Outsource Social Media Management

When Is Outsourcing Social Media Your Best Option?

First up, let’s talk about cost. According to Glassdoor, the typical social media manager salary in the UK is £35,881 per year, while the corresponding US figure is $59,799 per year. Add in your employer costs (office space, medical, pension, etc) and subscriptions to some essential social media tools plus a tiny budget for social media advertising and it's unlikely you'll be able to go down the route of hiring a full-time social media manager as part of your marketing strategy for much less than £45,000 or $75,000 per year.

Generally speaking, outsourcing social media marketing will be a lot cheaper than this. Our most popular Ultimate+ package, which replicates the activity levels of a full-time employee, costs £15,600 or $18,000 per year. That includes the costs of social media tool subscriptions and a modest advertising budget, so is absolutely a like-for-like comparison with employing a social media manager. Plus we’ve also assumed that you would be able to hire an employee for zero cost - whereas in reality, you’re likely to have an up-front cost to find and hire someone to manage your social platforms too.

If cost were everything, then outsourcing would be the clear winner.

How do I start social media marketing?

There are other considerations to deliver your social media strategy, though.

Adding to the argument for outsourcing social media is the chance to minimise risks. Employing a social media manager incurs up-front costs and probably some ongoing commitment to employ them for a period of time. Firing someone also carries legal risks, has an impact on morale and may harm your employer brand. By contrast, an agency like Social-Hire will work with you on a rolling monthly contract - so your financial commitment is minimised.

Then there's the issue of being certain of the quality of hire you make. If you engage a social media agency that has good testimonials and reviews - and that’s delivered strategies in sectors similar to your own - then the onus on hiring and providing a high calibre social media manager is taken off your shoulders. By contrast, hiring a social media manager and feeling confident they can deliver is quite a challenge for you to take on. Particularly if you’re in a business that’s not already expert in social media marketing. 

The limitations of outsourcing social media management

Outsourcing social media isn't the best option for absolutely all businesses. For most small businesses, the arguments above outweigh all other considerations. But to give a balanced perspective, the main limitations if you outsource social media will be getting your personality across and leveraging your employees.

For certain types of businesses, getting a feel for the business is critical to success on social media. Think of a restaurant chain or a team of fitness instructors. Photos of your latest dishes, live feeds of today’s workout, video clip testimonials from delighted customers. These sorts of social media posts really make your potential customers warm to you - and help you solidify repeat customers too. So if you run this type of business then you may choose not to go down the route of social media outsourcing.

The other consideration is how you can leverage your employees. In a ten-person business, the reach that your employees have through their social media accounts is pretty minimal. Whereas in a five thousand person business, your employees collectively reach a huge number of people on each social media platform and getting them all on board could considerably enhance your results. Getting that internal buy-in to share company posts and participate in leaderboard contests will be most easily achieved if there’s someone in the business championing that and regularly drumming up enthusiasm for the initiative. But for small businesses, social media agencies can easily handle this for you.

Why Social-Hire?

Hopefully, the above Pros and Cons have helped you in reaching a decision about social media outsourcing. If you're thinking that the "outsource social media management" option is the right one for your business, the key then is to pick the right social media marketing agency. There are some great agencies out there - and there are also some really unprofessional ones. Having a look at a social media agency's own social media presence and followings can often be a good indicator. You wouldn't trust a search engine agency whose own website isn't on page 1 of Google - and similarly, you should be wary of any social media agency that can't get results for their own business on social media!

So why should you choose Social-Hire for your social media management? Quite simply, because of our results (and we like to think we're a friendly bunch to work with too!). Our clients only commit to working with us for 90 days at the outset, but they typically go on to work with us for years and years because of the great results we deliver. That's why we have tremendous client testimonials and it's why we are 5 star rated on Google. We've been generating social media results since 2012, have a massive social media audience ourselves and generate most of our new business through social media platforms (and referrals from happy clients). 

Should we schedule a call?

If you are eager to start getting real business results from working with a social media company, it'd be well worth booking in for a call via the scheduling tool below. The only criteria to keep in mind would be:


Choose a time to speak with one of our social media team 

Please select a convenient time for us to call. We'll look forward to talking through your target audience, social media goals and how we can help fulfil these. You're also welcome to provide more info about your company so we come onto the call better able to provide advice tailored to your business. Please select a time slot and click continue: