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.

Yesterday, AdAge wrote about Kraft ‘s DiGiorno brand is launching a flatbread pizza line, and they are planning on using Twitter to do so. DiGiorno will be searching for Twitter users known as “influencers,” then delivering food to tweetups that are attended by people they deem as influencers.

This is not the first time that a product has been used with social media. Some of you may remember when Ford gave away 100 cars for a few months to “influencers” with the hope that positive buzz would spread throughout the social media world and turn into revenue. What real return did Ford get from that campaign?

There are other questions to consider here:

1) What return is expected from the twitter part of their campaign? I have attended a few tweetups; the average attendance in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is around 40 twitter users. With the reach that Kraft and DiGiorno have, it is possible that more people would show up knowing food was provided. Even if 100 people show up to a tweetup, when does the idea show the ROI Kraft is looking for?

2) DiGiorno’s tagline: ‘It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno’. The whole point of the Twitter campaign is to deliver pizza to a tweetup. Does this go against their philosophy and how they have positioned their product?

3) How is Kraft determining who is an influencer? Kraft has hired Minneapolis-based agency Weber Shandwick to ‘reach out to the influential Twitter users who are willing to host tweetups in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Tom Moe, director of marketing for the DiGiorno brand, when talking about what makes an influential twitter user: “(that) is something we’re in the process of working out with the folks at Weber.” Am I considered an influential person on twitter because I have near 500 followers? DiGiorno and Weber Shandwick have an interesting task here.

Will the Twitter aspect of their campaign work? If this shows a high level of success, will other companies follow suit, sponsoring tweetups and other social media networking events?

A lot of people have asked me, “Should my company start a blog?” or, “What are the benefits of corporate blogging?” In our fourth video installment of our weekly Online Marketing Quick Tip, I briefly discuss some of the benefits to corporate blogging, and you will see how not blogging may be hurting you more than you think.

Thanks for watching, and stay tuned to the Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog each week for our Online Marketing Quick Tip. Also, we would love to hear from you, so feel free to ask a question, post a comment or make a suggestion!