When the subject of hiring a social media community coordinator first comes up with C-Level Executive leaders, a lot of them will wonder if they really need one. After all, can’t an office administrator just post the corporate tweets and Facebook updates, without paying someone to do it for the company?
You certainly could, and lots of professionals do. In the long run, though, it usually doesn’t make much sense. You might not want to handle your own social media marketing for the same reasons that it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to do your own taxes, represent yourself in legal proceedings, or cut your own hair: You probably don’t have the time to learn to do any of these things, and someone else can do a better job of them, anyway.
In the first case, consider that finding new customers through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn doesn’t cost a lot, but is time-intensive. It might seem like nothing to dash off a quick note or update, but you can easily spend an hour a day keeping on top of your social profiles. That’s an hour you could have spent running your business. Even more importantly, what happens on a day when you don’t have that hour to spend? Your online marketing plan comes to a halt. String too many of those days together, and you’ve got a social media marketing campaign that’s going nowhere.
But even if you can stay on top of your social profiles on your own, would you really want to? As personable and articulate as you might be, you’ll probably get better results from having a professional edit your posts, keep an eye on recurring themes and ideas, and otherwise ensure that you are creating content that’s interesting, unique, and relevant.
In other words, by setting the tone yourself, turning the day-to-day details of your social media marketing plan to someone else, and supplementing them with your own tweets and updates, you are much more likely to end up with the result you’re looking for: more leads and customers coming to you through social networking sites.
You might not need a social media consultant in the same way that you need a doctor or a dentist, but if you’re serious about taking advantage of one of the most important Internet marketing trends to come along recently, then hiring one is a no-brainer decision.
Having said all of this, it is critical that you remain involved in your social strategy. Need some help growing your organization or social media sites? Get in touch with us today to find out how easy it is to get started.