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Amol Ghemud Published: August 14, 2018
Summary
What are the pros and cons of building an in-house social media team versus outsourcing to an expert social media agency? We unveil the advantages of in-house teams, such as a better understanding of the business and cost savings, and the benefits of outsourcing, including expertise and efficiency.
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Every part of our lives is documented on social media today. Everyone has a presence, an online persona and anyone with a smartphone are doing their best to ensure that they are visible in the digital world. For start-ups, it is almost an unsaid rule that you must have a social media presence that is in line with the work you do.
Don’t consider yourself at a disadvantage if you are just beginning in the business field. Social media provides an equal and open ground to all and you can make the most of it.
Want to make a well-informed decision before partnering up with an agency?
Advantages of Using Social Media for Businesses
A majority of the youth and working class are online perpetually, and most of the time they’re on social networks. That means you have ample access to them, to catch their attention, promote your product or service and get customers.
Hiring the services of a social media advertising agency should do the trick if you are occupied with other business details. While using a 360-degree approach is important it is equally important to know how to use certain social media platforms to your advantage.
Brand Awareness and Memorability
Social Media is the best way to ensure that your brand or product is seen by the huge population online. With the help of social media, your business would also score higher in search engine rankings.
Customer Relations and Service
The best way to encourage good customer care and satisfaction is not by being held up on customer service lines. Nowadays, people find the quickest way to convey their feedback, be it Flipkart, Amazon or Myntra, is through Facebook and Twitter where they receive quick replies and their issues get sorted within a day or less than that.
It is advisable for small businesses to use social media to attract potential customers and keep their present ones engaged.
Brand Loyalty
Better visibility and better customer relations lead to increased brand loyalty which means better business. By optimizing your use of social media, through images, clips, videos, write-ups you can create a human persona for your brand/product/service. The better the impression you create on your customer, the higher is the likelihood for them to use your service or even recommend you to someone else which leads to higher conversion rates.
There are numerous factors to keep in mind while deciding whether to train your in-house team or to employ social media marketing agency services. Here are some of the pros of having an in-house social media marketing team-In-house social media marketing
Pros of In-house social media marketing
Nobody Knows Your Business Like You Do
You and your team understand the values that your business represents more than anyone else. No matter how clear your aim, vision, and mission are, it is your team that lives and embodies those values and can best express their own experiences. Having an in-house team handle your social media marketing also allows them to take more ownership of the process. Your team has deeper instincts about the culture, image, and brand of the business and can portray it better.
Saves Time and Money
When you outsource your social media marketing to a social media content agency a lot of time gets spent over mediators and client servicing where your aim and requirements have to be explained to a third party who has no what your organization is about. To an external agency you are just another client, but to your team, you are THE client. You can save a lot of time on communications and confusion.
Social media agencies might also be a bit too expensive if you are a young start-up looking to carve a niche in the industry. Having an in-house team also gives more access to content thus saving time and allowing the team to post updates on social media in real time.
Level of Control and Independence
It is advisable for a small business to have in-house social media marketing as it allows them a certain level of control over the process while maintaining their independent ways of working.
You can ask for changes from your team until you are satisfied with the result without receiving flak from them, which would happen with an external agency. The work is also done with more speed and efficiency by an in-house team.
Cons of In-house social media marketing
This being said it is also important to take into consideration the cons of having an in-house social media marketing team.
No Unbiased Opinion
Sometimes ideas need feedback and criticism from an outside perspective which is unbiased and unprejudiced. Having an in-house team working on social media optimization sometimes leads to tunnel vision where the members are so driven by company values and emotions that they are unable to see any shortcomings beforehand. One such example is a recent ad by Pepsi starring Kendall Jenner.
Made by an in-house team, the ad was called out for being ‘tone-deaf’ and ‘out of touch’ upon which they had to pull back the ad and mend relationships with customers.
