Social media’s growth has created a great opportunity for businesses in all industries to connect with partners, keep an eye on the competition, and directly speak to customers. Like any endeavor however, you get out of it what you put into it. If social media is an afterthought or a throwaway bullet point on a work plan, it will be treated as such. Social media, like email marketing, advertising, and PR, requires a plan and budget to execute. And a commitment to follow through. As companies continuing to ask their employees to do more with less, social media commonly is left on the chopping block or thrust on someone with little time or experience for the task. Sound familiar? If so it’s time for your business to examine whether to get outside help to take advantage of social media’s benefits. Here are some pros and cons to keep in mind.
The Pros:
Social Strategy – The worst website mistake you can make it simply having a website for the sake of having a website. Your website is the online home for your business and a natural extension of everything your business is doing on the ground. Similarly, you should not have social media accounts just for the sake of having them. They should have their own strategy or be a part of a larger digital strategy. An agency team can make sure everything is working towards a goal.
Experience – B2B sales and marketing can be complicated. There are hyper specific questions, different use cases, and a lot of information to distill. Translating all of that into a post or tweet isn’t easy. Experienced social media marketers have an eye on the industry and understand what content resonates best with a target market.
Dedicated Resources – If there is not a dedicated social media resource in your business, chances are it will go weeks at a time without being updated. This, as you might imagine, is not ideal for utilizing this channel. An agency solely focused on social can keep growing your following even when you don’t have time to think about it.
The Cons:
Cost – One of the biggest social media myths is that social media is free. While setting up accounts is free – the time, resources, and talent to maintain them is not. Adding an outside agency can increase these costs as well.
Lack of Internal Presence – The best social media agencies are an extension of the company’s marketing arm, but even then they still are not boots on the ground aware of everything going on at a business. The best pairings of agencies and businesses happen when an internal champion at a company is the bridge between both worlds.