At this point, if you’re considering harnessing the power of social media for your company, then you likely know what a formidable tool it can be in growing your business – if done right.

For small to medium-sized businesses in Canada & United States, there are many options for social media management to consider, but decision-making often comes down to affordability and time invested.

Tight budgets every so often call for a degree of caution from business owners, who understandably want to maximize their ROI on new marketing efforts. But there’s more to consider than just price.

Affordable Social Media Management: What Does It Mean?

As a small business owner, you want to be creative with your limited budget. You know participating on social media is vital for the health and long-term prospects of your company. But what’s the best way to get started?

If you start off by assuming that using a digital marketing agency is financially out of reach, you may be looking into managing your social media outreach internally. After all, there are many inexpensive social media management tools to help make the process easier, right?

Yes, these tools can streamline and organize your social media posts, but creating content, deploying them on multiple social media platforms and monitoring the results require dedicated attention – something that you or your employees may not have the capacity for.

Also, while keeping it in-house may seem tempting from a cost perspective, it’s unlikely to yield the type of results you are hoping for unless you’re able to rely on staff with specialized digital marketing skills.

Choosing an agency to manage your social media presence may cost more, but your ROI is likely to be much higher. If you’re a novice at social media marketing, you’ll spend too much time on trial and error, trying to figure out what works without having a clear idea of your goals or how to measure results. Time that would be better spent managing and growing your business operations.

Here are a few critical reasons why merely picking the cheapest social media management option isn’t a path you should go down, particularly if you value your business’s growth and performance.

Affordable Social Media Management: Your Reputation.

Getting something up on your social media platforms just to join the crowd without ensuring that your messaging, branding, and content are consistent can hurt your business more than it helps.

While there’s something to be said about focusing on progress and not perfection, any significant missteps in your messaging and strategy can cost you more in the long run to fix.

If you’re thinking of simply passing off your social media management to a staff member, you run the risk of making some big mistakes. Like any other role in your company, social media management requires specialized expertise and experience.

Attempting to create and manage a social media strategy without the right background knowledge will result in low-quality content created without a plan in mind, which makes little to no positive impact on your brand and won’t help you stand out in a sea of competitors.

Think of your social media accounts as the voice of your company, particularly today when many client interactions with businesses are online. The wrong message, or a poorly executed social media campaign, can be detrimental to a company in misleading or turning off customers.

Imagine a new customer stumbling onto a poorly crafted social media message from your company, from Googling your business or another search engine’s results. It won’t inspire confidence and you know that first impressions are essential when it comes to generating leads.

To avoid this, consider using a results-focused marketing agency, particularly one that specializes in social media, to help you build an online presence that’s consistent with your brand and sustainable to maintain.

Affordable social media management is important, but social media management done right is what will make the difference for your business.

Affordable Social Media Management: Is it Less Expensive?

Having someone in-house to manage your social media platforms might be something you’re thinking about, but is it even the more affordable route?

It can be up to three times more expensive (or more) to hire a dedicated employee for this task than it would be to work with an outsourced agency. Salaries and benefits can add significant costs to your company, not to mention the management and training time required.

If you are looking to reduce your costs, using an agency is ideal – not only for your budget but also for getting the most out of that budget. Agencies know how to maximize your marketing funds by using proven techniques and relying on best practices. So, while there may be a difference in cost, your money is being put to much better use.

Still unsure? Consider the complexity of both mature and emerging social media channels. You’ll likely want to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter. Which other social media channels will provide the best ROI for your business? What about LinkedIn and Instagram? Will you need an account on Pinterest and TikTok as well?

Now consider the time and effort required to create fresh, optimized content on each of these platforms, taking care to schedule the posts for appropriate, high traffic periods.

Will you be able to monitor the marketing performance of these efforts? Can your free social media management platform provide the insights you need to improve future campaigns?

Can you drive organic growth in a way that will result in both brand awareness and sales? Should you consider using paid ads? Do you understand the technical aspects of social media to give you that edge over the competition?

If you’re unsure about any of these questions, using a digital marketing agency can give you peace of mind. Staffed with a team of experts, an agency will consult with you to determine your goals and work with you to meet and even exceed them. An agency can use their understanding and experience to create an effective social media strategy and produce campaigns optimized for your target audience.

The right agency will have access to top-notch tools and quality management platforms to manage the day-to-day requirements of your strategy and scheduling your content, while keeping an eye on the big picture and delving into the technical areas to finetune your approach.

You can meticulously plan out your budget and know exactly what your money is going towards, rather than hoping for the best when it’s in the hands of a novice.

It shouldn’t be surprising but the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is true of social media management as well. Use those dollars wisely.

Time is Money.

If you aren’t experienced with social media management, you might not be aware of the time commitment it requires. It may look simple – after all, who hasn’t posted a link on their personal Facebook page or used Twitter to broadcast a quick message to their followers?

But using social media for fun is nothing like using it for business purposes. Social media done right requires a strong strategy, content creation, ongoing engagement and communication, page updates, Facebook ads, Instagram Store, analytics, and more.

Trying to take care of all of this on your own is bound to take up a lot of your valuable time, ultimately costing your company money. If you are a business owner thinking of going the DIY route, it’s better to focus on your current urgent responsibilities and deliverables instead of taking on more.

Finding a junior intern or part-time employee may seem more affordable initially but be prepared to provide them with ongoing guidance and training, taking up more of your time. If you’re not knowledgeable in this field, it’ll likely take a lot longer since you’ll be learning the ropes while you attempt to train someone else.

Think of what true affordability means. It’s more than just a number. Rather, it’s important to think about value – what you’re receiving for the money spent. A quality strategy executed by an experienced marketing agency can pay dividends down the road.

Take Your Social Media to the Next Level.

Finding affordable social media management is certainly possible, but it’s crucial to weigh your options to get the best return on your investment. It’s a powerful tool that, when harnessed correctly, will help you actively communicate with customers, advertise for your business and achieve growth.

If you’re looking for the right agency to guide your business and maximize your marketing dollars when it comes to social media management, consider Asset Digital Communications.

We can help demystify the task of handling social media for your business, grow your social networks, and deliver the type of results you never thought could be possible.

Contact us today to book a free consultation and get started!