More Expensive on Resources
Having an in-house team working on your company’s social media marketing can sometimes turn out to be more expensive with regard to resources like time and money. It is both time-consuming as well as expensive to train your employees and help them recreate and develop the talents and skills that a social media agency has bountifully. It is irrational from a management point of view to spend precious resources on marketing.
Outsourcing to Social Media Agency
Trying to figure out whether to trust your social media with an agency or an in-house team is tough. No amount of wracking your brains can give you an answer which experience can.
However, all start-ups cannot afford the liberty of experimentation. We will help you out with some of the pros and cons of outsourcing to a social media advertising agency.
Pros of Outsourced Social Media Marketing
Expertise
One of the biggest advantages of social media agency services is the level of skill and expertise they come with. They are aware and adept at using the latest tools in magnifying the power of social media to the company’s advantage. Social media agencies for small businesses are knowledgeable about the ways of using different platforms on social media and maximizing their effect. Using social media agency services.
Experienced
Due to working with numerous clients and projects, experts from social media optimization agencies understand the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of social media. They are familiar with the best practices to be used on social media to engage users and keep updating their knowledge through experience.
Outside Perspective
Like I mentioned earlier, it is immensely valuable to have an outsider’s unbiased perspective that can help mould a social media campaign in the desired direction. The social media agency can give honest feedback on whether certain practices work or not.
Saves Time and Money
Employing the services of a social media content agency can save a lot of time and money since they are skilled in their fields, have the technical know-how and can figure out the best way to make your company visible in the digital space.
Full-time Management of Social Media
Instead of having just a few employees trying to find time to work on your social media, it is better to engage an agency that can work full time on effectively enhancing your image on all social media. They can ensure good customer relations and satisfactions aiding in attracting new customers.
Cons of Outsourced Social Media Marketing
Divided Attention
Since social media advertising agencies may be employed by multiple companies at once, it is difficult to get their undivided attention on your social media campaign. Due to numerous projects, it is also possible that your work may be delayed on helping up while they work on different brands and meet another organization’s deadlines.
Incomplete Understanding of Brand Culture
Being an external agency, though they might be experts in their field and skilled in using the latest technology, they do not know and understand your business image and culture like your own employees do and hence, there lies a small chance of being portrayed wrongly on social media.
Cost
There is no easy way of saying this. Social media agencies are expensive and if you want to avail of their services, you have to meet the cost.
It’s always better to strategize your startup’s social media marketing to get unbelivable results
Conclusion
As a start-up, it is better to outsource your social media marketing to a social media optimization agency, in the beginning, to help get your business up and running.
It will help you attract and engage customers thus creating a loyalty. Once a few systems are in place and business starts running smoothly it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invest in training your own employees on how to use social media effectively to promote the company.
FAQ
1. What is the function of a social media team?
A social media team’s primary responsibility, whether an external firm or an internal team, is to expand the company by strategically producing content, running advertisements, and interacting with the target market on various social media platforms.
2. How do I start a social media team?
Five Stages to Creating an all-star social media team
Examine your present circumstance.
Create social media objectives.
Select your team’s number.
Recognize the essential responsibilities.
Select your team’s organizational framework.
3. Who do you need on your social media team?
A-Team: The critical participants in social media promotion
The boss of social media.
The author of the material.
The analyst of social statistics.
The neighbourhood coordinator.
The expert in paid advertising.
Maintain balance on your squad.
4. What is the price of hiring a social media team?
There is no precise average due to the variety of services available. The monthly price for essential social media services can be as low as $299 or as high as $15,000 for complete company packages. Yes, that is a genuinely fantastic variety. Your requirements will determine the best agency for you and how much it will cost to hire a social media marketing team.
5. What are the five features of social media?
Here are a few typical social media characteristics businesses use to interact with their target market.
Virality and the spreading of content.
Lead generation. – Sales and progress. – Audience engagement.
Reporting and analytics.
Communication and customer service.
Collaborative elements.
Be aware of your viewers.
