Why Outsourcing Your Brand's Social Media Is Good Business
The sticker shock of professional services may prevent small businesses from reaching their full potential. This is especially true in the case of hiring social media experts who understand the psychology behind strategic brand building. While any person with basic computer knowledge can create graphics in many of the online tools readily available, many do-it-yourself posts lack quality control to properly engage customers (and potential customers) on a consistent daily basis.
“Products are made in a factory, but brands are created in the mind,” said Walter Landor, founder of Landor.
Brand control and relationship building are two key components of social media marketing that will broaden the reach of a business beyond the scope of simply adding followers or posting flashy graphics. There are different algorithms used across multiple platforms that ultimately decide how much visibility can be obtained by the post or graphic. Social media experts take the time to educate themselves on what consumers want to see, and how to best provide it for them.
“In order for a brand to be truly successful, it has to know how to anticipate need,” said Stephen Jobs co-founder of Apple.
Customers expect to be responded to as quickly online as if they were in the presence of the small business owner. Social media experts work with their clients to develop a plan for their social media growth, as well as the story they would like to share across the various platforms to maximize customer engagement. Outsourcing social media allows small businesses to stay focused on building relationships with their customers online without sacrificing their daily operations.
“Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touchpoints,” said Jonah Sachs, an author, speaker, and viral marketing pioneer.
Most social media experts have subscriptions to the tools required to make posts, graphics and videos stand out. While amateur users can take advantage of the free versions of programs like Canva, Adobe Spark, and auto-posting programs like Hootsuite, the limited nature of those versions will hinder even the most frequent of social media users. When businesses engage professional social media experts, they are gaining people knowledgeable in marketing, video content and editing, social media structure, graphic content and editing, and experts in analytics who will work to consistently expand the businesses reach online. Outsourcing to experts also ensures a constant eye on social media trends with memes, videos, and more.
“Every interaction in any form, is branding,” said bestselling author Seth Godin.
Having an expert with quality control of the brand of a small business allows the business owner to perfect their craft and invest their time and effort into growing their bottom line. It takes patience, consistency, and frequent engagement to turn a casual browser on social media into a customer. Social media experts use strategic planning and tools to engage potential customers that feel more like relationship branding than traditional sales.
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well,” said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
One of the biggest mistakes made by small businesses is entrusting their marketing potential to an entry-level employee or someone with other job duties. That’s like buying a billboard and leaving it blank. The potential is there, but it’s of little to no actual value to brand building.