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Handling your small business’s social media can feel like a full-time job. And, that’s because it is.
While developing social media content used to be something small businesses could handle in just a few hours a month, whether on their own or with the help of a marketing partner like Treefrog, that’s no longer the case.
With this in mind, in this episode of Priority Pursuit, Kelly and Victoria explain why Treefrog Marketing now recommends hiring an in-house social media manager, as well as what to do in the meantime if hiring a full-time team member isn’t feasible.
Treefrog No Longer Offers Organic Social Media Services
As Kelly and Victoria share in this episode, when Kelly started Treefrog, she intended the agency to handle every aspect of our clients’ marketing efforts.
While we still handle most aspects of our clients’ marketing (including flywheel development and implementation, marketing leadership, coaching, and implementing almost everything inside of the flywheel marketing method), our agency no longer offers organic social media services.
We cut this service because in order to implement effective social media strategies, our team was either going to have to be onsite with our clients to get photos, videos, and the other necessary assets or coordinate the gathering of assets from afar, which we knew would add stress for our clients.
Either way, implementing a successful organic social media strategy for Treefrog clients was going to take a lot of time and, as a result, be very costly for our clients. This wasn’t a financially wise choice for them or for us.
In an effort to help small businesses use their marketing budget and resources wisely, we now encourage them to hire in-house social media managers.
3 Reasons to Hire an In-House Social Media Manager
While Kelly and Victoria explain this recommendation more in-depth in this episode (which you can listen to at the top of the page, on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts), there are three reasons we recommend hiring an in-house social media manager.
1. Time
First of all, social media is now very time-consuming. While you used to be able to crank out a month’s worth of posts in a few hours, that’s no longer possible—at least not well.
While social media used to be primarily text, photo, and link-based, every platform now has its own features, requirements, and preferences. And, as a result, if you want a social media strategy that actually works, you need to create content specific to each platform—which takes time.
Plus, with so much on your plate as a small business owner or leader, you likely can’t manage your own social media well—at least not long term—because there are other aspects of your business that need your attention.
2. Specialized Expertise
In addition to time, managing social media requires significant expertise. After all, there are now several social media platforms and all have different requirements, features, and preferences and are constantly changing and adding new features.
As a result, it takes a lot of work and expertise to be well-versed in all things social media and to keep up with changes.
In addition to being fluent in every platform, social media managers also need several other skills including strategy development, copywriting, photography, videography, and design. Plus, they need to be detail-oriented so that you can ensure consistency and quality across all platforms.
3. Ability to Immediately Respond
Another reason we recommend hiring an in-house social media manager is that they can respond immediately to all things social media.
For example, if something happens that you want to highlight, your social media manager can be right there to get the images or footage needed to create content.
If there’s an Instagram audio trend, your social media manager will have the capacity to take advantage of it.
Put simply, social media moves quickly, and you need a dedicated person to handle it.
Necessary Skill Sets for a Social Media Manager
Now, you might be thinking, “Where am I going to find this unicorn of a person to be my social media manager?” For the record, they do exist. As Kelly and Victoria discuss in this episode, you need to find someone who has:
The Ability to Think Strategically
First and foremost, a social media manager has to be able to think strategically. They have to have the knowhow to develop and execute a social media strategy that is aligned with the company’s goals and objectives. This includes selecting appropriate social media platforms based on your ideal client, setting measurable goals, and defining key performance indicators to track progress.
Content Marketing Experience
This individual also needs to have experience with content creation. After all, they’ll need to be able to write posts, engage with your audience, and create content that resonates with your ideal customers across multiple platforms.
Photography & Videography Experience
While your social media manager MUST be a strong writer and communicator, they also need to have some level of photo and video experience. However, the extent of this expertise very much depends on your brand.
For example, if you own a casual burger restaurant, you should certainly have high-quality brand photos taken. But, for social media posts, you can absolutely get away with cell phone videos or photos to share specials, take behind-the-scenes footage for stories, and pretty much do everything else on a day-to-day basis. Because, again, your brand is more casual.
