Managing your social media presence is essential to have a strong community of customers. But doing everything yourself requires a lot of commitment and time. And for a startup like yours, this is not always possible. Here is how you can take advantage of outsourcing to overcome that challenge and have a strong start in your online community building.
Why Outsource Your Community Management
As is with any other business task, you might be curious as to why you would want to hand over community management to an external team. There are several key reasons why this one is a good move.
The Outsourced Teams Knows What To Do
Okay, so you might already know a thing or two about posting on social media. But community management goes beyond that. And trying to learn everything by yourself not only takes a lot of time but will also deter you from building your online community more effectively.
Third-party community managers have already gone through all that training and know the ins and out of social media well. Thus, they can quickly jump in and figure out how to best build your social media accounts for maximum engagement. They will also be able to quickly update your accounts to meet the ever-changing social media community standards.
They Can Provide You With A New Perspective
With the extensive knowledge that outsourced community management teams have, they can offer you a different perspective on things. For instance, they can give you a different take on how to handle certain posts online. Additionally, they can give you a rundown of the larger picture when it comes to your online presence.
Another great thing about outsourced community service is that they actively study other brands’ social media presence. Because of that, they can tell you which strategies you can use for your own. Additionally, they will be able to help you extend your community offline.
Outsourcing Is More Cost-Effective
You might be thinking that you can just get an in-house social media manager. But hiring one can be prohibitively expensive for startup businesses like yours. The salary of full-fledged social media managers can go up to tens of thousands a year, which many startups might not have a budget for. Add to that the cost of the social media management tools you will need and you have a pretty steep sum to pay for.
With outsourcing, you only pay for the service of these managers. Everything else, including the tools that you will need, is part of that service charge. You can also better tailor the size of the team to your budget, letting you deploy the right number of agents to suit your needs.
Things To Consider Before Outsourcing Community Management
When you decide to outsource your community management tasks, you need to be clear as to what its scope will be. Creating the parameters this early will help you better see the direction that your social media efforts will take.
The first thing to ask yourself is what purpose outsourcing will play. For instance, you can decide whether you want to focus more on day-to-day interactions or target larger community growth. Keep in mind that this general purpose will define much of the other parameters.
Deciding On How Accounts Are Handled
Another thing that you would want to consider early is how your accounts will be run. Think about which accounts you will run personally and which ones you will hand over to the outsourced team. For instance, you might want to have a personalized account that serves as your outlet independent of the main business account.
As for the outsourced accounts, think about how the agents will handle them. Will they be posting as you or will they be posting as part of the team? Additionally, you should make it clear if they also need to develop the copy and images for your post. This helps build a consistent tone for everything they post.
Setting Up Your Expectations For Strong Start
You would also want to have the right expectations when outsourcing. Think about the needs of each platform you plan to outsource. If you are launching an Instagram page, for instance, keep in mind that it is more about graphics. As such, you should make sure that you are ready to provide the outsourced team with enough content for it.
This consideration will also determine the type of agents that you would want to get. Ideally, you should go for a team that can do graphics, content, and strategy. But if there isn’t one available, you can have the external team closely collaborate with your internal marketing team to fill the gaps.
Getting A Strong Start With Your Outsourced Team
Once you have your outsourced social media team on board, you need to work closely with them. One of the things that you would want to establish at this point is the regularity of your posting. Build a calendar of post ideas like this one that will guide them weekly.
Image from Chloe Social.
You would also want to make sure that your brand stays current with what your audience is. With them being your eyes and ears, your outsourced social media team can relay that information. On the other hand, be proactive to see what is going on with your social media audience. This way, you can help the outsourced team by providing them more information to work on.
Another important aspect here is to make sure that the outsourced team’s response to customer inquiries on social media is adequate. This ties in closely with your general customer support efforts. Make sure that your social media channels align with your other channels. As an example, your startup business’s knowledge base should be regularly updated to give your social media handlers timely answers they can share to inquiring people
Have A Strong Start In Social Media With The Right Team
One last thing that you need to keep in mind is that community management is an ongoing process. As such, you should have the right team throughout the process. We at Virtual Outsourcing Solutions are ready to provide you that team. Sign up today and have a strong start building your online community.