Social Media Management

[ChrisAllen]

My partner and both still work full-time jobs and we just opened a paper goods shop in Washington DC just about 5 weeks ago.  Although I love managing our social media channels, I am finding that I really don't have time to manage it properly.  I am curious if you have outsourced to an agency or hired a part-time employee to manage. I am on the fence about both options. 

Thanks in advance!

[alexandriak]

I would hire someone that could work in your business before an outside agency. 

This person would have access to products for example but also be knowledgable on your brand and could represent correctly.

[ChrisAllen]

@alexandriak - that is great advice. Thank you. 

[Abigails_stl]

Yes! I would even consider doing a paid internship for a high school or college student... I've been finding that they are way more versed in social media than I think I will ever be... and its a great chance for them to grow their skill set and take ownership of a project. 

[jettre]

We hired someone part time about a year ago.  It has generally been good. We initially provided them with monthly calendar of  dates and types of posts we would like.  They spend 5-7 hours a week.  Recently we found now that our social media presence has expanded over the past year we need to do more and be a little more hands on.  We are looking to start using a social media manager application(looking at buffer.com and planthat.com) so we can schedule, coordinate and approve things better with more control over content on our end.  This will allow us to drop things on a calendar with some ideas/directions for the post, our manager can get alerted of upcoming posts and submit their the post and then we can review/approve before it gets released. If I could go back 1 year we would have probably started using one these manager applications from the start. 

[morganntee]

I always ran the social medias of the spas i worked at, and it was always easier for my managers to have someone running it who worked at the location, because I could take product and service photos and knew the business inside and out. I'm soon launching my own social media management business, and choosing to stick to similar business because again, it's easier having someone who actually knows the industry and backside of those types of businesses! 

[BrownFoundation]

If you already have content then a social media manager or virtual assistant would be the way go.

As others have mentioned, if you have another staff member, you could make this part of their role as well. 

[GraphicBrown]

I agree with all the above choices that would best fit your business model. I am a company that handles social media for other businesses. I do social media and digital marketing. We actually have a platform that allows our clients to approve posts before they go live or adjust posts as needed. If you find yourself too overwhelmed, we can discuss further.

[KsGotYouCovered]

Absolutely! I use Jaxmarketplace in Jacksonville, FL. She has clients across the U.S and has worked with all sorts of products. Plus, it's only $215 per month! She'll even do Product Photography that's included in that fee. Jaxmarketplace904@gmail.com

[Acorliss]

Checkout conexasconsulting.com she does phenomenal work. We use her for social and digital marketing. She’s extremely affordable

[tjsmynickname]

It's good to have a mix of both if you can afford it. There are pros and cons on both ends. One of the pros of having an agency is the fact that they have a full perspective of the industry verses someone who may have other roles in your business while managing your social media. However, a big con with agencies is that many of them don't provide you with tailored content for your business since they deal with so many accounts. The ideal choice would be to have an agency that is not only managing your social media but have a collaboration in the production of your content; whether that means having their team come to your shop a few times a week or you hiring an intern in charge of collaborating with the agency in capturing your content. There's a lot more to this topic than a simple "do this" or "do that" I would talk to an expert and get some advice on this for your business.

[Doran]

I hired an agency about a year and a half ago.  Overall, I've been very happy with them.  They now do my social and newsletters.  I'm good at creating a month's worth of content on a weekend so I don't use them for that.  I created a spreadsheet broken down by week.  From there, each week has the theme I want focused on, a brand guide (with the correct verbiage, etc), and to-do tasks that I update at the beginning of each month.  They post at ideal times, answer general messages-- forwarding things they aren't able to answer to us here in the store, interact with followers and hashtags and create a weekly newsletter.  

On my end, I spend the last weekend of every month creating content for the next month and filling out the spreadsheet.  Takes me about 6 hours now.  The agency I hired can do the content creation and I may outsource that later this year but for now, they really free up a lot of time for me.