Social Media, a free platform that businesses use to communicate with their customers and clients. We’ve all been on it for as long as we can remember. Because of this, we all think that we know how to do digital marketing and understand what we are doing when it comes to our social media. It’s simple right, choose an appealing eye photo and write a captivating caption and watch the internet go crazy for it. Then get annoyed when the likes and comments don’t come.
Don’t we all wish that it was just as simple as posting a photo and a catchy phrase and the likes and comments just came flooding in? The truth is that I get weekly emails and questions at networking groups of, “I just don’t know what to write.” People always tell me that they write out entire captions, then they delete them. They write them again and delete them. Most people say that this cycle happens to them at least three or four times before they just get uber frustrated and don’t post.
This writes and deletes what should not be happening. Understand that you are not alone, the frustration with words is real for some people, the defeat of setting up that perfect photo is another. The truth of the matter is that you are great at that one thing you are in business doing. You might not really be that great at the marketing aspect of your business, and that’s perfectly normal. This is where outsourcing comes into play. Realizing what your weakness is and that there are people who exist who have that thing you need as their strength.
Admitting that you need help is the first part of solving any problem. Coaching you through it is an excellent solution; however, a coach can’t do it for you. Realizing that you actually need to hire someone to just do it for you is where the success begins.
What Is A Social Media Manager
To free up time in their workday to work on their actual business, conscious business owners choose to outsource their social media management to people called Social Media Managers. Basically, this person takes care of your social media (be it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LikedIn, Pinterest, etc.) needs such as creating content, posting, interacting and engaging, monitoring analytics, etc.
Good Social Media Managers (SMM) have specialties, where their main focus is one or two social media platforms. (Mine is Instagram & Pinterest) This is great if you are just starting out, have a budget, and want to see how you do in terms of utilizing one platform at a time. Other social media managers are well-rounded and know a little bit of every platform, and usually take on the role of managing them all at the same time. This is great if you have multiple streams of social media and various audiences, and want to keep on top of all of them.
What Is The Cost Of A Social Media Manager
One of the biggest questions after deciding which route to go in terms of social media management is, “how much will I have to pay just to get my actual work done?” Of course, as a business, you want to make sure that you are spending your money in the right places. A few significant concerns that I run into is your business is your baby and so paying for someone (you may or may not know) who can be your voice, and how can you trust them to do this correctly? After all, you’ve been on social media yourself, forever, so how hard can it be?
I challenge you with this question, have you ever opened up Instagram to go in and post, but you end up looking at your feed for the next 45 minutes, and you forgot why you opened Instagram in the first place? By this time you’ve forgotten what is you wanted to say, and it’s challenging to get those words back after perusing your feed. Let me tell you a secret if you’ve done this more than a handful of times you need to consider outsourcing.
There are so many components that go into social media management, components that your business won’t realize by just posting whenever you have an excellent idea for a caption.
I’m not saying that you can’t learn to DIY your social media marketing (to save money), I’m saying that to do social media right takes dedication and CONSISTENCY. While you are building ALL the other parts of your business, a Social Media Manager is laser-focused on the task of social media and only social media.
Can’t I Just Have An Intern Or My Admin Assistant Post To Social Media?
The answer to this is obviously yes; however, I am a firm, of you, get what you pay for. Thinking that you are saving money by having your admin assistant pull double duty managing the phones and posting to your Instagram could actually be losing you money. As I stated before a legit social media manager is laser-focused and trained in their specialized platform. A real social media manager is tuned into the trends, updates, and happenings of the platforms they specialize in and offloading that knowledge into the work that you are paying them to do for you. An admin assistant or intern might not be equipped with this knowledge.
This has come into play because speaking to your demographic through words and photos takes a certain finesse that someone trained in the field possesses.
I’ve Hired A Social Media Manager, How Do I Determine My ROI
Seeing a return on the investment of your outsourcing to a social media manager isn’t one that is always to physical to see. Sometimes it’s as simple as realizing just how much more of your actual work you are getting done a day by not focusing on what and when are you going to post to social media.
One way to effectively see a ROI by outsourcing you need to set clear goals for your social media manager to work towards. A good social media manager will also tell you what their goals are for your business as well. For example, my biggest goal when I am hired is that I want to create as many leads to convert to your website that I can.
Other trackable goals would include such things as:
A certain number of emails or DM’s from customers per month.
A certain number of sales of a product or service.
Obviously increase in followers, likes and comments.
If you are serious about taking your social media presence to the next level and just do not have the time to watch and read all of the things to learn how to correctly DIY your social media game. I encourage you to seek out and outsource to a qualified social media manager. To see what services I can offer your business, visit my Services page.