Thinking about outsourcing social media?
There are over 63 million company profiles on LinkedIn alone, and according to a recent study, a massive 84% of B2B buyers share business-related posts and content on the platform. This is just one example of why nailing social media management as a business is so important.
The potential audience for your product or service on social media is immense. However, convincing them your offering is the best solution is not as easy as it seems. That’s why in this post, we’re exploring what outsourcing social media can look like for your organisation and the competitive advantages you can gain by doing so.
1. Immediate access to expertise
Without previous experience in social media marketing, many businesses will often have common questions such as ‘What should I be posting about?’, ‘How often should I post?’ and ‘Which platforms should I be posting on?’. These are questions we hear from businesses all the time and they’re all completely relevant. The answer is… it depends! Social media marketing is all about understanding your target audience and creating content that resonates with them, in the right place and the right time. This is where a team of social media experts come in.
By outsourcing your social media, you gain immediate access to expertise. Through a strategic lens, they’ll be able to create tailored social media content and build brand awareness through processes they’ve practiced and refined. Over 70% of B2B marketers who’ve been using social media for a period of 12 months reported that it helped them improve sales. This demonstrates the huge potential social media can have for businesses when implemented right. Not only does outsourcing social media save you valuable time that can be spent elsewhere in the business, but it also avoids the costly process of hiring and training an in-house social media team.
2. Getting the marketing mix right
It’s unlikely that your target audience are on every single popular social media platform. And even if they are, it’s likely that they’ll spend more time on some platforms than others. Therefore, there’s no point in spreading yourself thin by trying to post on every social media platform at once. By outsourcing social media, you’ll have support identifying the platforms where your target audience spend their time. This allows for the opportunity to create a bigger impact in the most effective places.
Additionally, social media shouldn’t exist in silo. Social media teams will work with you to ensure your social media efforts aligns with your wider marketing and business goals. Every post should have a purpose, whether it’s building brand awareness, promoting a new product launch or celebrating an internal success.
3. Idea creation, planning & scheduling
Building on the points above about getting the marketing mix right, a good mix of content on your social media channels is paramount. While promoting your products/services is important, it shouldn’t be the only thing you post about. This is often a rabbit hole that many businesses fall into – if you’re not selling in the content then what’s the point?
According to a recent Hootsuite survey, 34% of consumers say when brands are too focused on self-promotion, it negatively impacts their perception of the company. Furthermore, 56% of consumers think brands should be more relatable. This shows the importance of making sure your content is just as ‘entertaining’ and ‘relatable’ as it is ‘sales-y’. With 2.7 million LinkedIn businesses posting per week, content that doesn’t offer clear value to your audience will quickly get lost in the noise. By outsourcing your social media, you can be sure you’re saying the right things in the most effective ways through your content.
4. Outbound engagement
Social media is a two-way street. This is often forgotten about when it comes to businesses implementing social media marketing. Creating and posting content unfortunately just isn’t enough. Enter outbound engagement! This involves actively reaching out and engaging with potential customers and industry influencers as well as taking part in relevant industry conversations to grow your audience and build relationships.
There are many ways to implement outbound engagement, such as commenting on relevant posts, following relevant accounts or reposting content that would benefit your followers. By outsourcing your social media, you can gain access to the resources to consistently engage from your company account in a strategic manner.
6. Goal setting and reporting
Effective social media management should always include setting achievable goals and tracking progress. Social media agencies will work with you to define clear goals for your marketing efforts which could include increasing brand awareness, improving website traffic or boosting lead generation.
Organisations that offer social media services should also provide regular reporting to keep clients informed about what’s working and what’s not. Based on these insights, the social media strategy should be continuously refined. This data-driven approach can help to ensure you’re getting the most out of your social media investment and can help you to demonstrate the tangible benefits of outsourcing social media management.
Final thoughts
Overall, by outsourcing your social media, you gain access to a team of experts who can help you navigate the social media landscape. You can hand over everything from strategy and content creation to engagement and reporting. This will allow you to focus on other parts of your business knowing that your social media management is all under control.
