Should You Outsource Your Social Media Activities?

Let’s face it, if you want to keep up with today’s online competition, you have to make sure and have a robust marketing, advertising and social media engagement plan in place. Along with SEO activities, these efforts are going to be what will make or break your success. Unless you are a power user and professional copywriter, or have them on staff, it can be next to impossible to get everything done on your own. That is where outsourcing comes in and finding great contractors to do the work for you is not only less expensive than you might think, it is also well worth the return on investment.

Content creation is one of the most common activities that businesses are outsourcing. Whether it is professional sales copy, articles for article marketing or hiring someone to create a daily blog post for your website, the pros can create compelling and relevant content that can take your website from invisible to popular much faster than  someone on your staff throwing together an inconsistent blog every now and then. When you find a writer than can deliver important content on time, in the tone you want for your brand, then you have a partner who will keep your blog vibrant for readers.

Hiring an online PR firm to create and submit press releases and gain exposure for your brand through the online news and media sites such as Yahoo requires a higher budget, but can also be well worth the investment. You can expect a PR firm to conduct market research for your business, keep up with current affairs surrounding your business topic, create a brand story, conduct social promotion campaigns, gather quotes and product information and more.

Social media management is time consuming and hiring someone to manage your business Twitter account, Facebook or other social media profile can create success in ways that you would not otherwise be able to attain. Some companies will hire part time social media managers to post, engage and otherwise manage the social media sites during business off hours in order to get the highest amount of engagement from customers and potential customers.

Finding people who you can outsource work to is easy with websites such as ifreelance.com or oDesk.com. Make sure that you create a concise request for quotes so contractors know exactly what you will expect. Also, make sure and screen thoroughly to make sure you hire the best possible contractor for the task you want to give them. What you pay will be between you and the contractor and should be reasonable. Then you can wait to see what kind of return on investment you will get and chances are, it will be excellent.