Do You Need A Social Media Team?

Social Media Team

Is your business experiencing a boom? Great! But, that also means that an investment in social media might be your next step in order to continue that growth. Since you need to focus on your business, you may have to hire someone to manage your social media accounts for you – really, there is no way to grow a business online without a social media effort!

What Can A Social Media Team Do For You?

• Ensure frequent posts : When their job is simply to manage social media accounts for the business, it becomes much easier to post on a frequent basis. It's ideal to post a few times per day (yes, you read that right) in order to reach more of your audience. Think about it: how often can a post get lost among the hundreds of other posts when a person only logs in to Facebook once per day? That time varies for everyone, so it becomes crucial to spread a few posts out throughout the day.
• Ensure engaging posts : You want more than just “Hey, check out this discount on items in our online store!” or “Look at this new product offered on our website!” If this is all you post, you'll possibly bore your customers to the point of unliking your page. Instead, you should be posting updates that have nothing at all to do with what you sell that elicit feedback. Example: It's winter. You post, “Brrr! Not loving these unseasonable -20 degree temps! What's the weather like where you're at?” The key isn't just to ask a question — you want to appear as human as possible so that customers find your brand even more likeable. Post funny pictures that relate to your brand; pictures of staff members doing funny things (with their permission, of course!); pictures from the company party. A social media team or employee can ensure that the job is getting done correctly and effectively.
• Respond to customers as soon as possible : This is important: if customers are taking the time to comment on something you've posted, it's imperative you respond as soon as humanly possible. That means leaving social media windows open on your computer all day, waiting for the notification to come in. A social media team can take this off of your plate, letting you do your job (you know, running your business.)

But I Can't Afford It.

Sometimes, this just isn't feasible. The budget might not allow for another employee to come on, and you might not be able to assign the task to a current employee. And if you hire someone to take charge of your social media accounts and nothing changes, you might want to rethink your strategy.

Drawbacks

One of the problems when hiring someone outside your company to deal with social media: they don't care as passionately about your company as those who know it and love it. As such, their posts on your social media accounts won't have that personal feel that customers crave.

Another issue: sometimes it's better to keep everything integrated (email newsletter, social media, website, promotions, press releases, etc), so that information travels instantly across all channels. If you split this all up, it becomes one extra step that must be remembered each time you have a new promotion or information you want to share.

The bottom line: if you don't at least test the social media waters, you might be missing out on broadening your global reach and increasing profits. But if you don't do it properly, you're doomed before you even begin.

What's your social media strategy?