Social media marketing has become an essential part of growing a business in today’s technologically adept world. There are so many people on social media these days, it makes a lot of sense to take your business directly to their feeds.
You have a huge opportunity to take your brand to the next level by creating social media content that caters to your ideal customer and strengthens your reputation.
Marketing is completely different than what it used to be – social media is now one of the best ways for businesses to build relationships, advertise, stay in touch with customers, and find new ones.
This is why social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not only the places to connect but also places to sell. If you have a service or product, or just want to sell yourself as a brand, social media is the answer.
For many companies, their marketing budget isn’t going to be up there with the likes of corporate juggernauts like Nike. How you apply a limited budget takes careful consideration, and there are plenty of questions you need to answer before you spend any money.
You know that you should be utilizing social media marketing, but should you do it yourself? Or should you spend the money to hire a social media company that will handle everything for you? This is an important decision that should not be taken lightly!
Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so we’ve decided to provide more information below in order to help you make the best decision for your own company.
Some of the main factors to consider before making a decision are:
- Time
- Skill-set
- Hardware and Software
- Business Knowledge
- Control
- Budget
Time
Time is money. Running your company’s social media accounts or crafting a marketing campaign for social media certainly takes some time. Obviously, you have your normal responsibilities (running your business), so if you choose to handle all of the social media marketing for your company, you must be prepared to put in adequate hours to get the job done.
A huge benefit of employing a social media marketing agency to work on your social media marketing is that they will definitely allow you more time to focus on other business necessities. You can rest easy knowing that there are experts working hard to create the perfect social media presence that clearly reflects your message and brand. For some businesses, this extra time is worth the price.
Skill-Set
Social media marketing is not as simple as hitting the share button on Facebook, posting an intriguing product photo on Instagram, or joining the latest hot topic debate on Twitter. Successful social media marketing takes planning, creativity, goal-setting, scheduling, and a concise idea of what you want your brand to convey. You might possess the skill-set to envision and decide upon all of these things, but do you have the skill-set to execute it all?
If you think you might need to learn more about social media prior to executing a campaign, you should include this in your “time factor” calculations. Social media is constantly growing and changing. By taking on your own social media marketing, you have no choice but to stay up-to-date with the constant updates.
If you hire a social media marketing agency, the skill-set is assured.
Hardware & Software
Social media is essentially an extension of our daily lives. It’s always readily accessible – PC, tablet, phone – and it’s easy to participate. However, having an ongoing social media marketing campaign is much more than simply participating.
Once you have decided on your plan, and all that it entails, you need to determine whether or not you have everything you need, in terms of hardware and software, to be able to run the campaign and cope with any significant increase in your business that’s generated. A social media company will have the necessary hardware and software, but it will cost you.
Knowledge of the Business
As an entrepreneur, you need to know everything about how to run your business. If there’s something you don’t know, you figure it out. Regardless of the nature of your business, if you decide to hire a social media company, ask yourself how familiar they need to be about your business and target market? This is an important question when it comes to the due diligence involved in deciding which social media company would be a good fit for your business.
Control
By doing all your social media marketing yourself, you remain in absolute control. However, if things don’t go to plan, you can only blame yourself. By hiring a social media company to carry out your marketing, you relinquish that control, which can potentially cause issues if you aren’t on the same page.
Budget
The last factor and perhaps the most important is how to spend your hard-earned dollars. Social media marketing needs to be looked at as an investment in the future of your company. If you get your social media marketing right you will see heightened brand awareness, increased sales, better customer relations, and better customer retention.
As with all major business decisions, this one will come down to money. If you have enough experience, time, and drive to handle a social media effort by yourself – do it. You will save tons of money and gain lots of knowledge in the process. However, the effectiveness of DIY social media marketing campaigns can be difficult to measure. How do your efforts add up in terms of revenue? Are you gaining enough new customers and engage with your social media marketing? If you are in a financial position to hire a social media company, you will easily be able to measure the given results and to analyze the impact and effectiveness of the campaign.
The factors described above – time, skill-set, hardware and software, knowledge of the business, control, and budget – all need to be taken into consideration when making your decision.
Are there any other factors which you consider worthy of mention? Which one of the above factors is the most important? Please let us know by dropping a comment below.
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