Social Media will not sell for you, Social media, done correctly will enable you to sell, which is why you should consider outsourcing your social media management.
My career in advertising and marketing has been fuelled by communication through grandad of social media: mIRC. And have been doing it since, with commercial success. So I am one of its strongest ambassadors.
But it’s not magic fairy dust.
Your Instagram is here to nudge attention.
Who are you?
Where are you?
How can you help? But it will not sell.
It is only the top of the funnel.
So why even bother? Takes time, it sends you on an addictive dopamine seeking rush and it is expensive. Create content, pay for various tools, pay consultants.
The Truth is: Every-single-industry has now ferocious competition. The feature differentiation and the price range are infinitizemal. The buyer is informed. Where is he getting the information from? Is it your competition?
The buying decision is made along the thin line of trust. Which is built online for anyone who did not buy from you previously. Or met you at trade shows. Even so, they will get back to their offices, pull out their marketing materials and find the web address and social Media handles.
Every lead generation has a digital component. From your local plumber, funeral services, PVC windows to your dentist, pharmacy, and B2B.
You will say: we are B2B, our leads do not waste time on Facebook. But they will be present on LinkedIn. They are still looking for solutions to their problems. They are looking to upskill.
If you are not there what message do you send? You are not a player. As simple as that.
If you already understand this, and you have invested time, effort and budget into your social media – with a resounding sound of crickets, there might be a number of reasons.
You are selling, selling and selling some more to your audience. Or you are taking Social to giddy levels of intimacy, like team anniversaries and the latest cupcake adventure in the office. It will not work for lead generation.
Is your cupcake box building a strong team, which will work to provide your customer with seamless delivery and after sales service?
You need to start looking at hiring a social Media manager which will be focused on creating the right angle from your information. A social Media manager who is focused on customers and their needs. He or she needs to be able to translate your technical information into attention gripping morsels of information which help your customers.
The social media manager needs to be able to work closely with your sales team, as the lines between marketing and sales are becoming blurred, and the customer expects a seamless experience, when he is transitioned from marketing to sales.
You need to see there is clear understanding on how to build an all encompassing brand story as well as a commercial focus on business’ objectives.
Not at least strong brand guidelines adherence, from visuals to brand values.
A team player which can work with and inspire your team to become ambassadors and share the content. Some one who will not only communicate clearly the tone of voice framework, but also understand your team’s human needs and values: you simply cannot put a memo in the canteen: “we are kindly requiring you to share our social media content”
the content produced needs to be strong enough and have the quality which will enhance your team’ personal brands.
Remember: your employees’ social media is their asset, it does not belong to the company. A social media manager needs to provide the kind of leadership which inspires.
If you are building your personal brand and you need support, your social media manager or assistant can help, but it should not have integral ownership of your channels. You need to be involved. And require assistance on visuals and angles.
For personal branding, hands-on training is required – you need to work for a number of months with your social media manager, so you begin to understand the mechanics and etiquette of social interaction, to build the confidence to step out in the open, and, if it happens, manage a communication crisis.
Last but not least is the visual part: your social media manager needs to have a good grasp of design, layout and user experience. Same visual will not fit on various channels or not flow properly. If it is too wide, Twitter will crop it, instagram will make the writing so small that is unreadable on devices.
The best social media assets producer will be able to edit video and create engaging, crispy clear instagram stories.
Having in mind all the above, from the thousands upon thousands of social media management offers, you can reduce your search to a few. And you will have a list of features to tick when you are considering purchasing the servic, providing you with trust in your choice.
Trust goes both ways: if you hire either a freelancer or an agency, expect a percentage of the payment in advance.
If you are looking at a social media management retainer for 6 or 12 months, but you are not comfortable committing 50% upfront, try and negotiate a trial month, just to asses how comfortable you are with the working relationship. Offer to pay 100% for the month upfront, which will enforce a mutually trusting relationship.
If you would like a “Social Media management hiring sheet” sent to your inbox, please contact us.
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