Let’s Talk About Whether Anybody Actually Needs a Social Agency

A lot of you simply don’t need a social media agency. Weird coming from a guy who runs one, right? Now notice, I said “a lot” and not “all”. Why is that? Well that is the moral of today’s story:

You should never hire anybody to do anything if you think you can do it better and cheaper.

What’s weird is that there is still a debate going on about this. From agencies, to brands, there are dozens of very smart and talented MBAs asking: “What’s the worth? What’s the return? Why even bother? Why not do it all in house?”

But no one is straight up stating the obvious, and it annoys me. While everyone over there is having these philosophical debates about what constitutes an expert, who’s an artist, who is more creative…I have a much simpler answer. Because if we simplify the initial question, it really just becomes “Should I hire an agency to do my social media?”, right? You can put all sorts of bells and whistles on it, but let’s call it like it is. Do you hire an agency, yes or no? The simple answer is: you shouldn’t, if you are better.

I would hire somebody to hang a damn photo in my house. One, I’m just not that handy. Two, my time matters to me so much. I’d rather pay somebody $100 than spend four minutes doing it myself, because I know in those four minutes, I could make $101. Get it?

You see, my obsession with building my agency VaynerMedia is predicated on one thing: I think that you, our clients, whoever, should pay us to do our thing because we can do it better than if you did it yourself. Or any other agency, for that matter. We’re more valuable of a return.

The most common reason that big companies hire agencies is because doing the same work inside their own walls is a negative on their P&L (psst: profit and loss statement ☺ ). The head count becomes too much. It’s actually beneficial for them to outsource the work. A medium sized company might do it because it’s worth the investment. A small business should only do it if they’ve run out of time.

This is the game. Can somebody do it better while also bringing an ROI? Yes. There is always someone who can do it better, someone who has more time to focus on that one thing, more time to get great at it. That is why agencies exist.

And don’t forget the last important part of all this: if you bring the work in house, you become a cocoon. You’re only working on your brand. You’re only seeing things from your perspective. You’ve lost all the other advantages; you’re on the court, and no one is passing you the ball.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, please scroll down and click the recommend button. I would be so happy if you did. ☺