How to Effectively Outsource Social Media Marketing for Your Business in 2024

When you’re managing a business, promoting it on social media may be the last thing on your mind. But without an active social media presence, you stand to lose out on potential customers. So how can you manage your social media while still saving time to focus on your business? The answer lies in outsourcing your social media.

 

What is Social Media Outsourcing?

Social media outsourcing involves hiring experts to help with your social media marketing and management. For instance, you may outsource content creation to a freelance graphic designer. Or hire an outsourced marketing agency to handle all your social media. 

Depending on your goals and workload, you can outsource various facets of social media, such as:

• Social media strategy
• Competitor research
• Content creation
• Social media publishing
• Community management
• Reputation management
• Paid social advertising
• Reporting and analytics

For instance, NetShopping provides various organic and paid social media services.

When Should You Outsource Your Social Media?

While there’s no easy answer, you need to outsource social media when you don’t have the time and resources to handle it on your own. 

Small businesses outsource their social media efforts for this very reason. They may not have the time or expertise to handle their social media effectively. 

Similarly, as your business grows rapidly, you’ll need all hands on deck. Outsourcing your social media gives you some extra help managing the excess workload.

This is especially true if your growth extends internationally. No one knows the local market better than local social media experts.

Alternatively, you may want to outsource to an expert when going through a slump. Outside social media specialists can add a unique perspective to freshen things up. This also comes in handy when you need help with your rebranding efforts.

Here’s a useful checklist to help you check if it’s the right time to outsource your social media. 

Benefits of Social Media Outsourcing

Social media experts can help you do your job better and more efficiently. There’s a reason why almost 94% of businesses outsource their marketing activities, according to Semrush. Let’s give you a breakdown of the main benefits of social media outsourcing.

Efficiency

It takes time to manage your social media accounts and regularly publish posts. With social media management outsourcing, you can have someone else handle these aspects of your business. That means you no longer need to spend valuable time working on your social media.

Instead, you can outsource marketing tasks and dedicate more time to your main business functions. Deloitte reports that this is the biggest benefit of outsourcing.

Hiring independent workers or agencies also helps you with cost-cutting. You won’t need to spend money on hiring and onboarding. Plus, there are no operational expenses involved. 

You can even take advantage of the agency’s existing tech stack. So you won’t need to pay for your own social media marketing tools. This is a huge benefit of outsourcing to a social media marketing agency for small businesses.

It’s no wonder 63% of organizations consider outsourcing an effective cost-cutting tool. 

ClearVoice hired fractional workers and reduced their hiring and operational costs by 40%. 

Expertise

The lack of in-house expertise is why most businesses outsource their marketing activities. 

Social media experts have the knowledge and expertise to make up for skill gaps. You won’t have to spend more time and resources training your existing workers. Instead, you get instant access to the expertise you need.

If you need to run ads on TikTok, you can hire an agency specializing in social media advertising. You won’t have to invest in extra training and tools to get your team up to speed on TikTok advertising.

Scalability

You can easily hire experts for specific campaigns and scale up your social media marketing activities. This is the third biggest reason for outsourcing, according to the Semrush report. 

Meanwhile, you can also scale down your efforts if demand drops. You won’t need to retain full-time staff just in case demand picks back up again. 

This flexibility is the biggest benefit of hiring independent workers, according to an SHRM study.

 

Challenges and Risks of Social Media Marketing Outsourcing

Despite the benefits, social media outsourcing has several challenges and risks. Make sure to consider these so you can go in fully prepared. 

Loss of Control

When you outsource social media to an agency, you’ll still have a say over what they post and how they interact with your audience. But you risk losing control over your brand voice and personality. Think serious and formal captions when your brand wants to keep things fun and casual. Or graphics that just don’t match your vision.

Even if you review every social media post before it goes live, you risk delays as the post goes through multiple revisions.

Ensure to work with experts who can easily adapt their voice to align with yours. Create a brand style guide so they know how to create content as your brand.

Miscommunication

Working with an external team often involves communicating virtually. So there’s a huge room for misunderstandings since you’re not interacting face-to-face.

