Why you should HIRE a Social Media Manager

You’re here because you’ve accepted the fact that Social Media will provide value to your business. Now you’re deciding whether to do it yourself or to hire a professional. Hiring is always a cost. Costs are more often than not avoided. If there are two things every business owner universally strive for more of are…

Time, and yes you’ve guessed it, MONEY.

As a Small to medium business, weighing the importance of every business expense is what separates the very successful from the not so successful. “Plans are nothing; planning is everything”, the famous quote by Eisenhower I adhere by. So when the question of whether to bring in another helping hand arises, it’s always effective planning and weighing of priorities is what potentially strikes the right balance.

Social Media is always changing and every week it seems as though that there is a brand new topic, tool, or website that needs to be immersed into your brand and business. Businesses have accepted that it's here and here to stay but it's time to talk about who is going to manage it for your business. Initial reaction is usually that they’ll you'll do it yourself. But before you start downloading Twitter and Facebook how-to guides, consider two things. Do you yourself (a) have the right personality to be a savvy social media manager and (b) have the time to take on the task?

With the recurring theme from my previous posts being time, below are listed more reasons as to why you should consider hiring a Social Media Manager (SMM);

1. Hiring an “Ear to the ground” – this ensures that your business is best represented through the “correct” mediums reaching targeted markets. It’s great that as a business owner you have the passion to induce Social Media into your strategy however are you targeting the correct market with the correct tool/medium?

2. No Guess Work – with an experienced SMM, guessing what your online audience find engaging can deter existing fans on the medium engaged currently on. I have seen it; sharing inappropriate material can clash with your current Mission statement as a business with a Brand painted online different to what is intended professionally , in turn damaging an existing reputation or creating a false one.

3. SMM’s study the industry all day long – we at The Fine Social Media Group, work consistently with Small to medium businesses uncovering trends and material that keeping up with the inundation of information is simply, part of our job.We’ve learnt through trial and error and we understand what you as a business need to do to continue to engage your customers.

4. Finding the correct balance – business owners tend to forget the professionalism of their business and focus solely on creating a Social atmosphere online that as a business is no longer taken seriously when services are required. Finding the correct balance of Engaging material and creating a professional online presence through Social Media requires experience.

5. Tracking Social Media success – not all business owners/managers are able to decipher how their current Social Media strategy is performing, or if introducing Social Media will have a constructive effect.

According to Rand Fishkin over at SEOMoz, Product, marketing, engineering and customer service departments can all benefit from an increased knowledge and understanding of social media, and very little of it is common sense. From knowing the difference between an original tweet, a retweet, virality of a post to crafting lifecycle attribution by melding tools like Bit.ly PRO and Facebook insights, social media expertise is more than just useful, but often critical to improving overall performance. I could not agree more.

For Small to medium business owners, time spent focusing on developing rapport with your customers and management is time better spent. Maintaining an online presence takes time, experience and passion. With the world of Social Media and marketing ever changing, leave it to the experienced professionals to do it for you.

Social Media Managers are hilarious too! If you’re in the process of hiring one, and their sense of humor isn’t very good, I’d suggest you keep looking…


Taha Sayed
TheFineSocialMediaGroup