Blue Helm

Posted by Emory Cook on October 8th, 2009

Full disclosure: I run a social media agency. A dang good one at that. But I’m not writing this post to convince anyone to hire Blue Helm (even though all the cool companies do…so, whatever). I really want to address the fact that I hear too many business owners say they would rather hire an in-house professional to run their company’s social media than hire an outside agency.

Now let’s be honest. Maybe an in-house person better fits your company’s needs, especially if you’re a small business owner with limited recourses (you probably run your own social media if this is the case, and that’s fine). But few in-house ‘professionals’ I’ve seen up to this point really offer all the perks an agency does. Let’s examine why:

Cost: This one’s obvious. An in-house social media guru requires a full salary plus benefits. It’s much cheaper to hire an agency and use all the extra money your business saves to throw a decent Christmas party this year. Warning: there exist certain social media agencies that will charge you for every breathe they take, so make sure you don’t get swindled.

Expertise: You might think your in-house employee knows social media like the back of his hand, and he might even think so too. I mean, he can tweet can’t he? But does he really get all the ins and outs of social media? Does he have a sound understanding of SEO and how it integrates with Facebook? Does he have a PR or marketing background to capably promote your blog? Is he fluid in the countless social networks that exist online? Skills like these are often needed to manage an effective social media campaign. And when you hire an agency you get a team of experts working for you.

Expendability: Firing an underperforming employee can be nasty business, and it doesn’t usually make anyone feel good in the end. But social media agencies are expendable. Barring a contract agreement, you can dump an agency whenever you feel like its services are no longer required.

But can an outside agency really know your company? Wouldn’t it be better to have an in-house employee that understands the company to manage all the social media accounts? That’s a great point. But a good social media agency will learn your business, just like any competent PR, advertising or marketing firm/consultant you might hire.

REMEMBER: Before you even think about hiring an agency to run your social media, make sure you shop around. Ask lots of questions to determine if your ‘experts’ are legit.

Agree with me? Disagree? Let me know with your comments!

Tags: expertise, social media agency

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 11:24 am and is filed under Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.