5 Reasons to Keep Social Media Management In-House
In this post, we’ll go over what social media management is (and the goals you should have for managing it). Then, we’ll give you our 5 top reasons why you should keep it in-house.
What is social media management?
When people talk about social media, they are generally referring to it in one of two different ways:
- Paid social media management: The management of advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. This includes creating the ads, managing the accounts, and deciding who will see the ads.
- Organic social media management: The management of the non-paid elements of social media accounts. This includes actions like posting messages, replying to comments on your wall or feed, and sharing content.
A social media manager is your business’s ambassador to the social media world and understands your customers needs, anticipates their questions, and has a deep understanding of your business.
Social media management is not…
- Pure promotion: If all you do is promote your business your audience will tune you out
- A 1-way conversation: If your customers don’t feel heard they will move on
- Without personality: If your social presence feels automated and robotic no one will pay attention
Organic social media management is more about customer service and interaction than it is about selling your services.
Now that you know what a social media manager is (and what they aren’t), here are our top 5 reasons why social media management should stay in-house.
1. You know your business better than any agency
Social media gives your company a platform to share your values, message, and product. This presents a unique opportunity to interact with your current (and potential) customers. Often, these interactions include questions about your company, product, or services requiring a familiarity no agency will ever have.
For instance, let’s say a potential patient posts on a dental office’s Facebook page asking if they offer gum disease treatment.
An agency may not immediately know this answer, and this question may go unanswered while the correct information is found and a post answering the question is approved. In the meantime, the customer has already reached out to another roofer who was able to answer immediately.
With an Agency
- Agency Receives Question
- Agency Asks Business for Answer
- Business Responds to Agency
- Agency Posts Answer To Facebook
- Question is Answered
In-House Management
- Company Receives Question
- Company Posts Answer to Facebook
- Question is Answered
Instead of a three step process in-house, answering the question is turned into a 5-step process.
2. Social media requires daily attention
While paid social media requires an analytical approach, organic social media requires a personal one. For a small business in particular, organic social media is more of a customer service responsibility than an marketing task.
Your small business social media strategy should include daily attention:
- Customer inquiries – 42% of consumers expect an answer in under an hour
- Timely content
- Relevant business information, like holidays or unexpected closures
- Promotions
3. In-house social media managers can adapt
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter track the pulse of conversation, whether it’s for current events or dentistry trends.
Your small business’s social media presence should reflect the changing landscape of today, not last month.
When you work with a marketing agency to schedule social content, they’ll have to be prepared well in advance. This is not ideal when you don’t know what will be happening or being asked of you 4 weeks from now.
You know your customer better than anyone
No one knows your brand personality and customer base better than you and your in-house team. It’s what makes you a successful business owner and why your clients keep coming back. Why would you not take advantage of this knowledge with one of they key ways your customers interact with your business?
The best social media manager is someone who can react as you would, not someone who will need approval for every post. This allows you to respond to customer feedback, answer questions, and post in a way you know your customer will appreciate.
4. You’ll increase customer engagement
When you create content your audience loves, they’ll reward you with likes, shares, and comments.
When this happens, you know you are headed in the right direction. They’re relating to what you are saying and are engaging with your company. Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms will be more likely to show your content to your followers, both now and in the future.
Since you know your customers and what they respond to, you are going to get better engagement than anyone else.
5. It does not provide value
You shouldn’t be spending money on something that isn’t making your life easier or providing value.
When you work with an agency to manage your organic social media, it typically takes more time to package and send your post to an agency than just posting it yourself. And, you’ll be cutting out the middleman and saving your company money and the duplication of time.
Who should manage your social media?
So who should manage your social media if not for your digital marketing agency? It doesn’t have to be a marketing person for it to be successful. While ideally the business owner would be involved in some way, really anyone with a firm grasp of the business works.
Some good options:
- A front desk employee or receptionist
- A customer service representative
- Anyone in the business with a firm grasp of the business’s values and services
Spend your budget on impactful online marketing, not something that won’t move the needle
Don’t put marketing dollars into tasks you can do better yourself. Instead, use the budget for online marketers who can help you find customers you wouldn’t have found before.
At :Delmain, we work with small businesses by helping them attract and convert high-quality website visitors into paying customers, clients, and patients.
Get in touch to see if we might be a good fit for one another.