Watch Whether In-House or Outsourced Social Media Works Better For You
For Curious Minds
A robust social media presence significantly boosts your brand's visibility and memorability, which in turn positively impacts search engine rankings. By creating a consistent and engaging online persona, you signal to search engines that your brand is active and relevant.
The key is to use social media as a tool for creating a human connection and improving customer relations. For example, brands like Flipkart and Amazon use platforms like Facebook and Twitter for rapid customer service, often resolving issues in less than a day. This builds trust and loyalty. To enhance your brand's digital footprint, focus on these areas:
Consistent Content: Regularly post high-quality images, videos, and articles that reflect your brand's values and speak to your target audience.
Engagement: Actively respond to comments, messages, and reviews to show you value customer feedback and are attentive to their needs.
Platform Optimization: Understand how to use each platform to its full potential to maximize reach and effect, from visual storytelling on Instagram to professional networking on LinkedIn.
By optimizing your social media use, you not only improve customer satisfaction but also drive higher conversion rates as loyal customers recommend your services. Discover how a well-planned strategy can transform your online visibility.
Creating a human persona for your brand is critical for small businesses because it transforms your company from a faceless entity into a relatable presence that customers can connect with on a personal level. This connection is the foundation of brand loyalty and encourages higher conversion rates through word-of-mouth recommendations.
Your team understands the business's values better than anyone and can authentically express that culture. This deep instinct about your brand's image is difficult for an external party to replicate. A humanized brand persona can be developed through:
Authentic Storytelling: Share behind-the-scenes content, employee stories, and the mission behind your products or services.
Consistent Voice and Tone: Develop a unique communication style that resonates with your target audience, whether it is witty, informative, or empathetic.
Interactive Content: Use polls, quizzes, and live videos to engage your audience in a two-way conversation, making them feel like part of a community.
Building this persona fosters trust and makes customers more likely to choose and recommend your services. Learn more about how to craft an authentic brand voice that resonates with your audience.
A social media team's primary function is to strategically expand the business by integrating its activities with core growth objectives, not just posting content. This involves using platforms to actively generate leads, nurture potential customers, and directly contribute to sales and overall progress.
An effective team achieves this by transforming social media from a simple broadcast channel into a powerful business tool. Their responsibilities should align with specific outcomes. Key strategic functions include:
Lead Generation: Using targeted ads, gated content, and compelling calls-to-action to capture information from potential customers.
Audience Engagement: Building a community around your brand to foster loyalty and turn followers into advocates.
Reporting and Analytics: Tracking key metrics to measure return on investment, understand audience behavior, and refine the marketing strategy for better results.
Customer Service: Providing quick and effective support, which enhances brand reputation and customer satisfaction.
By focusing on these areas, your social media efforts become a measurable driver of business growth. Exploring these functions further can reveal how to build a team that delivers tangible results.
When evaluating whether to build an in-house team or hire an agency, you must weigh the value of deep cultural alignment against the immediate benefits of specialized expertise. An in-house team lives your brand's values, ensuring authentic communication, but an agency provides instant access to advanced tools and proven strategies without the ramp-up time.
The right choice depends on your priorities: control and cultural immersion versus speed and technical proficiency. Consider these factors:
Brand Understanding: Your internal team possesses unparalleled knowledge of your company's culture and mission, which is difficult for any third party to fully grasp.
Expertise and Tools: Agencies are adept at using the latest marketing tools and are experienced with best practices across various industries and platforms.
Cost and Resources: An in-house team requires significant investment in training and salaries, while an agency's costs can be high but predictable. Agency fees can range from $299 to over $15,000 per month.
Perspective: An agency offers an unbiased, external viewpoint that can identify weaknesses an internal team might overlook due to tunnel vision.
Ultimately, you must decide which model best aligns with your startup's current resources and long-term growth objectives. A deeper look into these trade-offs can clarify your path forward.
