Social Media: 5 Reasons DIY May Not Be Right for You

If you’re like most small to mid-size businesses, you manage your social media on your own. Why hire someone to post to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks for you when you can do it yourself between customers in the store and meetings with employees?

As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons you may want to hand off your social media responsibilities to a professional. How many of these sound like you?

1. Sporadic posting doesn’t increase engagement. Social Media Examiner recommends that, for DIY social media management, you dedicate a block of time every day to handling your social networks; not just fifteen minutes between lunch and your next meeting, or five minutes first thing in the morning, either, as content needs to be handled mindfully and consistently from day to day. If you can’t post to Facebook at least once a day every day during peak hours, whether it’s due to your business keeping you busy or other responsibilities outside the workplace, then your company probably needs some help.
2. An understanding of targeted marketing is a must. Most small businesses are on Facebook and Twitter, but how many of them actually know why, or how to engage with their audience through these platforms? If you, like many entrepreneurs, have spent more time working directly on your product or service than understanding how to get people interested in it, you probably don’t have the delicacy needed to manage your social presence.
3. Social trends change all the time. Internet culture is a many-faceted marketing gem. Being able to engage with your target audience using terminology and pop culture references they understand on sight is a must for social media management, but that requires immersion in your social network’s current trends. If you can’t keep up with Twitter’s trending hashtags or Tumblr’s newest meme, you may want to hand off the reins to someone who can keep an eye on these trends and take advantage of them at just the right moment.
4. There are just too many networks. Everyone knows that social media marketing is all about engagement, but do you know where to go to engage the right audience? According to Business2Community, the different in platforms has brought rise not only to different rules for each network, but also to different unspoken standards that every marketer needs to understand before engaging. The standard small business owner has no way of knowing if an Instagram account could increase their web traffic by 50 percent, but they do know that posting to Twitter every day is hard enough. Professional social media marketers won’t miss out on opportunities like these.
5. Every question needs an answer. Back to engaging your audience—are you prepared to answer questions, respond to mentions and take advantage of every hashtag that links to your feed throughout the day? If not, then you’re missing out on the very thing that makes consumers love social media marketing so much: the ability to interact directly with their favorite brands and companies.

If any of these points seems like it could be an issue for you to handle on your own, then this is one case where doing it yourself may not be the cheapest solution. You may save money on your marketing budget, but does it matter if you’re missing out on all the revenue from thousands, if not millions of prospective customers? Few small business owners would save a dime now just to lose a dollar down the road, why should you?

About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com