By now you probably have figured out if you want to improve awareness around your brand, you will need to have a social media presence. Whether you have a brick and mortar business or an e-commerce site, there is a lot of competition out there, and social media offers a great way to differentiate and establish your own brand identity.
Small business owners have a lot to deal with, and social media may be the last thing on their list–if it is on there at all. Employees can contribute by making a post here and there, sharing a post or asking friends to follow your business pages. But will this be enough to grow your online presence?
If you simply don’t have the time or the skills to properly promote your business via social media, you may want to consider looking into hiring a company that specializes in social media management. But how do you do that?
Read on to learn more about how to pick the right social media packages for your business!
1. Evaluate Your Business Needs
Consultations for social media management packages need to come with an evaluation of your business to determine your needs. Not every social media platform is right for every business. Having a business page on a platform that does not appeal to your target audience is a waste of time and resources.
A quality social media manager will be familiar with all primary platforms. Too often people specialize in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, without having the understand of how and when to pursue each platform. It is important that your social media team is able to gauge the social media habits of your current customer base.
2. Are There Multi-Level Platforms for Social Media Packages?
Pricing is always at the forefront of any business transaction. Don’t let the fear of how much it will cost scare you. Hiring someone to handle your business social media marketing may not cost as much as you think.
Having the flexibility to tailor your package to the specific needs of your business is important. Social media marketing is not a one size fits all situation. You want to ensure that you are not paying for services you do not need.
The option to choose which platforms, posting frequency and more is key to choosing the right social media strategy. There will also be specific tasks that should be considered to get the best bang for your buck.
Social media management packages should also come with the option to pick and choose the services you want to create the experience you desire.
3. Posting, Sharing, and Interaction
The basis of social media marketing services is to take the brunt of social media interactions from the plate of business owners. When looking to outsource these services it is necessary to be clear on your expectations.
As mentioned, outlining posting frequency and strategy is key. Make sure you this is well defined before engaging with any social media management company.
When it comes to interactions, you will need to be extremely clear as to what this should look like. Interactions include liking a comment, responding to a comment and answering specific questions.
The person running your accounts needs to be personable to facilitate engagement with your audience.
Make sure your social media package includes campaign monitoring and engagement, unless you would prefer to manage that yourself.
4. Customer Service
More and more we are seeing consumers turn to social media pages in search of answers to their questions or to find a solution to a problem. Part of this surge is the integration of new interactive capabilities for social media business channels.
Will you want the social media management provider to offer customer service duties or will these questions or posts be directed to someone on your staff?
It is one thing for someone to send a direct message to a company and have someone internally monitor the messages and respond to the customer. It is a different ballgame when people are posting negative reviews or posing questions in the comments field.
Knowing how these will be handled ahead of time is crucial to your business online presence. It also allows you to have prepared responses available.
5. Analytics
Any social media site that offers business platforms most likely has some form of analytics and insights reporting. It is important to know if the person handling your social media can retrieve the data and decipher the information.
You will want someone who can understand what the numbers mean and how to use it to plan for future marketing strategies. It is also a good thing for you to understand it as well. This way you know if the work being done is useful.
Analytics can tell you a lot about your social media presence on particular sites. Having Google Analytics will be a greater measurement of whether the strategy is driving traffic back to your company website or crossing over to other platforms. For example, are users sharing your Facebook content on Twitter and vice versa?
Your analytics will also be able to narrow down the demographics of your users and the range of your audience.
6. SEO Services
Do social media marketing services packages include SEO services? If not, they should. A big part of having social media channels is to drive traffic back to your website for lead conversion.
If the ultimate goal isn’t to close the deal on your product or service, then you should be questioning why you’re spending the money.
SEO services and social media marketing are able to intertwine to the power of your website. The company you use should understand SEO in addition to being social media experts.
They should understand that keywords are at the heart of all algorithms. Certain topics will always garner organic traffic, and people are drawn to photos and images. All of this should be considered as part of a strong social media marketing strategy.
A social media marketing firm may not include SEO within their social media packages, but they may offer SEO services. Don’t be afraid to ask about multiple service discounts.
7. Social Media Ads
The ability to promote your business, products or services is vital to the success of your social media presence as a business. Unless you are a big brand with name recognition, you will need a little help in the beginning.
Social ads are often included as part of a good marketing plan, so make sure you discuss this as part of your social media marketing package. You also will want to discuss who will be responsible for creating the ads and developing the rules for when and how they will run.
Payments for ads are drawn from a banking method associated with the social media account. Setting a monthly budget will be wise.
Also understand, each social media platform comes with its own set up, pricing, analytics and guidelines. The secret to successful social media ads is to know what you’re doing or hire someone who does. If not, you can waste a lot of money in a hurry by purchasing ads.
8. Social Media Content Creation
By now you know there is a lot to consider when shopping for social media marketing services packages. But it doesn’t stop with the previous tips. If hiring a social media specialist to manage your channels, you have to be mindful of the content that will be going out under your brand.
With the popularity of sites like Instagram and Pinterest, images and video have become must-haves for every social media marketing campaign. You will have to decide if you are okay with stock images or if you want a personal touch that reflects the true essence of your business.
To provide authentic engagement, you will want a true representation of your brand. Let your social media specialist know your desires and together work to make it happen.
9. Brand Awareness
At the center of all online marketing is your brand. Your brand is how people see your business and what is associated with it. For this reason alone, selecting a social media marketing package that speaks to your core beliefs is needed.
Attracting the right followers who are interested in your product or service is your goal for expanding your reach. You want a provider that is committed to getting those followers to your platforms. You don’t want a company that will tarnish your brand by buying followers or engaging in other gimmicky behavior.
You are paying for professionalism, quality service, and their expertise. A successful social media management package will give you all of this. The return on your investment will be seen in a rise in your brand awareness.
If your company does not see any tangible proof that your brand identity has grown, you may be using the wrong provider.
Ready to Step Up Your Social Media Marketing Game?
Not all social media packages are created equal. Anyone can claim to be a social media specialist. But without proof of proven success, they can’t be taken seriously.
If you’re looking for the perfect social media package for your business, reach out to our team of social media experts.
Click here to contact us for more information on how we can go to work for you!
