Having an effective social media strategy is what many businesses need to take their game to the next level. From startups to huge corporate companies, many outsource social media to help them stay active and relevant in the digital world.

Social media management is a much bigger task than many people realize. It’s not just about sitting on Instagram or Facebook all day and hitting likes on fun posts. A lot of companies mistake it as being easy work that an intern can handle. But, if you truly want to succeed, it’s essential to find someone with experience and insight. So how should you go about outsourcing your social media in a way that will help your business grow rather than harming your brand?

Social Media Strategy 

Keep in mind that your social media manager is the voice of your brand. They are the direct link between the brand and your customers. If they post something negative or anything that doesn’t align with your values, it can negatively affect your, and your company’s reputation.

Whether you’re hiring an individual or a company, you must find someone you can trust. They should understand your brand’s voice – does your company have a reputation of being a joker or are you more of a “suit and tie” organization? Your social media manager needs to adopt a voice that is in line with your brand. There are a few steps you can take to ensure, you are hiring the right person: 

• Request references and ask them to describe the targets and goals that were set by the previous companies they worked with 
• Do a bit of research on the person or company across the web and see what you can find
• Check for the business on Google maps to find local reviews
• Have a look at their Linkedin profile. It’s a great place to find reviews and to get a complete overview of an individual or company.

Consider Using A Setup And Strategy Only Approach 

• If you don’t like the idea of having an outsider be the voice of your brand, hire them to help with the initial setup, such as signing up on social media sites, configuring profiles, and setting you up on social media management tools like Hootsuite or Sendible. These are some of the first challenges in getting started with social media. You can move forward step by step and start with shorter and specific projects. Once you feel more confident about the right fit, you can offer a longer-term contract for your social media manager. 
• Putting together a strong strategic plan is also key to creating value through social media. It’s about setting up goals for your social media presence/activities and putting the necessary steps in place to get there. You also need to determine a budget, and figure out the audience you’re trying to reach and how you plan on achieving them.
• A social media manager can show you how to use all the major social media platforms that you wish to be on, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or Pinterest, and assist with putting together a strategy that fits your business.
• One recommended approach, especially to small companies and startups is to focus on less and make it work as well as possible. Don’t try to be present on every single social media channel and do a half-hearted job on each. Instead, pick the ones that fit your business, your product and your communication method the best. 

Form A Close Relationship With Your Social Media Manager

If you are comfortable with having your social media manager handle everything, then it’s crucial that you build a close and stable relationship with them.

Even if you outsource your social media work, there are tasks that you will need to attend to internally. For example, you might need to respond to customer complaints on your Facebook page. As the business owner, you have to address critical issues and stay on top of any problems that may arise. Of course, you can choose to delegate everything, but you need to ensure that the person doing the work is well equipped to handle problem-solving as well as all other tasks related to your accounts.

By forming a strong relationship with your social media manager, you will have more control over your brand’s reputation and the content that appears on your accounts. We recommend doing regular spot checks for mistakes and monitor content consistency. 

All in all, if social media is not the core of your business, and you are trying to manage your accounts inhouse, make sure you pay attention to the time and effort spent on that task: 

• Are you are taking valuable time away from managing your business; trying to figure out how to build your ad campaigns, design the perfect ad, target your audiences, create engaging content?
• Does this all take too much effort?
• Do you feel that the return on your efforts isn’t good enough? If your answer is yes to any of the above, you should be letting someone with experience in the field do the work for you. 

If you want to learn more about managing your social media, go check out this article about How To Create Content For Social Media with High Impact.