It’s the age old business conundrum: should you keep a job in-house or should you hire an outside company?
[For the sake of this post let’s keep it simple and keep it focused on social media management.]
If you’re an entrepreneur of any sort you are completely ready for this argument. If you’re in management of any sort, you have more than likely had this discussion with your team.
In fact, you’ve probably been wrestling with this situation for some time now and you’re on the fence about whether or not you should take the plunge. So let’s look at what each side offers:
You want someone to keep your social media channels humming with all the latest good news, content and cute kitten photos your clients and consumers can handle. Perfect!
Should be simple enough, and this can’t possible cost that much, right? Not to mention the taxes, benefits and other expenditures that come with having a new hire.
Plus, who’s going to manage this person? Your plate is already full and no one else really knows anything about social media other than the fact that the company needs it.
Also, is this new hire going to be well versed in the social channels that we need, meaning, the social channels that are clients are using?
This is generally an entry level position, too. What happens when this person wants to move on? Do we start this process all over again?
Ok, so maybe hiring someone is out of the question. The budgets really can’t take this type of expense right now. Let’s see about just throwing this on someone else’s plate.
What about John? He’s 30-ish and from what I can tell he doesn’t have that much to do (that I can tell from my 30 second conversations with him in the morning). He said he’s in a Facebook Group for rock climbers too. Or a rock band. Or he likes rocks. Something like that. But it doesn’t matter, he’s on Facebook and that’s perfect!
I’m not sure if he knows anything about Instagram or Twitter or YouTube or TikTok or Musical.ly or LinkedIn or Yelp or Snapchat or Tumblr or Pinterest or what’s the other one that your wife uses? Tinder? Is our business on Tinder? Make a note, check that in the morning.
But I’m positive that they’re all the same. John knows Facebook so he’s gotta be a whiz at the others.
What was that ad you saw on your Facebook timeline the other day? Something about content creation.
Something about creating content that speaks to your target consumer.
Sounds easy enough and shouldn’t take any time since my kids do it on their phones all the time. John will absolutely have time to run all of our channels and do the daily tasks he already has.
For free.
Oh yeah, that’s right, we don’t have any money in the budget for raises. Plus, if we bump his pay then we definitely need to bump Shelly’s pay because she’s working her tail off. Oh, and if we bump Shelly up then she’s absolutely going to tell Kacie who’s been asking for a raise for six months now.
If you’ve already prepared for these questions and have a healthy budget to add another employee to your roster, that’s great! Hire the best you can because although social media is still thought of as a “millennial” thing, it’s actually older than most of the young people it is suppose to represent.
And it’s not going away!
Whew. That can be exhausting.
In all fairness, this is where you’d expect the guy writing the post on the marketing company’s blog to tell you about how you’re so much better off hiring out.
While most of the time it can be true, I’ll be honest with you:
Hiring a marketing company isn’t always the best option. You’ve got to be able to give up a certain amount of money and a certain amount of control.
Those are two scary things to give up in the business world: money and control.
Yes, social media management costs money because it takes time to curate the right content. It takes time to set up post schedules and do research.
And the control part? While you do have creative meetings and you will get monthly updates on your social media campaigns, you still have to let someone else handle these details. Yes, you can pick up the phone and find out about your social content calendar listings any time you want, but it’s not the same as walking 50 feet down a hallway and popping your head in to ask the question.
Let’s approach each hesitation individually.
Social Media Management isn’t incredibly expensive for small to medium size companies. I’ve seen it range from $500 to $3,500 depending on the size of the business and number of social accounts that need to be managed. For larger companies, you might need a complete team making more complex campaigns and strategies, so you’ll a healthier marketing budget.
Small businesses are hesitant to add bills of any kind, we’re all too aware of that. But marketing, and that’s what social media management is grouped under, is an investment in your company. Think about the brochures your company may have printed or the pop-up banners used at your trade shows. That’s marketing… that’s investing in your company.
Social media is harder to quantify because it isn’t tangible to most business owners. How much is a “like” on Facebook worth? What is the value or a “Re-tweet” on Twitter? Most owners would say nothing or next to nothing, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong.
What we’re really talking about here is time.
Investing in your time and attention away from this certain aspect to focus it in another direction.
If you’re an entrepreneur you’re already working 60+ hours a week or more. Do you really want to throw another 20+ hours a week on top of that?
Think of it like this: when you go to a restaurant, you’re paying a small up charge on the food, but the main cost comes from having someone cook it for you and serve it to you and clean up afterwards.
Eating at home is cheaper, but not always realistic in today’s world.
Add in the fact that on top of this business, you may have a family or you may want a social life. Spending time doing it yourself eats into all of this.
You want to do everything, but let’s face it, you can’t.
But it’s scary giving up money and control. We understand that completely.
If you take the time to really think your way around the issues, you’ll find that what you’re gaining by hiring a company like Full Metal Worldwide, is irreplaceable time.
You’ve got to be willing to take that step for yourself and for your company first though.
When you’re ready, you’ll see the benefits far outweigh the cost.