While outsourcing to a social media agency seems expensive upfront, maintaining an in-house team can often be more costly when you account for all resource requirements. The direct cost of an agency is clear, but an internal team incurs hidden expenses like salaries, benefits, continuous training, and subscriptions to essential marketing tools.
Training employees to match the skills of agency experts is both time-consuming and expensive. From a management perspective, allocating precious resources to developing marketing skills internally can be an irrational use of capital for a young company. Here is a comparison of resource allocation:
In-House Team: Requires ongoing investment in employee salaries, benefits, professional development, and software licenses. It also demands significant management time for oversight and strategy.
Outsourced Agency: You pay a fixed fee for access to a full team of specialists, including content creators, analysts, and ad experts, along with their professional tools. This simplifies budgeting and eliminates hidden costs.
For many startups, outsourcing saves both time and money by providing immediate expertise without the long-term overhead. Understanding the full cost of each option is crucial for making an informed decision.
The controversial Pepsi ad, created by an in-house team, serves as a powerful example of how a lack of external perspective can lead to significant brand damage. The team was likely so immersed in the company's values and marketing goals that they failed to see how the ad would be perceived as 'tone-deaf' and 'out of touch' by the public.
This 'tunnel vision' occurs when a team is too close to a project and loses objectivity. An unbiased, outside perspective is immensely valuable because it provides honest feedback and can spot potential issues before they escalate. An external agency can help prevent such mistakes by:
Offering Unprejudiced Feedback: Agencies are not driven by the same internal emotions or company politics, allowing them to provide candid criticism on whether a campaign concept works.
Bringing Diverse Experience: Having worked with numerous clients, agencies understand the 'Do’s' and 'Don’ts' of public perception and can anticipate negative reactions.
Focusing on Market Reality: Their success depends on delivering results, so they are incentivized to challenge ideas that are misaligned with public sentiment.
This incident highlights why a check and balance from an external partner can be a critical safeguard for a brand's reputation. Exploring the dynamic between internal passion and external objectivity can strengthen your marketing approach.
Startups can learn a crucial lesson from how giants like Flipkart, Amazon, and Myntra leverage social media for customer service: responsiveness builds loyalty. These companies treat platforms like Facebook and Twitter as frontline support channels, enabling customers to bypass long service lines and receive quick replies, often resolving issues in a day or less.
This strategy transforms a potential negative experience into a positive, public display of customer care. By engaging directly and transparently, you demonstrate that you value your customers' time and feedback. To implement a similar approach, startups should:
Monitor Mentions Actively: Use social listening tools to track brand mentions and customer complaints in real time.
Establish a Rapid Response Protocol: Empower your team to respond to inquiries and issues quickly, aiming to provide solutions publicly whenever appropriate.
Maintain a Helpful and Empathetic Tone: Address concerns with a human touch, showing that you understand the customer's frustration and are committed to helping.
Adopting this model not only improves customer satisfaction but also attracts new business by showcasing your commitment to service. Further analysis of these strategies can reveal deeper insights into building a customer-centric brand.
The most effective social media strategies for improving customer relations focus on creating a two-way dialogue rather than just broadcasting marketing messages. Better customer relations directly fuel higher conversion rates because satisfied and engaged customers are more likely to become repeat buyers and recommend your brand to others.
Optimizing your social media use with engaging content and responsive communication creates a loyal community around your brand. Proven strategies to achieve this include:
Proactive Customer Service: Use social platforms as a primary channel for customer support, as seen with companies like Myntra and Amazon, to provide quick and visible resolutions.
Engaging Content Mix: Share a variety of content, including images, clips, videos, and informative write-ups, to keep your audience interested and connected.
Humanizing Your Brand: Create a relatable brand persona that shares values with your customers, making them feel a personal connection to your business.
By fostering better visibility and stronger relationships, you build brand loyalty, which is a direct driver of better business and increased conversions. A closer look at these tactics can help you craft a more effective engagement plan.
