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Should I Outsource my Social Media?
Discover the powerful combination of a simple tool and expert coaching with Willow.
Book a free demoIf you're reading this, chances are you're already thinking about giving your business social media some much needed attention. Like anything other function in business, marketing or just maintaining an active presence on social media requires time - Time that you may not be able to give. That's when you start thinking about outsourcing.
But should you outsource it?
Full disclosure: Our aim with this post is to suggest Willow to you as your go-to social media partner. Everyone says it but we're ACTUALLY different from the usual social media tools and agencies out there. Check us out if you're curious.
Now back to this brief checklist to help you decide if you should outsource it or not.
Are you selling a consumer product or a service?
If you're selling a consumer product, you should be working with a creative social media team whether you build that facility inhouse or outsource it. Often working with an agency can mean important messages getting lost in transmission over emails. On the other hand, it can also offer a fresh perspective and better campaign ideas. The main deciding feature there has to be the control you like to have on the messaging. It's about what you prefer.
If you're selling your expertise as a service, (for example as an accounting firm, a lawyer, a consultancy) you'll need to show your social media audience glimpses of that expertise. A social media agency that handles all your social media from A-Z cannot fake that expertise. That has to come from you.
So your choices as an Expertise as a Service business are:
- Retain full control of your social media (assuming you are an expert at it or have the social media expertise inhouse), or..
- Opt for a social media service like Willow
- lets you create content that shows your expertise,
- organizes your social media plan & automates your scheduling,
- provides tailor-made education & consultation to you about how to do better at your social media.
Onto the next important question.
⏲️ How much time & effort can I afford to put into social media?
A project is worth the work you put into it. Social media is no different. If you dedicate an hour of your time every day to building your brand on social media, you'll see the fruit of your labor in the form of growing followers and better engagement.
The question is, do you have an hour every day to dedicate to social media to post quality content, engage with followers, and engage with influencers in your industry?
If you can still afford to spend a few hours every week, you should continue to do so, until you see that something else is limiting you. For instance, if you don't know what you're doing on social media. Which leads us to the next question you should ask yourself.
🤓 Am I an expert at social media marketing?
Social media is not rocket science. Every person with a phone, an internet connection and some free time on their hands can learn the ins and outs of it, and do relatively well.
But it is like the rabbit hole Alice fell into. You soon realize the hole is deeper than you thought and you're out of your depth. Social media algorithms keep changing, the number of people who see your content on their feed is rapidly decreasing, and ad platforms are complicated to understand.
If you're still confident about your social media expertise, and you have the time to dedicate to it, great. You don't really need to outsource. All you need is a tool to help you automate your scheduling, and to stay educated about all the latest developments in social media. Here you can go for a scheduling tool or Willow - we can provide you with the scheduling + monthly training you need for a low price.
If you're simply overwhelmed with all the social media posting and the KPIs to keep track of, you should consider hiring a social media expert or outsourcing your social media management to a reliable agency.
But of course, outsourcing social media management comes at a hefty price. Which brings us to question 3 👇
💵 Can I afford to outsource social media?
Finally, your budget and your expectation of a good ROI dictate your decision to outsource. Here is what you can expect to get for different budgets if you're looking to outsource social media.
From $0-100
As a startup you might not have the bandwidth to spend on outsourcing on social media. For this low monthly budget or no budget, you can get a few scheduling tools, which still require you to be the social media expert.
What kind of return can you expect?
- A few hours saved every week.
From $100-500
For a slightly higher budget, you can find a scheduling tool with a lot of analytical capabilities and a barrage of metrics OR Willow (social media plan + scheduling tool + monthly training with online marketing expert + 24/7 support).
What kind of return can you expect with Willow?
- Maintaining steady growth with less effort (time spent)
- Increased growth rate of channels and engagement rates with the same amount of effort.
- Consultation: 💻 Looking at the month's performance together on a videocall. Advice on how to get to the next level.
From $1000-2000
With an even bigger budget allocation, you can go for a freelancer or hire a social media manager (hiring costs not included).
What kind of return you can expect?
All of the above.
From $2000-10k
If you're a big company with a big marketing budget, good for you. You can go for your pick of the best creative social media marketing agencies out there.
What kind of return you can expect?
- Complete social media management.
- Content creation
- Social media marketing campaigns
- the whole deal.
Word of advice: If a social media agency/tool promises you rapid growth (grow your followers x times in a matter of days), ask a lot of questions and think long term. Will a tactic like using bots fuel your "growth" over the next 5 years?
As you see from the checklist above, there's no one size fits all. Hopefully this will have given you a good idea of the most important deciding factors when you're thinking about outsourcing your social media. If it hasn't..well, reach out to us!