There is no denying that these days every business needs a social media presence. However, many approach social media as an afterthought, something you do from time to time when there’s nothing more pressing to do. Following this line of thinking will leave most people feeling disillusioned and frustrated by the lack of results social media bestows upon their businesses. Why? Because there is so much more to running an effective social media campaign than anyone realizes. Here are just five reasons why you need to stop trying to do everything yourself and instead hire a social media manager for your business.
More Time To Run Your Business
Let’s face it. Running a business is no small feat. There are so many aspects of growing and getting a business off the ground and while social media is an integral part of that process, most business owners do not have the time or expertise to be their own social media managers as well. Many business owners, realizing this, decide to give the added task of social media management to one of their employees. However, the challenge with this tactic is that it is very unlikely that your employee has the expertise and experience to run a successful social media campaign for your business either. Managing a businesses social media is completely different than posting to an individual’s personal social media profile. The rules of the game and results are completely different.
Hiring a professional Social Media Manager or Consultant will free you and your employees up to do what you all do best – run your business. Matching an employee’s skills to the correct job is the way a successful business is run and just because one of your employees has 1000 friends on their Facebook page does not qualify them for running your company’s social media campaigns. In order to get the best return on your investment when it comes to social media you need to hire someone who is an expert in the field. Otherwise, all your social media efforts could very well be a complete waste of time.
Consistent Social Media Content
In order to get the best results when it comes to social media efforts the content has to be consistent and relevant. Posting for the sake of posting without any consistency or direction can leave your followers confused. Social Media Managers create schedules of content that are posted at consistent intervals and that provide a consistent voice for your business. This gives your social media followers confidence that they can expect regular contact with your brand.
Also, when creating content for your social media sites, Social Media Managers work hard to create content that is fresh and relevant to your brand’s audience. It is not enough to make sure there is consistent content on your social media sites. The content must also produce value for your followers as well as engage them in a conversation that makes them want to share, like, and comment on the content. These interactions over time create a community of people who believe in your company’s products and services and who will in turn recommend your company to everyone they know. Word of mouth referrals like this are one of the best ways to promote your products and services.
Someone To Respond to Social Media Comments, Questions, and Concerns
As anyone who’s attempted to be their own social media expert knows, once your business starts to get a social media following keeping up with the comments, questions, and concerns can easily become a full-time job in itself. Ignoring these comments, questions, and concerns can be more damaging for your business than not having a social media presence at all. Your customers expect you to provide customer service through your social media accounts and, statistically speaking, only 23% of companies provide that service on Facebook and 70% of complaints on Twitter are completely ignored by business owners. Ignoring these complaints can lead to loss of customers and damage to your brand’s reputation. In a recent Forbes survey, 66% of consumers stopped doing business with a company after they received bad customer service on a social media platform. This is definitely something that should not be left to amateurs.
Social Media Managers will constantly check all your social media profiles and respond to all comments, questions, and concerns. Should the Social Media Manager not know the answer to something that was asked they will immediately contact you or someone in your organization to get the correct information and pass it on to the customer. This daily interaction with your social media followers helps to make your customers feel taken care of and important, which in turn builds their confidence in your business and its products and services.
They Will Increase Your Brand’s Engagement
Social media is a great way to spread the word about your business and build your company’s brand. Creating a brand is more than stating what your business is and what it stands for. It also encompasses everything you do and say on and off social media. Every piece of content that you release, every customer interaction you have, every post you schedule – everything you do helps to build (or destroy) your company’s brand and this is where Social Media Managers shine.
Social Media Managers make it their business to learn all about your company, its products and services, and its culture. With that information, Social Media Managers find consistent ways to create fresh, engaging content that attracts followers and creates opportunities to interact with those followers. Social Media Managers constantly promote your business and its products and services by sharing customer testimonials, showing examples of your company’s culture, and keeping your company’s brand in the spotlight so that your business stays in your followers minds.
Your Business Needs A Social Media Strategy
Every business needs a social media strategy that consistently delivers your company’s mission and purpose while providing customers with content that creates added value to them. Social media is not about stuffing your products and services down your followers throats at every turn. It’s about providing value. It’s about giving your followers solutions to their challenges. It’s about creating a connection between your company and your followers. To do that though requires a well thought-out strategy. This is where social media managers shine.
Social Media Managers are well-versed in finding out who you are, what your company is about, the culture that your company creates, and the solutions that your company provides to its customers. Once the big picture is established and your company’s goals and missions are understood, your Social Media Manager then creates a strategy tailored to your company and its goals. The strategy is then planned out. Posts, blogs, and various content is created to match that strategy. The content is then delivered at regular intervals via your company’s various social media profiles. Each post is tailored to the specific social media profiles and delivered at targeted times in order to create the most impact.
Having a solid social media strategy provides many benefits for your business. Your Social Media Manager knows that a well-planned social media strategy allows your business to target its audience more effectively by closely defining who that audience is and then delivering content that is useful to that demographic. It also creates a way for your customers to provide instant feedback via social media platforms, which is invaluable to any business. Other benefits of having a social media strategy are that it helps to increase website traffic, improves your businesses search engine ranking, and helps to generate leads. It also allows expansion of your target audience and provides opportunities to bring in new ones; develops a culture of customer service relations and loyalty; builds brand awareness and creates more exposure; gives your business the ability to keep up with its competition; and it’s free PR! With so many benefits on the line, why wouldn’t you hire a Social Media Manager?
As you can see from just this short list, hiring a Social Media Manager or Consultant can absolutely change the course of your business for the better. So now that you’re ready to take your social media marketing to the next level, give NetSource Technologies a call at (800) 709-3240 or click here to fill out our Contact Us form to get started today! Let us help you achieve the social media goals you’ve been wanting to see.