Building an effective internal social media team requires a structured approach that aligns with your business goals from the very beginning. Instead of hiring without a clear plan, you should follow a strategic process to ensure your team has the right skills and structure to succeed.
This methodical approach ensures that your social media efforts are purposeful and measurable. Here is a five-stage plan to create your team:
Examine your present circumstance: Audit your current social media presence, resources, and performance to identify gaps and opportunities.
Create social media objectives: Define clear, measurable goals, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or improving customer engagement.
Select your team's number: Determine the size of the team based on your objectives and budget, starting small and scaling as needed.
Recognize the essential responsibilities: Assign key roles, such as a content creator, a community manager, an analyst, and a paid ads specialist.
Select your team's organizational framework: Decide on a reporting structure and workflow that ensures efficiency and clear communication.
Following this framework helps you build a team that is equipped to drive real business results. Delving into the specifics of each role can further refine your team-building strategy.
To run a comprehensive social media strategy, you need a balanced team where each member has a distinct and critical responsibility. Covering all key functions ensures that no aspect of your online presence, from content creation to data analysis, is overlooked.
Assembling this 'A-Team' allows you to manage your social media promotion with expertise across the board. The five essential roles to include are:
The Boss of Social Media (Manager): This person leads the strategy, oversees the team, and ensures all activities align with business objectives.
The Author of the Material (Content Creator): Responsible for creating compelling and brand-aligned content, including text, images, and videos.
The Analyst of Social Statistics (Data Analyst): Tracks performance metrics, analyzes data to find insights, and provides reports to guide strategy.
The Neighbourhood Coordinator (Community Manager): Engages with the audience, responds to comments, and builds a loyal community around your brand.
The Expert in Paid Advertising (Ads Specialist): Manages and optimizes paid social media campaigns to reach a wider audience and drive conversions.
Ensuring you have these key participants in place is fundamental to achieving your social media goals. Understanding how these roles interact is the next step to building a high-performing team.
For a new startup, the most effective long-term strategy often involves an evolutionary approach to social media management. It is highly advisable to begin by outsourcing to a social media optimization agency to establish an initial market presence and attract your first customers.
This initial phase allows you to leverage expert skills without a large upfront investment in hiring and training. As your business gains traction and revenue becomes more stable, you can then transition to building an internal team. This phased strategy unfolds as follows:
Phase 1 (Launch): Partner with an agency to get your business up and running. They can quickly build brand awareness, engage customers, and establish a professional digital footprint.
Phase 2 (Growth): Once systems are in place and business is running smoothly, begin investing in training your own employees on effective social media use. You can start by hiring a social media manager to work alongside the agency.
Phase 3 (Maturity): Gradually bring all social media functions in-house. Your team, now deeply embedded in the company culture, can take full ownership and drive the strategy forward with authentic brand knowledge.
This approach allows you to balance cost, expertise, and brand control at different stages of your company's life cycle. Considering this path helps you plan for sustainable growth.
To maintain a competitive edge, businesses must move beyond basic posting and master the dynamic features that social media platforms offer. Understanding and strategically using features like content virality, lead generation, and analytics is essential for interacting with your target market effectively.
Mastery of these tools allows you to create a more sophisticated and results-driven social media presence. Here are some of the most critical features to focus on:
Virality and Content Spreading: Learn what makes content shareable and create posts that have the potential to reach an audience far beyond your existing followers.
Lead Generation: Implement features designed to capture customer information directly within the platform, such as lead forms in ads.
Reporting and Analytics: Regularly dive into platform analytics to understand audience demographics, content performance, and campaign ROI, using these insights to refine your strategy.
Collaborative Elements: Use features like co-branded posts, influencer collaborations, and user-generated content campaigns to expand your reach and build social proof.
By staying aware of these features and how viewers interact with them, you can adapt your strategy to foster deeper engagement and drive business growth. Exploring these in more detail will prepare you for the future of social marketing.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
