We get it - it's not always easy to stay on top of your organization's social media marketing.
In our current digital age, social landscapes and trends are consistently changing. Sometimes it may seem like a full-time job just to keep up. If you feel bogged down by the upkeep of your social channels and the best strategies to support them, maybe it’s time to have a conversation about outsourcing your social media management. Here are four things to consider:
1. Properly managing social media channels takes valuable time out of your day
It’s not uncommon for professionals to wear multiple hats in an organization or take on responsibilities outside of their job title – including social media.
We often hear from our clients that although they’d love to create quality content, research third-party resources and share this knowledge on their social media channels, they just don’t have the time. Other daily tasks take priority, and social brand presence falls on the back burner.
At Aztek, we work with our clients to establish a content calendar and maintain an appropriate post cadence. Based on our experience, social media maintenance can average anywhere from 2-10 hours a week at minimum – several hours of valuable time you could spend on other tasks. By outsourcing this time to an agency, the weight and responsibility is lifted off your shoulders and productivity can be applied elsewhere.
Note: Although outsourcing your social media management will assure your channels are maintained, your company should work alongside an agency to handle all “replies” and company “insider” posts. At the end of the day, you will always understand your business best.
2. Content strategies play a role into your success
Although writing content is half the battle, you should put some strategic thought into your posts and how this prompts your audience to engage. With the time provided to an agency, they can not only craft the content, but ensure a strategy is created to encompass pieces such as:
- A consistent brand voice
- Goals and KPI's to strive for
- Calls-to-action from your audience (ex. Website links or PDF downloads)
- Scheduled posts at times likely for engagement
- Third-party content research
- Thought leadership
A social media strategy Aztek has adapted for our clients is the 4-1-1 approach. For every six pieces of content published, four posts cover general soft content about the company (such as blog posts or employee highlights), one post showcases a third-party resource and one post focuses directly on calling your audience to contact your organization.
An agency will be able to build an approach customized for you, and your content calendar will reflect a range of planned topics.
3. Agencies have the expertise
Another common trend among our clients is not only lacking time to manage their social channels, but the knowledge of which platforms to actually spend time on and how to best utilize them.
An agency will not only have the experience of working with social media, but an entire team of resources behind them to keep your company up-to-date with current social trends, new platforms and behaviors to better utilize your channels.
Agencies will also be equipped with social media management tools to ensure your content calendar and analytics are intact. Here at Aztek, we often work with tools such as Hootsuite to schedule out an upcoming month’s social posts, or MeetEdgar to recycle ever-green content.
4. You need to prove ROI
Ultimately, you want social media activity to help drive engagement, conversions and revenue. Although it's important to see a consistent post cadence on your social channels for branding purposes, it's even more important to see how those efforts are paying off.
An agency can help your team utilize tools such as Google Analytics, and spend time interpreting the data for you. Monthly analytics reports provide valuable insights into your audiences behavior and based on the data, an agency will be able to make recommendations for a strategic content plan moving forward that helps drive ROI.
Your organization’s presence on social media is an essential part to your overall digital marketing strategy. If you’ve considered outsourcing your social media management, contact us for more information on how Aztek can help.