10 Advantages of social media outsourcing for content creation
You’ve got big dreams that include running a big agency, but the reality is that your resources are finite. You can’t be everything to everyone, especially when it costs so much money to recruit and train new talent. Whether you’re running low on fresh ideas or just want to give your clients more without overextending yourself, social media outsourcing may be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
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Here’s a look at the benefits of outsourcing social media content creation and management services. From memes to metrics, expert-led solutions can deliver the results you need to drive the progress you want.
Table of Contents
- Expertise and specialization
- Fresh perspective and an infusion of creative energy
- Time and resource efficiency
- Scalability and flexibility
- Access to tools and technology
- Multichannel consistency and brand alignment
- Leverage industry insights and trends
- Overall increase in efficiency and productivity
- Be more cost-effective
- Get help measuring results and performance tracking
1. Expertise and specialization
Outsourcing social media to a company that focuses on social media content creation connects you with a team of experts that know everything there is to know about creating engaging and effective content. At a minimum, social media pros can help:
- Continue the things you or your clients are doing correctly
- Address pain points that could be preventing success
- Identify opportunities for social partnerships and other marketing collabs
- Create plans designed to hit both short- and long-term goals (for instance, they can help you increase your followers or boost your conversion rates)
- Tailor content to different demographics and/or platforms
Depending on the agency you go with, you could also tap into specialized skill sets for difference use cases. For example, you may need help with reputation management in the event of a branding crisis or with social media content curation to beef up clients’ feeds. Some companies may offer community management, so you have someone on tap to respond to DMs and comments, or their own pool of pre-vetted freelancers to take care of writing, editing, and fact-checking blogs.
2. Fresh perspective and an infusion of creative energy
You take pride in knowing your clients’ businesses down to every tweet and post like, but sometimes being so up close and personal with day-to-day operations can be limiting. You’re almost too close to understand what steps each brand needs to take next. That’s when social media outsourcing and a fresh perspective can come in handy.
So-called “outsiders” come with a distinct advantage: They have zero project bias, and they have a unique perspective that hasn’t been influenced by your team’s previous discussions. Everything is brand new. They get to come in fresh and ready to brainstorm ideas that will get attention, spark conversation, and honor each brand’s vision while also generating much-needed buzz.
An experienced social media team can:
- Come up with ideas for social media posts
- Craft creative concepts that could breathe fresh life into your profiles
- Disrupt current patterns by finding ways to increase your audience and out think competitors
3. Time and resource efficiency
It takes a lot of time to build and manage a viable social media presence, let alone a viral one. The bigger your client portfolio becomes — or even if a single client experiences a major jump in demand — the more people and tools you’ll need to maintain that growth and perhaps scale even further.
Over time, you might need to bring on specialists that possess skill sets beyond those available via your in-house team. With agency, you could tap into a wealth of talent and resources, including:
- SEO experts
- Writers
- Editors
- Subject-matter experts
- IT assistance
- Web developers
- Graphic designers
- Libraries of stock photos and other images
4. Scalability and flexibility
Speaking of expanding needs, what happens when your agency hits its stride, and you suddenly find yourself ready to take the next steps in your business plan? Maybe you’re ready to reach out to clients in a new-to-you industry, or perhaps you want to bolster your social media packages for small businesses by offering more services.
If you want to amplify your reach (and nourish your bank account, it’s only a matter of time (and size) before you need to seek outside social media content creation services. Those companies can handle multiple clients simultaneously and manage a slew of accounts without compromising quality. According to industry experts, one of the biggest mistakes businesses can make on social media is failing to post consistently (Forbes). Outsourcing can help with that too, because your new team is solely focused on ensuring your messages match, whether consumers are accessing your profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
5. Access to tools and technology
Companies that specialize in outsourced social media management usually already subscribe to a slew of digital marketing tools. From post automation to content scraping to apps that track and measure key metrics, there are tech-driven ways to save time and increase efficiency — all without requiring you to pay for your own app subscriptions or bring on additional talent to meet your expanding needs.
Some social media marketing platforms even have their own software that rolls everything from profile construction to link tracking into one efficient tool. Imagine handing over control of your clients’ posts, lead generation, RSS feeds, and social audience analytics to someone more adept at the job, but also being able to check in as needed. You get all the structure and processes without the initial outlay and 24/7 responsibility.
6. Multichannel consistency and brand alignment
When you outsource social media content creation services, the external company works closely with the agency to understand the end client’s brand identity, values, and messaging. This initial getting-to-know-you stage may include face-to-face interviews and questionnaires as well as handing over client docs like a list of core values and brand style guide.
The social media management company then uses all that information to inform every decision they make across multiple social media channels, including things like:
- Educating in-house employees and contracted talent on the brand identity and social media best practices
- Creating a content strategy that caters to typical use case and core demographics for each platform
- Using a consistent tone of voice that aligns with the brand’s overall vibe
- Sticking to brand colors and using the logo to build brand recognition
- Instituting a content approval process to avoid problematic and off-brand posts
- Building seamless transitions between platforms, like posting a short clip to TikTok that includes a link to the full version of the video on YouTube
- Regularly auditing social profiles and posted content to ensure everything is on target
7. Leverage industry insights and trends
The best social media content creation companies are the ones that commit to ongoing education. In this case, that means staying up to date on the latest industry trends, knowing all about algorithm changes, and implementing best practices, even with that means switching things up from month to month or platform to platform. Those companies then leverage those insights to create content that resonates with each brand’s target audience.
