Should I Outsource My Social Media? 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
To outsource or not to outsource?
Ah, that is the question businesses love to ponder when it comes to their social media needs.
On one hand, having a professional handle your social media will save your time, resources, and money and you can focus more on profit producing activities.
But on the other hand, hiring a social media specialist can be an additional expense. It can be a tight decision, especially for businesses with a limited budget.
To answer the question, “should I outsource my social media?” here are six questions to ask yourself.
1. Do you have the time to commit to social media?
To succeed in social media, you need to establish communication and a trusting relationship with people. In fact, 43 percent of small businesses allot at least 6 hours per week on social media.
Marketing on social media isn’t only about creating a page or sharing posts whenever you feel like it. There’s the task of monitoring trends, responding to comments, reaching out to influencers, and more. You can’t accomplish all these when you only spend 30 minutes or so on your social media pages.
If you have a large follower base, more people will expect you to be more active in responding to their queries and comments and sharing information they crave.
If you’re still starting out on your chosen platform, you’ll need to devote more time and effort to build a solid follower count.
TL;DR: if you can’t dedicate more than two hours of your time on social media every day, then yes, you need to outsource to a social media virtual assistant (VA).
2. Do you know what type of content to produce and share with your audience? Can you create content consistently?
Producing content, or figuring out the right type of content to create, takes time. But when you decide to let a social media expert handle these for you, you won’t need to dwell on them and wonder if you’re sharing the right content out there.
As long as you give them a background of your business, your target audience, and the content materials you have, they’ll take care of your content production as a piece of cake.
Even if you have a steady content production system going, outsourcing can help you share these consistently and during the optimal times for every platform.
3. Can you consistently engage in social media?
If you want to achieve the results you want from social media, you need to be out there for your people. Talk to them, answer their questions, and respond to their feedback. Be active on the platforms where your ideal audience hangs out.
If this doesn’t sound like up your alley, though, it’s better to outsource to a social media specialist who has a whopping people skills.
4. Do you have enough people to handle your social media?
If you’re throwing your social media duties to an employee as their side task, you won’t achieve your goals at your desired time.
For example, you assign a graphic designer to take care of your IG and FB pages. While they can create good graphics for these platforms, they can’t focus on doing their duties such as engaging with your audience.
And with too many responsibilities on their plate, their work performance may be affected. As a result, your social media may also be affected.
5. Is your DIY social media efforts producing the results you want?
Have you been pouring all your hours and efforts into managing your social media but still can’t come close to your business’ goals? Then perhaps it’s time to ditch the DIY express and let a social media specialist take over.
They can do all the mentioned responsibilities while keeping you updated with your goal-achieving progress. They can even offer suggestions to spruce up your social media gaming.
6. Can you afford to hire a social media specialist?
Outsourcing doesn’t have to cut sinkholes through your budget. There are different outsourcing options for every budget out there.
For instance, freelancers are your best options if you’re looking for affordable rates. However, not all can fully commit to handling all your social media duties for you. If you’re only looking for a helping hand in scheduling posts or responding to comments, a freelancer will already do wonders for you.
Now, if you’re a business who wants to leave all things social media to an expert, your best choices are agencies and outsourcing companies. They have a pool of social media specialists suitable for every niche and assistance needed.
Should I outsource my social media then?
That depends. If you’re drowning with the demands of social media but still want to take advantage of this channel, then outsourcing is a good move for you.
If you have the budget and you need someone to take care of all your social media duties, an outsourcing company has the social media expert you need. Otherwise, a freelancer is your best bet.
So before you make any decision, review your budget and your level of needs first.