Maintaining an open line of communication is important to avoid this risk. Go beyond email and allow for instant communication via Slack. So they can interact in real-time with your team and quickly clear up any confusion. 

Set up in-person or video meetings to create more face-to-face interactions when possible.

Quality Issues

Agencies sometimes overplay their expertise. Other times, they might not have any experience in your industry.

In either case, it can lead to quality issues affecting your social media marketing efforts. Think of poor-quality content that doesn’t reflect your brand’s values. Or responses that don’t accurately represent your brand’s personality.

A thorough vetting process often takes care of these issues.

Go through their case studies and portfolios to get proof of their capabilities.

Check their client history to see if they have experience in your industry. For instance, see if they’ve worked with other B2B brands if you need help with B2B social media marketing. 

Freelancers vs. Social Media Outsourcing Agency

You have two options for outsourcing your social media: freelancers and marketing agencies. 

Let’s compare the two to see which option’s best for you.

Outsourcing Social Media Marketing to an Agency

This is when you work with an agency specializing in social media marketing. It’s ideal for businesses that need to outsource most of their social media efforts. 

Pros

• Agencies have a larger service offering, so you can rely on them for various aspects of your social media.
• They’re more likely to have a strong track record of success with various reputable clients.
• They establish long-term relationships with these clients. This makes them ideal if you need ongoing support with your social media.
• Agencies have entire teams of social media professionals with specialized skills. 
• With a whole team of people to work on projects, they work faster and are more reliable.
• This also allows you to easily scale your social media marketing as needed.
• Agencies have the resources to invest in advanced tools to better support your social media efforts.

Cons

• Working with an agency typically involves retainers and higher bills to make up for higher operational costs.
• Agencies may assign different team members to handle your social media. There may be some inconsistencies in quality and voice.

Outsourcing Social Media Marketing to Freelancers

This is when you work with a freelancer to handle some facets of social media. For instance, you may hire a freelancer to manage your social media comments while you handle the rest.

Pros

• Most freelancers offer single specialized services. So they can provide high-quality service in their area of expertise. You can use marketplaces like Fiverr to search for freelancers with specific skills. 

• Freelancers typically charge less than agencies, which may help you reduce costs.
• They give you more flexibility as you can hire freelancers to address your specific needs.

Cons

• Freelancers often work on their own. They lack the time and resources to support your scaling social media needs.
• For the same reason, they may have a slower turnaround, affecting your project timeline.
• Their skills are often limited to very specific facets of social media. You can’t rely on them to handle your entire social media marketing. 

	Freelancers	Agencies
Price	Lower, hourly/per project	Higher, customizable
Expertise	Specialized but limited	Diversified to support your entire social media
Speed	Might be slower as they work on one project at a time	Have the ability to meet deadlines
Reliability	May be affected by sick days and inconveniences	Offer greater reliability with entire teams to offer backup

Common Mistakes When Choosing an Outsourcing Social Media Marketing Agency

Outsourcing to a social media marketing agency can be tricky if you’re not working with the right partner. The following mistakes could impact the quality of work and partnership.

Failing to Check Their Niche/Specialization

Some agencies specialize in specific industries. Failing to check these niches could lead to mismatched partnerships. You could end up with an agency that doesn’t know how to promote businesses like yours.

If the list of industries they serve is readily available, you can review it. You can also check out their past clients to find similar businesses. 

This will help you understand whether they have experience working in your industry.

Misaligning Expectations

Start with a clear understanding of what you expect from the agency. Without this, you won’t know what to look for. So you risk working with an agency that cannot deliver on those expectations. 

Have a clear idea of the services you need and to what extent. Then, vet potential agencies accordingly. 

Check their service offerings and work portfolio to better understand what they can deliver.

Failing to Ask for References

Testimonials and case studies can paint a great picture of the agency. But the picture may be incomplete as the agency chooses what to publish.

Ask for references from past clients and follow up on them. This will give you a complete idea of what it’s like working with the agency. 

Budget-Pricing Mismatch

One of the worst mistakes you can make is working with an agency whose pricing doesn’t match your budget. This can be tricky since most agencies don’t advertise their rates upfront. 

But you should be able to get a custom quote based on the services you need. Use this to review whether they’re the right agency for you. 