Done correctly, content based on trends and insider knowledge of things like how Facebook is now weighing post likes or comments can help brands:
- Identify opportunities for new content and overall growth
- Better connect with consumers
- Maximize engagement
- Generate posts that improve brand awareness and boost sales without seeming super salesy
- Repackage old information in new and exciting ways
- Ensure they stay relevant instead of seeming stale or outdated
8. Overall increase in efficiency and productivity
According to a poll of small business owners, 43 percent of SMBs spend at least 6 hours per week on social media-related tasks, with 25 percent spending up to 10 hours per week and 11 percent dedicating 11–20 hours per week just on social media (VerticalResponse). Around 7 percent of respondents spent more than 21 hours per week finessing their social content and feeds, meaning they took up more than half of the average work week just to manage the company’s socials.
Social media outsourcing returns a huge chunk of that time to the general work pool. The burden of content creation, post monitoring, and metric tracking is taken away, allowing your agency’s team to move on to other critical tasks. Now there’s more time and money to dig into strategy development, campaign management, and client communication.
9. Be more cost-effective
It takes the average employer in the United States 24 days and $4,000 to recruit a new employee (Glassdoor). Outsourcing social media responsibilities can help you reduce expenses related to creating job postings, conducting pre-hire assessments, running background checks, training recruits, and reducing productivity from onboarding a new hire. You also don’t have to pay for another desk, a laptop, or benefits like health insurance.
When you contract with an external company, all the hiring and training and educating is on their plate, not yours. They take care of finding and vetting top talent, and you get to sit back and reap the rewards. Keep this in mind when comparing costs — while the numbers might seem high at first, put the price of outsourcing side by side with the total salaries required in-house talent hired instead, and see how it pans out.
10. Get help measuring results and performance tracking
Random acts of marketing rarely work out in your favor, which is why analytics are so important. External companies should be ready and willing to provide comprehensive reports that measure how content is performing, including:
- Post reach
- Engagement metrics
- Conversion rates
- ROI
You can then use this data to gain an objective understanding of whether a campaign is working and make data-driven decisions that can help you reach crucial goals for your company and for your clients.
How to choose the right social media content creation service
If you’re considering outsourcing social media content creation, either for your own purposes or as part of social media management packages sold to an end client, it’s vital to know how you can vet those companies and find the one that best fits your needs.
Define your goals and objectives
The first step in finding an outstanding social media management company is to understand why you’re looking for one in the first place. What problem are you trying to solve? Are you running out of time and resources to handle your current client load, or are you perhaps trying to expand your business and want to offer solutions that go above and beyond your team’s existing skill set?
Make a list of goals and objectives. Then make a second list of things you need or want from a social media management company to help check off the items in list one. Look up general guidelines for social media management and study up on innovations in social media project management software to better understand what’s possible.
Research and compare different service providers
Before you outsource social media marketing services to a third-party provider, take the time to interview several companies and compare their offerings.
Look at:
- How long they’ve been in business and what their current client list looks like
- The solutions they have available
- What their customer service/support is like
- What tech is required for you to use the company’s social tools
- Whether they have the resources necessary for you to manage your current social media portfolio and scale as needed
- Pricing — especially if there’s a base price and then per-solution add-on fees
Check for portfolio and client reviews
The best way to predict how a company will work for you is to see how they’ve worked for others in the past.
- Look at their self-provided reviews and testimonials. Most service-based companies have a web page dedicated to customer reviews, or they may have testimonials posted at the bottom of their home page. Some sites even share case studies that not only showcase positive results, but also outline how those results were achieved.
- Check out third-party reviews. Because companies can easily filter their reviews and excise poor feedback, it’s important to do a quick Google search and check out sites like TrustPilot and Yelp. Don’t simply look at star ratings. Read reviews to see why people rated the company the way they did — you may find that the reason for a poor rating doesn’t apply to your situation at all.
- Ask for referrals. Talk to your friends in the industry to see who they use for their social media outsourcing. Referrals from someone you trust can be invaluable because few people are willing to put their reputation on the line to recommend a company with subpar services.
Evaluate communication and collaboration processes
Outsourcing your social media needs doesn’t mean you’re just handing everything over to a third party and washing your hands of it all. The process is more of a collaboration, and you need to be involved — especially since at the end of the day, it’s still your name on the line. When you’re using white label social media management services, you’re leveraging that company’s tools and talent, but your company is getting all the credit. You have to stay involved.
- Ask potential collaborators how they communicate.
- Can you access data on demand? If so, how easy is it to use that dashboard/platform?
- Do they send reports? If so, how often?
- Who do you contact with questions and how often is that person/team available?
- If there’s an issue, how quickly can you expect a fix/response?
- Is the company open to your input, or is it more of an “our way or the highway” approach?
Ultimately, you must feel like you’re bringing on a partner, not giving your job to someone else. Starting off with a collaborative mindset and being clear on what both parties should expect will help set you up for a successful relationship that could last many years and through dozens of clients.
Frequently asked questions
What types of content can a social media content creation service create?
There’s no set list of content that every social media content creation service automatically creates. However, most companies can handle a wide range of assets including blogs, articles, how-to guides, social media posts, visual-based media like infographics and memes, video stories, and short-form content like video captions and tweets. Some companies may also offer specialized content like video scripts, case studies, Twitter threads based on blogs, and contest/giveaway campaigns.
How can a social media content creation service help me save time and resources?
When you outsource social media marketing services, you get to piggyback on that company’s existing talent network as well as their collection of tools and apps. Instead of investing in recruiting, onboarding, and training additional in-house team members, you can tap into the graphic designers or SEO pros that an outside company has already vetted and tested. You also get to use their app subscriptions and benefit from their experience, freeing you to reallocate time and budget to other areas of your business.