5 signs that it’s high time for outsourcing

You’ve just proudly put the final touches on your new company fan page on FB, you post it on your wall for your customers to like it and suddenly zonk… Someone posts a negative comment about their bad experience with your company two years ago… What do you do in this situation?

Or an example like this: you’ve had an account for a week and the page has 6 likes, you’ve published a few articles that you’ve carefully crafted, but you get the feeling that no one sees them, shares them or comments on them… You’ll wonder why.

Social media is a bit like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get! Taking the time to do crisis planning is unfortunately something that is often overlooked, which in turn leads to frequent blunders on company profiles.

It is equally important to showcase your social activity, build and nurture an audience and then go out to them with targeted, original and engaging content when they show interest, not just when you want to generate it.

Different objectives require different approaches, so it is worth knowing when to seek the help and guidance of an expert, as it can be the key to success while avoiding potential disasters. When planning a social media campaign, you should be prepared for negative reactions as much as positive ones.

It is often the case that when companies decide to manage their social media accounts, this role falls to different employees, leading to a patchy posting system. Posts vary both in terms of when they are published and how they communicate with their audience.

When starting to work with a specialist, they need to spend some time getting to know you, your business, what you want to communicate and how you like to be represented online. If your website is very informative, professional and full of dry facts, but the social profiles relating to it are fun, full of adverts and pictures of funny cats… then let’s be honest, it’s high time to ensure some consistency!

The key is to ensure consistency in your communications and create content that drives both your social media channels and search marketing strategies.

There’s nothing worse than perpetually repeating one and the same type of post on someone’s timeline There’s nothing more frustrating when, whether it’s a recruitment company or an estate agent, using their Facebook or Twitter page as an extension of a rental listing or noticeboard.

Far too many companies are focused on the number of posts they have to publish in a week, rather than the quality of those posts. So companies are still assessing the cost of their social media marketing campaigns based on the number of posts to be created with their money, rather than on their content. And it is this content that is their most important part.

And here we need a specialist to develop not only a posting schedule and publishing plan, but also an editorial calendar that is designed according to your future goals for the year/month/quarter or even week. Once you have the content, all that’s left is to publish it in the right places, at the right time to your target audience.

You need to make the content do the work – you need to promote it, nurture it and drive it along the sales funnel to generate the desired result.

You’ve had a busy weekend and today is Monday morning and you have work to do. A reminder pops up on your screen, about having to prepare content and schedule posts for it. Great, then all that’s left now is to come up with some good topics….

Are you stuck?

Don’t worry, this is normal. To know what to write, when to publish it and, in general, how this content can be used in your overall marketing strategy, you have to really think hard. When you have a lot to do, on top of that you feel the pressure to publish more articles, finding the time and motivation to write new and engaging content can be difficult.

At this stage, we advise you not to do so. Rather, this is the point at which you should at least talk to an experienced copywriter and find out how much it would cost you to outsource your content creation. You might be really positively surprised, and on top of that, getting rid of the daily stress of creating new content every week will allow you to find more time for the things you are good at, such as running your business!

There’s nothing wrong with laughing lightly on social media, as long as everything else is also in place. You can have personality, charm and humility on social media and you’ll find that it works wonders in terms of brand engagement, without lowering the tone or quality of your online reputation – if it’s crafted correctly.

Working with a specialist to determine the nature and tone of your account can be a really important element that will pay off in the long term. Work with someone you trust and ask as many questions as you like! These are experts who should have no problem solving your problems and answering your questions.

We like to feel what our clients feel and act as if we were our own clients. That’s why it’s so important for us to get to know our clients and fully understand their objectives before embarking on any new social media campaigns.

If you are struggling with any of the difficulties described in this article, or if you have any questions about handling your company’s social media accounts, please call or email us and we will do our best to help.