Who wants to save time on small tasks so you can focus on the big picture of your business? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️ As a business owner, it’s important to work efficiently and get as much stuff done in the least amount of time. I love to help fellow entrepreneurs save time and energy. That’s why I want to discuss how to outsource social media. 

First, let’s talk about the three steps to take to decide which social media platforms to outsource. 

Which Social Media Platform(s) Should You Outsource?

Which Platforms Do You Like? 

What is the social media platform that you enjoy working with? Which social media platforms do you usually avoid? For example, I’m not a huge fan of Twitter. I just don’t “get it” and it seems to be a lot of work. So I don’t use Twitter because it’s not my preferred platform. 

On the other hand, I really like Pinterest, so that is a platform I use heavily. You want to make sure that the things you spend time on in your business are things you actually enjoy. Prioritize the things you like. You don’t want to be stuck updating your Twitter five times a day when you hate it 😩 

If there is a platform out there that could potentially be really good for your business, but you don’t like it or understand how to utilize it, this is a good opportunity to outsource social media. 

You can use outsourcing to handle a task you don’t enjoy or have the time to learn. That way, you can focus on the other parts of your business. 

Related: How to Get Amazing Ideas for Your Content Marketing Strategy

Which Platforms Are Your Focus? 

The next question is what social media platforms are you going to focus on in your business? 

If you are just starting out, I would caution you not to go full speed ahead on every single social media platform. There are so many that you’re not going to have time to manage all of them yourself. And to outsource social media management for ALL of them could get pretty expensive. If you are looking into social media management and want to outsource more than one platform, especially if you want to outsource four or five, it can be fairly costly. 

You are going to want to focus on just a few social media platforms that you can either keep up with yourself or outsource. If you are going to handle your own social media, do not take on more platforms than you can handle. I think it’s better to be inactive on a platform than to have sporadic, half-hearted attempts at being active. 

I recommend choosing one or two social media platforms that are going to be your focus. Make the commitment to regularly post. If you can’t remain consistent, consider outsourcing your social media to a professional. 

Which Platforms Line Up With Your Biz Goals? 

You may love a certain platform, but it might not be the best fit for your business growth goals. So it’s important to look at what platforms align with your audience and the opportunity for business growth. You’re going to want to match up what social platforms you enjoy, what you can focus on or outsource, and which are the best for your business goals. 

Instagram is best for growing engagement in your audience, building a community, and connecting with the people that are in your niche. 

Pinterest is best for traffic generation and SEO. 

Facebook is best if you’re currently running ads or are considering running ads in the future. When you run ads, you need to build a foundation to fall back on for your FB page so that your organic page audience grows as well.  

Related: 5 Ways You Need to be Using Pinterest for Business 

3 Types of Social Media Outsourcing

Once you have decided which platforms you want to use for your business, you have to decide whether to do all the work yourself or outsource social media management. If you decide to outsource, there are three different ways you can do this. 

1. Teach Someone How to Manage Your Social Media

The first option is to hire an intern or a VA, or maybe someone who is trying to be a social media manager but is still pretty new at it. 

This type of outsourcing is best if you already have an established system in place that you are implementing and you just want to teach someone how to do that exact same system. 

This option is perfect if you have a smaller budget and have a system in place already. 

2. Get Intermediate/Semi-Custom Management 

The second type of social media outsourcing is hiring an intermediate social media manager or a social media manager with semi-custom packages. 

For example, I call my basic Facebook and Instagram packages “semi-custom” packages. I have a social media management system in place that I know works. So when I have a Facebook or Instagram semi-custom package client, certain parts of the management is systemized while other parts are customized to your business and brand. Basically what I do is take my tested system and change the content and schedule for your business’ specific needs. 

For this type of social media outsourcing, you can find a social media manager with a similar style of semi-custom packages, or you can work with an intermediate social media manager who is still getting their feet wet but also doesn’t need a ton of hand-holding.

Again, this type of outsourcing works best if you have a smaller budget, or maybe an intermediate budget but you really want to be hands-off on the process. If you don’t want to teach anybody what to do or you aren’t sure what you need, this is a good option. 

3. Get Custom Social Media Management

This type of social media outsourcing is the whole shebang! This is fully custom social media management for your business.

A lot of people think that all types of social media management are totally custom. As you can tell by the two types above, that’s not true. It’s totally possible to outsource social media without the expense of custom management by choosing one of the two previous options. 

However, for totally custom work that builds and grows a branded social media presence with lots of bells and whistles, you need an expert social media manager.

For example, I also have “Bonus” Facebook and Instagram packages that are fully custom. I use a small part of the foundation from my basic packages, because I know my system works, but then everything else is completely custom. With custom social media management, we go above and beyond with engagement and growth by using more advanced strategies. 

That’s the kind of service that you can expect from a fully custom social media manager. This means designing a custom feed, beautiful graphics, unique copy, and the entire effect is going to be gorgeous. You can expect engagement and growth. 

This type of social media management works best with a bigger budget. Something fully custom like this can become pretty pricey. But while it is expensive, your social media will look AMAZING, without you having to put in hours and hours of effort yourself. 

So, there are three ways to determine which platforms to outsource social media and three different types of social media management. 

If you are interested in intermediate or advanced social media management, check out my website! Hiring somebody to work on your social media management is a huge time saver! If you have any questions on social media, management or outsourcing, let me know.