Social media engagement takes time, and let's face it, we all don't have a lot of time. There are many discussions about outsourcing social media but most will not tell you that you CAN outsource social media successfully. They key to social media outsourcing success is that it's a partnership between your chosen outsource company and yourself. Here are some Do's and Don'ts on how to successfully outsource a winning social media campaign.
Do Scheduled (Pre-written) Relevant Content. Outsourcing your scheduled content enables a consistent delivery of quality content on your social media platforms. It is an art, however, and be sure to find the right fit for your industry. All writers are not the same, and writing status updates and tweets is very difficult and requires a great deal of research and intuition. You should look for a company who will write witty, informative content and stay away from very general (common sense) content.
Do outsource finding friends/followers. This can be very tedious and time consuming if you're looking for specific targeted profiles. Outsourcing this task just makes sense. Make sure the company you use for this task knows their way around such applications such as Twellow.com and have a clear understanding of your target audience.
Do outsource branding of your social media pages. Having a branded profile page on Twitter and Facebook (and YouTube) sets your business apart and creates a consistency to your company's brand. The added polish of custom graphics on your Facebook Fan Page wall and landing page tab, along with a custom Twitter and YouTube page reinforces your branding efforts. This is a great return on investment (ROI).
Don't outsource list creation on your Twitter profile. Take the time to go in and set up lists of targeted influencers on your profile. This is only something adviseable for you to do-you are the best judge of who you want to listen to and engage with on Twitter.
Don't just let your scheduled updates ride. Choose at least 10 minutes a day (5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the afternoon) and go into your accounts manually (not through a scheduler) and have something to say to add to a conversation, or add an original update from you.
The most important thing to remember if you're considering outsourcing part of your social media marketing is that you can't ever completely outsource all of your social media marketing (at least successfully) A successful outsourcing of social media marketing requires active partnering and participation from you along side your chosen outsource company.
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