As mentioned before, social media is an integral part of most marketers’ strategies these days. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t in past years, but now it seems like every business has their own profile on at least one platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
As companies grow they often outgrow their internal marketing teams, so they turn to outside agencies for help. An agency can easily add value to your company by helping you develop your online presence and offering professional services such as managing accounts, posting content, responding to comments, etc.
But what about all those other platforms like Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google Plus? Or even blogs? If you want to keep up with the trends in modern day marketing, then you will need to be familiar with them!
That’s why this article will talk about how to best manage social media for your business. We will go over some basic guidelines and tips, and maybe even a few tools to improve your game.
What is a social media agency
A marketing agency is an organization that provides professional services to their clients such as advertising, public relations, digital marketing, etc. They are usually hired by a company or individual to promote their product or service through online channels.
Agency’s pros typically offer value-added services such as SEO (search engine optimization), SMO (social media optimization), SEM (pay per click advertisement), influencer marketing, content creation, and so on. These services can be cost-effective alternatives to doing it yourself and are often needed for any type of significant investment.
By having someone with expertise in this field manage your social media presence, engagement, and outreach, you save time! This allows you to focus more on growing your business.
Marketing and social media go hand in hand
As discussed earlier, marketing is the process of getting people to trust you enough to spend money on your products or services. With the explosion of online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, it’s easy to start thinking that all of this content should be done by professionals with big budget marketing agencies.
That’s not always the case! You can launch a successful business using only basic tools for marketing and socializing. In fact, many small businesses have leveraged these power tools to grow large.
If you’re looking to take your marketing game up a notch, then read on to learn some helpful tips and tricks about agency level social media strategies. We’ll talk about what types of agencies use social media effectively, how much control you need after posting, and more.
Benefits of a marketing agency
As we have discussed, brands that manage their own social media accounts are leaving something behind in the dust, but how to pick your best option depends on what you want from your social media marketing experience.
As you can probably tell, there is no one right way to run a business’s social media accounts. In fact, some small businesses that try to handle their own social media management end up producing more negative than positive results.
That being said, it is very important for entrepreneurs to take control of their online presence if they want to grow their business.
Having your own set of social media tools will help you spread word about your company, increase engagement, connect with potential clients and customers, and create solid relationships with followers.
But before you start hiring people to do it for you, make sure to check out all of the options available to you. There are many great marketing agencies out there that offer services like these as well as additional perks, such as free advertising or sponsored products.
By investing in their services, you will still get good quality work while also supporting them by buying their product or service.
Challenges of a marketing agency
As mentioned before, marketing agencies are not necessarily your run-of-the-mill business entities. They can pose some significant challenges when it comes to keeping up with social media trends and strategies.
As professionals in their field, they may lack the motivation to update his or her skills due to perfectionism. It is very possible that an older professional who has been doing things a certain way for years no longer feels comfortable changing what he/she knows is working.
Another challenge that most large agencies face is having enough resources to effectively spread out across all areas of social media.
Agencies are usually paid per hour so there is always a need to find time within those hours to do something productive. This could be limiting in terms of how active you will see them being on different platforms.
They also earn fees off of creating content so ensuring adequate time is spent editing, writing, and filming material is important.
How to choose a marketing agency
When it comes down to it, your business will not survive without sales, so choosing an agency that can help you grow is vital. But how do you know if an agency is the right one for you? Here are some tips to consider!
First, make sure they have at least a year of solid experience under their belt. The more experienced people they’ve worked with, the better. It is very common to find agencies that claim they have vast knowledge about social media, but when you look closer, many don’t.
You want to be confident in their ability to create effective strategies that move the needle for your company. An inexperienced or even poorly trained consultant could cost you money by creating ineffective campaigns or ones that backfire.
Make sure their success is clear from past clients and conversations, as well as looking at reviews. People who say bad things probably didn’t enjoy the service enough to leave a review, but those that did may give you some insight into what you need to look for.
It’s also important to ask around about the agency. Are others happy with them? If so then great, keep doing what you’re doing! Or does everyone agree that they’re overpriced and/or unreliable? You might learn something here too.
Social media sites to market a product on
With the explosion of social networking websites, it is easy to get overwhelmed. There are just so many!
That’s why most businesses don’t devote much time to marketing through social channels– they feel like they’re wasting their money because there aren’t clear winners that bring in the highest revenue.
But you can’t compare apples to oranges! Each site has its own unique audience and culture which makes them perfect for different types of products and services.
Social media sites to join
Starting from the very beginning, you will want to pick which social media platforms are going to be important for your business. There are many ways to choose these, but one of the most common is determined by what types of content your company produces and how popular those products or services are.
For example, if your product or service is used to plan trips, then choosing a site that allows users to create trip itineraries would make sense.
By doing this at the start, you can begin creating accounts and marketing on these sites without too much hassle! And, more importantly, you have some basics under your belt now.
Another good way to find out where your potential customers hang out online is to do a quick Google search and see what comes up. For example, if your company sells yoga pants, you could do a search like “best places to buy yoga pants online.” Then, add in your target market’s name and see who pops up as a result.
Creating a social media marketing strategy
When it comes to creating a social media marketing strategy, there are two main things you must consider. What types of content do you want to produce and where will your audience be located?
You should think about how your business fits into the community and what people are talking about. Are there any trends that show which topics get popular online? By staying up-to-date on these trends, you can use this information to create content that is focused around those themes!
By producing engaging, interesting content, your followers will grow and share your posts with others.