However, if you own an auto detailing business that works with luxury vehicles, your brand needs to match the quality of such vehicles. As a result, you’re going to need to hire a social media manager who either has the photo and video experience needed to make sure your social media imagery is high quality or can—at the very least—oversee and produce photo and video shoots to get the needed imagery.
The Knowhow to Analyze & Use Data
Your social media manager also needs to be able to interpret and analyze data. They need to understand how to build systems to track and analyze key metrics such as engagement, reach, impressions, conversions, and whatever other metrics matter for your specific goals.
Additionally, they need to have the problem-solving skills necessary to make adjustments based on data to—ultimately—make your social media efforts successful.
Additional Professional Skills
A social media manager also needs to be detail-oriented to ensure everything released supports your brand well, be creative and innovative so they can create engaging content, have excellent time management and organizational skills, and be capable of adapting quickly because so much of social media changes quickly.
Social media managers are required to do a lot. And, when you list out a social media manager’s responsibilities and skill sets, it quickly becomes clear that small business owners, leaders, and existing members of their teams truly don’t have time to serve as their own social media managers—at least not long term.
What to Do if You Don’t Have the Budget for a Full-time Social Media Manager
At the time of this episode’s recording, the average social media manager’s salary is about $65,000 per year. That said, depending on their level of experience, you could easily expect to pay six figures.
Adding someone to your team at this level of compensation may not be possible right now. While we still recommend hiring a social media manager as soon as you can, you have options in the meantime.
1. Handle Your Own Social Media Content Development
First, handle your own social media content development or designate a member of your team to do so.
Looking for a simple but effective social media strategy? Tune into “Episode 119: A Simple Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses”!
We don’t recommend doing this long term, because social media likely isn’t the best use of your time, and a lot of expertise is needed to handle social media—as we’ve discussed. But, you do need a social media presence—assuming your ideal client is on social media.
2. Work with a Freelance Social Media Manager or a Social Media Agency
If you aren’t in a place to hire a full-time social media manager and you and your team don’t have time to manage it, consider working with either a freelance social media manager or a social media agency—not a marketing agency but an agency that specifically focuses on social media. This will essentially give you a part-time social media manager.
If you work with someone local to you, chances are, they can come to your office on a scheduled basis to get the photos and video they need. (e.g. They might come once a month to get footage.)
The advantages of working with a social media management freelancer or agency are that you’ll likely still pay less than bringing on a full-time team member; you don’t have to worry about social media personally; and this individual or agency will have the expertise needed to handle your social media marketing.
However, the disadvantages are that you won’t have a lot of flexibility, and the amount of content you’ll receive will be limited. While an in-house social media manager can be readily available to grab photos and video or to capitalize on a specific social media trend, a freelancer or an agency is going to have multiple clients and—as a result—can’t do that.
Plus, because freelancers and agencies have multiple clients, they’ll likely have packages that include so many hours and/or posts per month. And, if you fail to plan far enough ahead, this can be limiting.
Make Sure Your Social Media Is Aligned with the Rest of Your Marketing Strategy
Whether you hire a full-time social media manager, handle social media yourself, or outsource this key marketing element, it’s so important that your social media strategy be aligned with the rest of your marketing strategy.
A big mistake that small businesses often make is treating their marketing strategy and social media strategy as two entirely different things. However, your social media strategy needs to be part of and support your overall marketing strategy.
While you should absolutely use social media to foster connections with your ideal customer by creating content that is specific to the platform, it’s also important to use social media to promote and share your blogs, lead magnets, and other content.
So, whether you hire a full-time social media manager or use one of the other options we discussed, make sure that the individuals involved know the ins and outs of your marketing strategy so that they can use social media to support your marketing efforts and business goals.
Having an effective marketing strategy is critical to small business success, and—assuming your ideal clients are on social media—social media is likely going to be a key component in your marketing strategy. As a result, we highly recommend hiring an in-house social media manager.
Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- “Episode 119: A Simple Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses”
- “The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method”
- Receive 50% Off Your First Year of HoneyBook
- Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services
- Join the Priority Pursuit Facebook Community
- Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
- Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
- Follow or DM Victoria Rayburn on Instagram
The Priority Pursuit Podcast is a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.
You can find The Priority Pursuit Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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