Social media has been proven to be an invaluable tool for businesses. It enables you to perform a wide range of tasks with greater effectiveness and efficiency, including marketing, customer service, monitoring and recruitment.
However, it is not easy to make social media work for your company, as it requires constant effort and attention. There are basically two ways to manage your social media activities: keep them in-house or outsource them.
Here is a look at the pros and cons of in-house and outsourced social media management….
How are Businesses Handling Social Media?
According to a survey conducted by Constant Contact, about 96 percent of small businesses managed their social media activities in-house in 2013. However, 19 percent of them said that they would prefer to outsource social media.
Generally, businesses will try to keep low-cost marketing activities such as social media and email marketing in-house, and they are more likely to outsource high-cost projects such as television advertising and SEO.
In-House Social Media Management
Pros
- You will have a clearer and more thorough knowledge of what is happening on social media, which enables you to devise the right strategies to get maximum results.
- Since you know your business well, you will be able to communicate your brand identity and company culture to your target audience instantly and more accurately.
- If there are complaints about your products or company, you will be able to address them immediately.
- As the owner of your business, you will be more committed to promoting your brand and keeping your customers satisfied. Therefore, you will approach your social media efforts with greater enthusiasm, determination and patience, which can lead to better results.
Cons
- You need to spend a lot of time and effort to get the most out of social media. However, according to an article entitled “3 Great Tools to Automate Your Social Media“, you can make your social media tasks significantly easier by using social media automation tools.
- If you are not familiar with social media, you will have a greater tendency to make mistakes that can prove costly to your company.
- You may not know how to take advantage of the latest social media trends to achieve your business goals.
Outsourced Social Media Management
Pros
- The company that manages your social media activities has devised and implemented social media strategies for other companies, and therefore, it has the necessary expertise and experience to help you succeed.
- The company has the skills and tools to perform a wide range of social media tasks, including collecting information, increasing your company’s visibility, interacting with customers, developing effective content, creating viral campaigns and using social media analytics.
- You do not have to commit a lot of resources to social media management.
Cons
- The outsourcee may have limited knowledge of your company’s image, culture and objectives, and they may not be able to present your company in the right light. As such, you have to spend substantial time educating them about your company.
- You will have fewer opportunities to learn how to use social media tools, and therefore, you may never be able to develop in-house social media management.
- Outsourcing your social media activities can be costly.
Social media can be very beneficial to your company, but it requires a lot of commitment.
By weighing the pros and cons of in-house and outsourced social media, you will have a better idea of how you should go about managing your social media activities.
About the Author: John McMalcolm is a freelance writer who writes on a wide range of subjects, from social media marketing to Cloud computing.
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