Taking your social media strategy seriously is the first step in growing your brand awareness, optimising your brand online and seeing that all-important increase in conversions or leads. Social media marketing has the capacity to convey the essence of your brand and target the very people who are your perfect target customers.
There are plenty of pros and cons to managing your social yourself or working with an agency. By managing your social yourself, you’re likely to need a full-time member of your team dedicated to being an expert in this ever-changing field.
Whereas, a Digital Marketing Agency is able to offer you the expertise of a whole team and is often a cheaper way of managing your social platforms. Some businesses make the mistake of thinking social media is an easy task that doesn’t need much attention – but by neglecting social media, your brand might be missing valuable opportunities to reach new customers.
Your team at a marketing agency will be well-versed in creating paid social media campaigns that use advanced targeting to make sure your adverts are put in front of people who will be interested in your brand.
Another important factor to consider in social media marketing would be where the business is located. The company’s brand is built upon its target audience which changes across different environments and countries. Finding a social media agency based upon the company’s country may be an advantage as they are familiar with what their audience is enticed by. For example, a company based in London could correspondingly hire a social media agency in London.
If you were to manage your own social media, you would be directing these channels with an intimate knowledge of your brand and your objectives. Equally, these are insights that you can bring to an agency to ensure they fully understand your brand’s key pillars.
There’s a misconception that agencies don’t take the time to understand your brand, but the right agency will invest in your business and even feel like part of the team. It’s also worth noting that while an agency expert does not solely consult for your brand, their experience in multiple industries and clients with a range of objectives puts them in a prime place to advise you on your brand. An agency’s top concern is to ensure that their client’s social media is on-brand and effective for specific KPIs.
Social media is an essential part of building your brand – both visually and in terms of your tone of voice. As part of the job, digital marketers have to be experts in combining these two facets of a brand into a cohesive brand identity that is optimised for the target audience. A key part of this branding strategy is understanding your target audience, who they are, what they’re looking for and how they want to receive it.
By segmenting your audience, your agency can narrow your audience to those who have already engaged with your brand as well as those with relevant interests. With plenty of experience running these kinds of campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you know with an agency your money is going to be well spent.
Whether you choose to manage your own social media depends on how well you think you understand your customers, the content they want to see and are capable of regularly creating and updating content. If this sounds achievable, then taking social media into your own hands could be worth a try. But, it’s important to understand the realities of managing successful social media platforms; underestimating the task could lead to a negative brand image or wasted money spent on social media.
An agency team will make sure you’re sharing high-quality content on the right channels at the right time to see the best results. You can tell the agency your budget and goals and then wait for the results! In the meantime, you can focus on other important aspects of your business.
Increasing your social media presence isn’t just about building your online presence; it’s as much about increasing traffic to your website and optimising the journey to conversion. Digital marketing agencies often offer services for website development alongside social media management, so it’s always worth considering multiple services to get the most out of your agency.
Ultimately, the option that’s right for your business depends on your social media needs and the kind of goals you are aiming to achieve. Whichever option you choose, making the most of the enormous reach of social media platforms is an essential step in growing your brand. Increasing brand awareness, creating a community and getting involved with online conversations will bring an abundance of benefits that you can’t afford to miss.
