It’s the end of the year and everyone is saying “Marketing budgets are tight.” So, should you still be working with an agency for social media posting on your behalf? The answer? Maybe. When considering whether or not to work with an agency, each business should consider four aspects of its business:
- Time
- Expertise
- Desire
- Money
Let’s break down each of the following to determine if hiring an agency to post on your behalf is the best decision for your business!
When Should an Agency Manage Social Media Posting
If your team doesn’t have the time, expertise, or desire to post content, it is time to invest in working with an agency. This lack of time, expertise, or desire will manifest itself in many ways. Many people think that paying someone to post on your behalf is an all-or-nothing solution. For some agencies, that is true, but it doesn’t have to be!
Start by asking yourself, “When was the last time someone on your team posted to your social media pages?” If it has been awhile, why?
Time
Sometimes, your team is too busy focused on the day-to-day requirements of running a business. This is especially true for small businesses where employees have cross-functional responsibilities. They may rock wearing multiple hats, but the social media hat has started to fall down and no one is there to catch it.
Expertise
Even if someone is posting content, if no one is engaging with it, it is as if no one is posting content. When looking at social media, average follower engagement is between .5% and 1%. If you are not seeing an average engagement in this range, your messaging needs improvement.
Some businesses have the time and desire to post content, but lack the expertise. In these situations, Innereactive crafts unique marketing strategies that outline a posting schedule. In some situations, we even design branded posting templates to allow the business to post.
Desire
In other situations, a business may love sharing posts that showcase the company’s personality and culture but don’t enjoy creating and sharing educational content about products, services, or promotions. Innereactive works with clients to create posting schedules that show when we will post educational content. This allows for a decreased investment from the business and still allows the business to engage its audience with personalized content.
When Should You Keep It Internal
There are a few key features when considering continuing to do your own posting.
- If your posting schedule has a healthy balance of brand, educational, and promotional content.
- Your audience is taking action on the posts requesting them to do so.
- Your average follower engagement maintains 1% or better. Anything over 1% is considered exceptionally well.
However, even if all of these things are true, if your team feels like posting content is taking too much time or no longer has the desire to maintain it internally, an external agency can help.
Paying someone to post on your behalf has been a question that plagues business owners since businesses started creating Facebook accounts. It isn’t right for every business, but for those businesses where it makes sense, it is important to pick the right partner. One that gets to know your business so well, they are an extension of your business, not just a marketing agency. We look forward to being that agency for your business.