”Should I do my own social media or outsource it?”

We hear this question all the time! I am a huge proponent of in-house social media management, but I also understand how time consuming both online marketing and social media can be for businesses with a small or non-existent marketing department.

Even a small business with one to two workers can dedicate a full 40 hours a week to the online marketing department if they really wanted to. As a quick answer, yes, it is best for businesses to handle their social media in-house. But not every business is setup to take advantage of the fast pace online world and eventually needs some assistance, even if only for consulting and strategy planning.

This is why it is important to build out your business online marketing strategy plan in advance to learn where you may need additional resources to support your social media. Often times you may discover that you need a monthly strategist to help you plan and build out your content, or maybe a social media manager and content developer that implements your strategy each month after you develop the content. It could be that your social media needs visual social media marketing materials to support your other content. The needs and options can vary and there isn’t a one-size-fits all setup for every business situation.

The best social media business plan works best with a team effort, not just one person managing the process. A team can consist of the client, a social media or online marketing strategist, marketing technologist, social media manager, a social media content developer and a visual social marketer. All five responsibilities can be held be five different people, or one person can take on multiple roles in combination of working and consulting monthly with the client in-house, contracted or a combination of all five.

When you work your social media management as a team effort, your goal is to make sure whomever you work with, understands your goals, your voice, the technology, strategy planning and marketing creativity. This is when it is quite beneficial to bring in an outside resource to compliment your social media so you stay on top of the latest by the experts.

Below are descriptions of the above five Social Media Management Roles you may consider for your business:

• Social Media/Online Marketing Strategist – Consultant that works with the client to build out a strategy plan and provide feedback, advice and support each month.
• Social Media/Online Marketing Technologist – Expert in online technology, programming codework and the tools used to execute marketing campaigns like emails, videos, podcasting, webinars, shopping carts, websites, landing pages and special apps.
• Social Media Media Manager – Expert that understands how to use different social platforms and tools that manage updates and posts. The Manager may work directly with the client or the strategist and technologist on setting up the monthly schedule of updates or campaigns. Then either execute the plan themselves or delegate to the developers.
• Social Media Content Developer – Specialist that understands how to use different social platforms and tools that manage updates and posts. The developer will execute the plan by posting updates daily and or weekly. 
• Visual Social Media Marketer/Designer – Specialist or Designer that understands how to use a variety of visual communication design a media tools to create graphics and interactive media used on a variety of social and online marketing platforms.