Social media is a daily time commitment. If you, or your company, isn't willing to commit the time, then one of two things need to happen. Either limit the number of social networks you use to something that's manageable, or outsourcing your social media marketing. If you are choosing the latter, partly because you don't just want to use Facebook, then consider hiring me to do the rest! Here's why you should hire me to manage your social media:
I Have Proven Results
One of my social media marketing clients is a nitrogen tire inflation company called Nitrofleet99. When I started working on their social media presence, all the company had was a Facebook profile with about 15 fans. This was in June 2012. To date, November 2013, Nitrofleet99 has 383 fans on its Facebook page, an accomplishment based on some Facebook advertising but primarily on a content amplification and promotion strategy that focused on consistent and regular engagement. Part of consistent and regular engagement is updating your social media profiles every day while planning this content in advance. This strategy enables me to spend the day-to-day work engaging with followers while the research of appropriate content takes place well before this content is scheduled for sharing.
Since June 2012, I've also added a Twitter account and a Google+ account for the company. Not only do these presences exist, but both the Facebook page and the Google+ profile have ranked on the first page of Google for the term, "nitrogen tire inflation."
I Understand that Social Media Can't Work in a Silo
Part of what makes social media marketing difficult and time-consuming for businesses is that they consider it separate from the website and other marketing efforts. This is a huge mistake, as isolating social media means that your marketing efforts can't drive visitors and leads to the website (and the company), while eliminating a huge opportunity for the business to amplify the content and promotions happening on the website or in the email newsletter. My previous employer, for example, has a lot of great videos on its blog featuring different customers and services of the customer. However, these videos can only be found on the blog and can't be found anywhere on social media, YouTube in particular. Why my previous employer won't share these things on YouTube, or any other social network, is beyond me. Why are you creating this content if you don't amplify it through social media? By keeping these things to one or two platforms, instead of strategically using all of them to reach as many people as possible, you are essentially leaving leads and visitors on the table for your competitor to grab.
If You Need Content to Share on Social Media, I Can Do That Too
There's a 50/50 rule in social media marketing: 50% of what you share needs to be your own content, while the other half is the content of others. Most companies are surprised that their social media marketing efforts aren't entirely about the, but others do realize that your social media marketing doesn't matter too much if all you're doing is sharing other people's content. No one is going to be come a fan or follower (and they certainly won't become a customer) if you don't have any original research, or thought leadership, or helpful information of your own to offer. This is where I can come in. I can create blog posts, white papers, press releases, newsletter articles, essentially anything that would be awesome to share on Facebook or Twitter that you can slap with your company's branding. After all, the goal to accomplish with social media marketing is to show that your company is the one that can address the needs and pain points of your customers. By only sharing the content of others, you're really saying that it's your competitors and these other thought leaders who really know what they are doing.
I'm not an intern or college student whose a good fit for a social media role because I'm young or a digital native. I'm a good fit for the social media role because I know what I'm doing, and I've been doing this long enough to know how to understand a brand so that results happen on social media. I know how to use Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Google+ to achieve the results the client wants to see.