Why you should use a social media manager

To most people, social media can just be a fun way of keeping in touch with friends and family abroad, showing off your lunch to the world, or keeping up to date with what friends from school are doing without having to actually talk to them.

But for business owners, social media is a lifeline. Many business owners don’t realise the importance of using social media and how it can benefit their business. It’s easy just to post a few photos or graphics right? No big deal.

So why would you go to the effort and expense of hiring a social media manager?

Before we dive in, let’s consider why a business needs social media, and what that actually entails:

Facebook alone has over 2.5 billion users every month (yes, billion), and any one of these people could be a potential customer for your business unless your business doesn’t have a Facebook page of course.

A business not having a social media presence in 2021 would be like a shop not having a window in 1921, or even now… It’s so important to give potential customers a digital platform to browse your services, and where you can connect with them on a personal level, and everything happens in real-time. 

You might be thinking - but my business has a website so we’re already online, that’ll do. Well...

You know that feeling you get when you tag a brand or celebrity in your Instagram story or post and they like or share it? Now imagine your potential customers having the same experience with your business's social media accounts and feeling a genuine connection with your business - they’re far more likely to want to pay for your services or products or tell their friends about you.

You don’t get this same personal relationship with website traffic, because traffic just passes through, and there’s a reason a social media following is referred to as an audience, rather than traffic.

Now that you’re committed to giving your business a social media presence, let’s look at some of the benefits of hiring a Social Media Manager (or SMM) instead of doing it all by yourself, sometimes with no experience...

Time

The most obvious benefit of using an SMM is that they save you a ton of time. Rather than you spending several hours a day thinking of what to post, trying to create graphics to match your branding, posting on several different platforms, and communicating with your audience, a social media expert does all of this for you - phew! The saying goes that Time is Money and there’s every chance that the money you spend on an SMM would be lost in the hours you spend trying to do it all yourself, plus you’ll be left with a headache you could have avoided.

Branding

You’re probably a great business owner, you’re innovative, determined and passionate about your industry - but may not have the first clue about branding. That’s ok, many people don’t. But the fact is that branding your business properly and consistently across all marketing channels is absolutely vital - like impacting on its chances of success vital. Social media is a part of this and must be on-brand. From your profile picture, your about/bio in your own voice, to the colours, fonts and imagery used.

Target Audience

Who? If you know a bit about marketing you may have heard this term before. Your target audience are the people who you’re trying to sell to; the people your business benefits and solves problems for. Being able to identify them, know how to reach them and what they want and need is easier said than done and often takes a fair amount of research, continuously. It’s said that if you’re talking to everyone, then you’re talking to no one - so identifying your niche’s audience and when they are online is essential and exactly how an SMM can make your life easier, and your business more profitable.

Content Creation

The social media industry is unforgiving. If what you’re posting isn’t what your target audience want to see, then your content won’t get much engagement and eventually the dreaded algorithms will start favouring other accounts which viewers find more interesting, leaving you by the wayside. Making sure your content is a healthy mix of entertaining, educational and also sells your products/services is a lot of work. An SMM knows how to keep up with industry trends and makes marketing on social media way less stressful.

Increased Engagement

A social media manager is an expert in their industry, which sadly sometimes gets put to the bottom of the to-do list! They know exactly how to drive the most traffic to your site and how to get you the most amount of sales possible. Even if you do have the time and energy to give to your business's social media accounts, it takes years to gain the knowledge and experience you need to effectively optimise a social media platform.

Depending on your particular niche and your personal situation, some of these points are likely more prominent than others, and there will undoubtedly be even more reasons why you and your business would benefit from a social media manager. 

I know exactly what you’re thinking - I’ll do some research and manage my business’s social media by myself to save money, how hard can it be? Sure, you can do it by yourself, but there’s a fairly high chance that if you’re running a business, you’re already maxed out in terms of time, energy and expertise. After all, being a business owner is a major juggling act, why add to this?

I appreciate you might be reluctant to splash out on another monthly expense, and social media might not seem like the most important element of marketing a business, but the truth is your time is invaluable and you really can’t do without it these days.

Unless you’re an octopus who doesn’t need sleep, it’s time to hire yourself a social media manager and give your business the attention and publicity it deserves - after all, you’ve come this far!

If you would like any further advice or are interested in having a chat over a cuppa, why not get in touch it's on me.