonable budget and some time to devote so that you can do both.
Work with experts to do the advanced stuff – like using social media advertising and other activities aimed to drive new business. Then, take the time to do things like updates, announcements and produce some knowledge-sharing content in-house.
What type of person are you?
Let’s not forget too that we all have our own strengths. If you’re a small business owner and confident putting yourself out there on social media, do it!
Keep your authenticity and don’t miss out on the opportunity social gives you to really engage an audience and build an army of loyal followers.
Then again, if you cringe every time you hit ‘post’ or if social’s just not your thing, get help.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to use a social media management service comes down to your objectives for social, the resource you have, who you are as a person, and the type of business that you operate.
Take the time to make the right decision for you.
If you’d like to discuss any ideas that you have to develop your social media marketing activity, please feel free to call me on 0333 009 0060, I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.
To find out more about our social media management services, click here. Or you can email me directly – matthew.brown@pearson-brown.co.uk
-Matthew Brown, director
You can follow me personally on social to see how I’m building my personal brand around my blog — The Business of Life Club: