5 Legit Reasons to Hire a Social Media Agency Instead of Doing it Yourself

Anyone with wifi can post on social media, whether or not those posts drive the results you are looking for is a completely different story.

Whether you’re launching a startup or already a veteran entrepreneur, it’s likely you already know this and understand that the proper use of social media will now and forever be a critical component to any strategic communications campaign.

Yet, despite possessing an understanding of the importance of effectively connecting with your audience via social media, some of you are still asking yourself whether or not you should do it yourself or pass along the responsibilities to a professional social media agency.

Here are five legit reasons to hire an agency to do it for you:

1) It saves you time.

If you know how to drive results on social media, then you know you’ll need to consistently bring value to your audience. Bringing value means providing content, and content takes time, especially the good stuff. Whether that content is entertaining, informational or both, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the value.

Now, consider the amount of time it takes to actually post the written, graphical and video content you just made and you’ll start to see where I’m going with this. We haven’t even begun talking about adapting the original content for all of your distribution channels (i.e. Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Snapchat, Pinterest, Youtube). For example, one graphic will need to be resized for each channel in order to display correctly for that specific channel.

Sure, many business owners can effectively create their own content, post it, engage with their audience, and build an overall solid social media following. But the ones that hire an agency get to spend that time on building their business and providing their customers or clients with the best possible products and services.

2) It will increase your brand’s creative efficiency.

It’s important to think about “the agency” in terms of the absolute value that they bring to your business. When you hire an outside agency, you are hiring a team of people with varying levels of experience, backgrounds, strengths, and even salaries. Most clients choose a monthly flat fee arrangement. On a flat fee, you have everyone from the agency’s executives to their entry-level employees working on your business. In fact, you may be receiving a team of professionals for the same or less than the cost of hiring one in-house marketer.

Sure, you and your team are more than capable with coming up with a few good ideas. But, when you hire and agency that will spend day in and day out coming up with ideas and bringing them to life, you have quite a bit of an edge when it comes churning out ideas that actually drive business results.

3) It will keep you on-trend.

Experienced and dedicated social media managers are almost always a person completely obsessed with the web and technologies surrounding it. These individuals actively stay in the know of the latest happenings in the news and world of social media. That means they can quickly identify the best outlets for your business and make intelligent decisions that will ultimately bring you more business.

Believe me, you want to be working with digital natives that live, eat, sleep and breathe media and understand how digital public relations, consumer-driven marketing, and social engagement intersects with your bottom line.

4) It will keep you consistent.

Whether it’s the graphics you use, the tone you use to write, or how often you post, social media success often stems from a consistent consorted effort to drill a specific message into the minds of a particular targeted audience. Any deviation from the plan has the potential to distract from the message and the attention they’re giving your brand. Yes, you want to stand out, but not because this week’s flash sale graphic looks like a kindergartner made it in computer class.

5) It will help you focus on optimization and long-term success.

Some agencies do this better than others but the fact still remains; most businesses are attempting to market without analyzing the data in order to optimize over time. They just don’t look at data the same way an agency does. They’re almost always in a rush and worried about day to day sales while an agency is concerned with using data to bring you long term success. It makes sense. The better you do, the longer you’ll keep paying them.

Hiring an agency means someone is paying attention to the critical key performance indicators that will result in your success and will save you time and money in the long run. Allowing your agency to determine what’s working and what isn’t is crucial to the success of any mass communications campaign. Ending unfruitful campaigns will cut costs. Likewise, finding the right campaigns for your business will ensure that you get the most bang for your buck.

Adam Porsborg is CEO + PR Director at Unser Communications. Connect with him on Twitter: @AdamPorsborg.