When to hire a social media marketing professional is a pivotal question that often surfaces as your medium-sized business expands and evolves. The balancing act of meeting customer demands, managing operations, and reaching new audiences in the digital age has become increasingly complex, making the need for a dedicated professional more apparent.
You might have started out entrusting your social media to a tech-savvy relative or friend. But as your business grows, it’s natural to question whether it’s time for an upgrade. You’ve seen other companies flourish on social platforms, and you can’t help but wonder why yours isn’t.
Outgrowing Your Amateur Social Media Professional
Like a pair of worn-out shoes, there comes a time when your business outgrows its initial social media strategy. You’re not alone in this. Many companies reach a point where they need to hire a professional.
Here’s the thing – a strong personal social media presence doesn’t always translate into business acumen. Your cousin who posts fabulous holiday pictures? Sure, she’s an Instagram whizz, but that doesn’t mean she understands the nuances of marketing strategy, planning, and execution. If your current results aren’t up to scratch, it’s a sign you need an expert.
Understanding Your Social Media Goals
Social media marketing isn’t a guessing game. To navigate the landscape effectively, it’s essential to have a clear picture of what you want to achieve. Perhaps your goals encompass increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or amplifying customer engagement. These objectives, however, need to be backed up by hard data and measurable indicators to guide and assess progress. What gets measured gets managed, and in the realm of social media, it’s crucial to track key metrics that align with your defined goals.
- Clicks to Website: This metric directly indicates how effectively your social media efforts translate into website traffic. Every click is a potential lead, and increasing website traffic can lead to higher conversions and sales, making it a vital metric to monitor.
- Reach: Reach defines the total number of unique users who have seen your content. It’s the breadth of your influence and indicates how far your message is spreading. A broader reach can equate to increased brand awareness and visibility.
- Landing Page Views: While clicks to your website indicate interest, landing page views measure the number of times users actually load your page. This is a more accurate measure of genuine interest, as it signifies users who didn’t just click on a link but took the time to let a page load and engage with its content.
- 3-Second Video Views: As video content becomes more popular on social media, tracking video views is increasingly essential. The 3-second video view metric is Facebook’s baseline for a ‘view.’ While it might seem brief, it’s enough to catch viewers’ attention and entice them to watch more.
- Shares: A share is a significant form of engagement as it signifies that users found your content valuable enough to put on their own profile. Shares increase your reach organically, extending your content to networks beyond your immediate followers.
Tracking these specific metrics will not only help you measure your social media performance. Still, it will provide actionable insights to tweak your strategy and ensure you’re on the right path toward achieving your business goals.
The Shift from Organic Reach to Paid Advertising
If you’re still banking solely on organic reach, let me break it to you gently – those days are long gone. Paid advertising has taken center stage on social platforms due to the decline in organic reach. And this isn’t just about throwing money at the problem. You need a strategic approach to ensure every advertising dollar brings value.
It’s a common misconception that hiring a social media expert can magically bring in results without any budget. In reality, if you’re not investing in advertising, you’re missing out on a significant chunk of potential reach.
Social Media Cannot Save a Sinking Ship
It’s essential to understand that social media isn’t a cure-all. Over the years, I’ve witnessed numerous businesses reach out in a state of desperation, teetering on the brink of collapse, believing that a last-ditch ad spend on Facebook will miraculously reverse their fortunes. Unfortunately, this is often far from reality.
If your website still bears the hallmarks of the ’90s, your products lack competitive quality, or your customer service leaves much to be desired, even the most well-orchestrated social media campaign can’t salvage the situation. A poorly planned, thought-out, or underfunded business can’t expect to thrive simply by injecting funds into social media advertising.
The hard truth is that social media cannot make a sick business healthy. It can’t compensate for fundamental issues such as poor planning, inadequate funding, or lack of product-market fit. Nor can it bring sanity to a delusional business owner who refuses to address underlying problems.
Social media is a tool, not a magic wand. It can amplify your strengths and widen your reach but can’t fix structural issues within your business. Therefore, before you invest your hopes and resources into a social media hail Mary, it’s worth taking a step back to assess and address the health of your business as a whole.
Let’s Talk About Your Social Media Strategy
If all this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. I understand the intricacies of social media strategy, execution, and planning. I offer one-hour consultation calls, which you can book through my website. We’ll discuss your current social media strategy, your business goals, and how to align the two.
Knowing when it’s time to hire a social media professional is about understanding the limitations of your current approach, recognizing the need for a strategic plan, and being willing to invest in it. It’s about accepting that social media marketing is a profession in itself, not a hobby just anyone can master.
Yes, navigating the social media maze can be challenging. But remember, you’re not in this alone. As a professional who understands these challenges, I’m here to help. Reach out, and let’s turn your social media platforms into powerful tools that contribute to your business growth.
