Checklist Before Outsourcing Social Media Marketing

Marketing a business on social media can provide great benefits like increased web traffic, sales, lead generation, and higher brand recognition.

If you?ve decided that social media is a focus for your business the next question is, in-house or outsource?

Larger businesses will sometimes chose to run social media marketing efforts in-house because of marketing teams and resources that are already in place. If this is the case you may find great success, but don?t overlook the option of outsourcing social media to an agency focused on social channels.

Although most aspects of social media are free, it is important to understand the large time investment that a business owner or staff will be required to undertake.

Outsourcing social media marketing is a great to way ensure a professional social appearance and achieve specific marketing goals at low cost.

There are some preparations you should take before talking with a social media marketing partner to ensure a good fit and clear objectives.

Social Media Outsourcing Checklist

1. What are your goals for social media?

It is important to have an understanding of what you hope to get out of social media marketing. Having goals at the beginning will make it easier for the social media marketer that you hire to plan and execute strategies. Goals will also make it easier for both you and your marketer to track progress and determine what is working and not working.

Some examples of goals:

• Number of followers, likes, checkins
• Number of people signed up to a newsletter
• Mentions on Twitter
• Comments and likes on a Facebook page
• Clicks from social media to your website/landing page
• Sales made from links on social media

2. How will social media complaints be handled?

When businesses interact on social media, there are sometimes complaints and issues from customers that need to be addressed. In many cases these could be handled very simply by your outsourced social media marketer, but it is important to clearly define messaging.

You should prepare a document for your marketer that will indicate who to direct questions or complaints to within the company. Also include who should be contacted if a problem needs to be escalated, this may be the business owner or a sales or customer service person.

3. Who Creates Content

It is hard to make an effective business presence on social media without creating any original content. Unique content is important to draw in new followers, encourage interaction, and drive sales/leads.

Content can include such things as: graphics, contests, ebooks, white papers, videos and a lot more.

In order to be effective in a social media strategy and campaign, it is important to evaluate if there are internal resources available for these tasks or will it be part of the outsourced work. Finding a social media marketing partner who can also help with these tasks when needed will result in a more complete solution for your business.

Have Questions Ready

Don?t be afraid of asking as many questions needed to make yourself comfortable with the social media process.

Finding out what tools your social marketer uses is a good way to learn more about the process they use. Also look at some of their other clients (if available) to see how those accounts are handled. It is important to feel comfortable with an outsourced partner because they will be controlling a very personal part of your business.

Need Help?

Check out some of our other blog topics on social media to get a good understanding of how it can be an exciting new growth opportunity for your business.

If you are ready to look into outsourcing social media get our free assessment and learn how we can help.

luke kuechly brad miller chandler jones peyton hillis carolina panthers fletcher cox charlotte bobcats