Here’s a useful checklist to help you vet an SMM agency:

Essential Tips for Choosing the Right Social Media Agency to Outsource

Working with the right agency will solve most of the challenges related to social media outsourcing. Consider the following key factors to make the right choice.

Service Offering

Start by ensuring that the agency can help you with all the facets of social media that you need help with. Look through the services they offer and the social platforms they cover. 

Some agencies can adapt their services and platforms according to your needs. 

For instance, Atom Bank needed to increase customer engagement through social media. So NetShopping developed a strategy integrating the bank’s exceptional customer service. The SMM specialists also hand-picked the most relevant social platforms based on the bank’s target audience.

The result? 

• 30% decrease in response time 
• 300% increase in social media engagement

Read our case study “Elevating Brand Awareness and Audience Engagement Through Strategic Social Media Marketing” for more details.

Experience and Expertise

Even the best agency isn’t the right match for every business. You need an agency that is well-versed in social media marketing for your industry.

This gives them the knowledge and experience to appeal to your target audience. They know the approaches that work and the voice that resonates. So they can adapt your strategies accordingly.

Usually, their client lists and portfolios will give you an idea of the industries they serve. Also, check out their case studies to see the results they’ve achieved for other clients. This will also help you understand their processes.

Read our client success stories to see how we’ve helped businesses like yours.

Reviews and Ratings

Agencies will publish the best reviews on their own websites. So you won’t see the bad experiences and complaints.

Go beyond the agency’s website and check out third-party sites like Clutch.co and Sortlist to see what people say about them. Unbiased reviews and ratings on these sites will paint a more complete picture of the agency.

Look for an agency with at least a 4-star average review rating on Clutch.co.

A 4/5 average rating on Sortlist is the bare minimum. NetShopping, for instance, has a 5/5 average rating.

Communication

If you can’t communicate seamlessly with the agency, you’ll have difficulty working with them. Imagine how frustrating it would be to send multiple emails just to get one update.

Ask about their communication methods and tools. Do they send monthly reports or weekly updates? Will you have a dedicated social media manager to work with your team? Do they use collaborative project management tools?

The agency should give you flexibility to adapt communications based on your comfort level.

Key Metrics for Evaluating Social Media Marketing Outsourcing Success

Once your partnership kicks off, make sure that you’re getting the results you need. It’s important to measure the impact of your outsourcing with the following social media metrics:

• Reach: An increase in the number of people who see your content is a good indicator of success. In particular, this metric will help you see if you’re meeting your brand awareness goals.

• Engagement rates: The right partner will help you create content that resonates. So you’ll see higher engagements for both organic and paid posts. 

• Follower growth: As you reach more people, you’ll also attract more followers. Look for a rise in follower growth to see if your partnership is working. 

• Website traffic: Depending on your goal, you may also see increased website traffic.

• Conversion rates: Similarly, you may also notice an increase in conversion KPIs.

• Response times: Faster response times will help you measure success if you outsource this aspect of your social media. 
• Cost per impressions/engagements/acquisition: You’d ideally want to see lower costs for your paid social efforts.

Social platforms come with native analytics to access these KPIs. You can also get more comprehensive insights with third-party social media analytics tools. Sprout Social and Sendible are some of the leading options.

How Much Does It Cost to Outsource Social Media Marketing

WebFX found that outsourcing social media to a freelancer costs between $1,001 and $10,000 monthly. Meanwhile, outsourcing to an agency costs about $100 to $5,000 per month.

However, the exact cost of social media outsourcing varies based on several factors:

• Services used
• Scope of work
• Business size
• Platform fees
• Project size
• Advertising costs
• Audience size
• Package/pricing structure
• Contract duration
• Working with an agency vs. freelancer

At NetShopping, we keep things simple. We use a straightforward subscription-based pricing structure where you get a set number of hours per plan. There are no hidden fees or surprise charges at the end of the month. Check out our three pricing plans to see how they work.

Conclusion

Outsourcing helps you improve your social media results while saving time and money. But without the right partner, you’ll have to deal with quality issues and miscommunications. Carefully choose an agency with a proven track record of success in your industry. 

Get in touch with a NetShopping representative to see how we can help.