Many small businesses look to a freelancer for their social media marketing. If they keep social media in house, it usually falls to an intern – someone younger who “knows computers.” Neither of these approaches is for the best if you want real impact from your social media marketing strategy.

The decision to hire a marketing agency is a big step forward for most small and mid-sized companies in Central Florida. With an experienced agency, they get the expertise they need to generate real value from social media marketing and all the other digital marketing approaches that can complement it.

But there are still some bad habits that can undermine your results.

One of these is assuming that once your social media is outsourced, that’s the end of the story.

Why You Should Still Be Involved in Social Media Even After Hiring a Marketing Agency

Yes, social media (and other marketing techniques) can be 100% “done for you” if that’s what you choose. And a good agency enables you to be as involved or as hands-off as you wish. But it’s crucial for us to point out that some forms of marketing just work better when the principal of the business is involved.

Marketing is about developing a relationship of trust. These days, that trust has to begin long before you ever meet a prospective customer face-to-face. It only makes sense that when you need human connection, your personal touch goes a long way. An agency can facilitate and accentuate you but never replace you.

A strategy that includes client involvement is simply better. That’s why we say posting to social media takes two.

That doesn’t mean you need to be hunched over your desk, scrolling through your social media feed to look for mentions of your brand, or hammering away at one post after another to get your audience’s attention. It’s the opposite. While we do the day-to-day posting, you should focus on the things only you can create.

That’s the perfect marriage of quantity and quality.

Because it’s true: Depending on which social media networks you use and what your goals are, your brand may need to post multiple times a day to stay relevant. That’s what algorithms look for, and it helps determine when and if your audience will get to see your message. But that’s only part of the equation.

On any platform, in any format, you are your brand’s most important asset.

Here’s What It Means to Stay Involved in Your Brand’s Social Media

When you work with a marketing agency, you’ll get regular reports and have discussions about how your social media and other assets are performing. Individual marketing tactics are bundled together into a comprehensive marketing strategy tailored to your goals and budget.

While about 90% of the work of a social media strategy can be done by your marketing agency, that other 10% will drive a major part of your results. That’s where you share your own story and successes in your own voice. We, in turn, amplify that using our social media knowledge.

So, for instance:

• You might snap photos at a team brunch or another staff-only event you want people to see.
• You could take a video of your team in action at a recent nonprofit event in your community.
• You can sit down for the camera alone or with a happy customer to highlight a success story.

Before someone will buy from you, they have to know, like, and trust you. What this kind of social post does best is help your audience feel like you’re a part of their lives. Combined with blog writing and other content marketing, you become a trusted source of helpful, informative advice they know they can rely on.

And it all happens with the complete support of your marketing agency.

In the examples above, it might take you only 30 seconds to get a photo, two minutes to take a smartphone video, or 10 minutes to get a testimonial from your customer. But once those things are done – in the ways only you can do them – they become powerful fuel for additional content throughout your strategy.

Those and other forms of “organic content” go to your dedicated marketing coordinator. That person works with the rest of our team of in-house marketing experts to package, publish, and promote it so it has the maximum positive impact on your brand. And as with so many things, it’s just not the same without you.

We’re here to support your success in social media strategy and beyond. Contact us to get started.