People often wonder if social media agencies are worth it. Others don’t even know what they are or what they do. Are they even necessary? Is outsourcing your social media management even a good choice for you and your brand? The short answer is yes. Here is why.
Hiring A Social Media Agency vs. Hiring An In-House Social Media Manager
Are you in charge of hiring a social media manager for your company?
Do you know what the requirements are?
Should they be paid $50k? $70K? $100K? More? Less?
$50k doesn’t seem so bad to write blog, post memes, and run a couple of Facebook ads, right?
The problem is that that’s only what you think the job requires. There is much more to being a social media manager than just “posting content” – in fact, there is so much work that putting it on all ONE person is not going to get you the best results. Especially if that one person does not have experience in all of the different things that go into creating a successful social media strategy.
It’s not enough just to just find a cool photo or MEME and post it.
What does being a social media manager actually require?
Here are some of the types of requirements that social media managers come across daily. These positions usually have an average salary of at least $70k – $100K:
SOME of the things that a social media manager does:
- Create content for ALL social media channels
- Post that content on ALL of the social media channels
- Be a killer copywriter/editor
- Be proficient in graphic design
- Be able to produce professional photography (sometimes)
- Stay on top of current trends (i.e. hashtags, topics, influencers, etc)
- Understand online marketing tactics, SEO, SEM, SMM, etc
- Have experience running paid ads on all platforms
- Have experience managing online communities (Groups)
- Have 5+ years experience in many if not all of the above and more
Social media is constantly changing. With so many algorithms and ever-changing trends, it’s difficult to stay on top of it all without the help of an expert.
Our World and Social Media
Social media is no longer something that you can treat lightly. 80% of customers have reported that they take a look on Instagram, Facebook, or Google for reviews before they decide to go with a certain product or service.
Customers are also checking out your business directly on social media, and, at times, by-passing your website altogether. How your brand appears online and how you interact with customers directly affects your business. With the ever-growing importance of social media in society, that effect is only going to increase as time passes.
Why hire a social media agency?
A social media agency’s team has the tools, the know-how, and the connections to get you all those previously mentioned services a-la-carte for a dollar amount that is substantially less than having to hire even one employee. Through an agency, you get an entire team focused on your social media, each with their own skills and expertise to bring to the table.
The truth is, even if you were to hire an “in-house” social media manager, they would probably be working remotely anyway. Social media management requires constant movement and coordination and is nearly impossible for a social media manager to sit at their desk all day and still be productive. In addition, a social media agency represents a variety of different companies. That variety gives them opportunities to constantly learn about different industries and see what works and what doesn’t. This helps them to always be coming up with new ideas and thinking of new ways to do things.
What do you get?
By hiring an agency such as Like A Voss, for $2.5k-$6k/month, you get a team of experts that:
- Does all content writing for all social media channels/accounts
- Will monitor all of your social media channels/accounts
- Produce content calendars and schedule posts in advance
- Provide graphic design (as needed) for content
- Will stay on top of current industry trends
- Are experienced writers
- Know how to do influencer marketing in an authentic way
- Know how to run social media contests
- Are experienced online/digital marketers SEO, SEM, SMM, etc
- Track analytics on what is working + what is not working, and make changes to get the best results
- Will produce weekly/monthly newsletters (if needed)
- Has 20+ years collective experience over a number of fields
- And more!
Let’s do some basic math…
To hire an individual social media manager would cost you around $70k – $100k (to start), plus the cost of scheduling, monitoring, and project management software which could easily run you an additional $5/year on the low end.
To hire an agency like Like A Voss would only be around $72k (on the high-end), which includes all software. That’s a savings of nearly $28k/year that you can put directly back into your online marketing budget!
Why is it more cost-effective to hire a social media agency?
The short answer: connections and refined processes.
You’re getting the same value at a lower cost simply because it costs the agency less to provide you with the services. They’ve built up industry connections over the years that allow them to cut costs and deliver on time. At Like A Voss, we’re sure that we can execute more quickly and cost-effectively than the competition.
Outsourcing your social media management benefits you! The term “outsource” has garnered many negative connotations over the years, but honestly – with the shift to online work (WFH), there is really no reason not to outsource these days. The tools and technology available to us allow remote work to occur with ease!
At Like A Voss, we do our best to make sure our clients feel comfortable if this is the first time they are outsourcing a service. We want you to know that your accounts are in experienced, capable, expert hands! Outsourcing your social media management means different things to different clients but when executed properly, it can often reveal itself to be the best choice to help you reach your online objectives!
Looking for an agency? Contact us today to set up a FREE discovery session with our team – we’d love to help!
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This blog was originally published in December 2018 and has been edited for accuracy.
