Outsourcing Social Media?
Posted May 13th, 2009 by Mike Rynchek
Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
Today I was asked to list out a few of the top reasons why social media should be outsourced versus managed internally. Since it was about the third time this week the question came up, I decided to address it in today’s blog post. This post speaks directly to the question of “should corporations participate in brand/product monitoring through social media channels? If so what are the benefits of outsourcing this work? Keep in mind, the goal of brand monitoring is to understand consumer trends both positive and negative as it relates to a specific product or service.
1. Unbiased Opinion – Outsourcing provides a perspective that cannot be created internally. Our data and analysis are not clouded by corporate-underpants, bias or politics. We simply gather the data, analyze it and tell the client what we think they should do with it.
2. Volume & Cost – As we all know, social media is unlike any other media in the respect that new data in the form of posts, videos and messages are always being created. You need eyeballs on it constantly. The cost associated with hiring the number of bodies required internally is generally much higher than simply outsourcing.
3. Time – Being able to identify the correct places to monitor is truly a skill in itself. The time it takes to gather and analyze the volume of information that is being obtained and then convert into action is usually too stifling for any company to take on in house. The analysis is really the value add that we provide for our clients. For example, we learned through social media brand monitoring that being called a “diabetic” is actually considered a derogatory term by many people, and they would prefer to be called “people with diabetes.” This is a major piece of information that doesn’t necessarily always come through in focus groups and common customer interactions. Other internal projects do not stand in the way of making sure this data is collected and analyzed.
4. Managing Engagement – Finally, unlike any other marketing tactic not responding to consumer engagement hurts and discredits the brand. If you decide to engage with an audience via social media, you need to be prepared to constantly be providing quality information, answering questions and engaging with new followers and users.
5. Strategy – What we bring to the table is very much unlike anything you could hire internally or outsource to one our competitors. For example; I recently presented X Factor to Fox and the CW and they were thrilled. They have heard the ‘we can get you on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace’ pitch a million times. What they have not heard (until yesterday) was a solid business strategy to make these vehicles work together while incorporating it into their business model, and tracking, quantifying and monetizing every step along the way. I probably should have put this first.
6. Best Practice Management – The rules of marketing are drastically changing and social media marketing is leading the shift. Questions such as how many messages are optimal depend on several factors such as: engagement of the audience, quality of the content or message or objective of the social media campaign. Most firms have found that it is much more cost effective to rely on the best practice knowledge of the social media firm rather than managing best practices internally.
Now you are probably thinking to yourself; that’s great but what is the cost associated with hiring an external vendor. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. In most cases you will find social media vendors are willing to be hired on a retainer or project basis for a reasonable fee, depending on the object.
To recap my recommended first step is to identify what your firm hopes to achieve through social media marketing, establish goals and objectives, and then consult a reputable vendor to help satisfy your objectives. Keep in mind the above and you are on the right path to a successful social media marketing campaign.
Tags: Brand Monitoring, Social Media
2 Responses to “Outsourcing Social Media?”
May 13th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Thanks for this post, Mike. I almost want to outsource my own use of social media.
I agree the strategy should be at the top because I feel that is where corporations most often fail. They say “let’s do it because we need it,” but they don’t know why they need it or what to do with it. It’s a jump-in mentality because they feel behind.
Strategy comes with experience and focus, and corporations simply do not have the time or manpower to dedicate either to an area in which they are already slipping further behind.
-Scott
May 13th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Thanks for the comment Scott.
I agree managing my own social media accounts which is why it is important to have a team like (shout out) the Spyder Trap gang. Strategy is everything in social media and being nimble to your strategy is key. I was in a social media pitch yesterday describing how to quantify and monetize social media and the client was so thrilled because our strategy actually had a solid business purpose. No different from any other marketing channel social media needs a solid strategy complete with goals, objectives and benchmarks to measure against.
Mike
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