Top 6 Reasons Why You Need a Social Media Manager
If you’re reading this, you’re likely asking yourself why you need a social media manager. What can a social media manager do for you and your business? Why is hiring a social media manager any different than what I already do?
Well, I’m here to answer all those questions by diving into the top six reasons why you need a social media manager to support your business.
Reallocate Your Time to Business Operations
We’ve said it once; we’ll say it again – managing a business is a full-time job in and of itself. Whether your unique role includes running payroll, managing employees, developing a unique strategy, thinking up elaborate new product ideas, or adding social media management to that already full plate can be a LOT!
Good social media performance requires consistency, engagement, and dedication to your audience and customers. You don’t want to leave a DM from a prospective customer unread for weeks, but when will you find time to sit and reply to messages in your packed schedule? Not only that, but when are you finding time to develop creative content to share on social platforms to drive engagement? Enter the social media manager.
Hiring a social media manager takes the responsibility of all things social media off your plate so that you can redirect your time to running your business. You’re an expert in your field, be it real estate, sales, finance, retail, etc. Leave social media to the pros in that world!
2. Your Existing Content Isn’t Cutting It
Over the years, social media platforms have become increasingly saturated. To put it in perspective, Statista estimated that there are over 1.28 billion current users on Instagram. Simply posting a weekly photo of your product or team isn’t cutting it. The content you share to your account has to represent who you are and what you do while also cutting through the noise of all other accounts on the platform.
Most users follow hundreds, if not thousands, of accounts on their personal profiles. What will pique their interest to stop and engage when scrolling through their feed? A photo of someone they recognize, a video, or a multi-slide carousel post will most likely get users to stop and look at a post.
Additionally, social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving. A social media strategy is not one size fits all and should be regularly adapted to meet the changing landscape of each unique platform. Staying on top of shifts and trends can be overwhelming and challenging to keep up with. So why not hand it off to a social media manager?
3. Regular Engagement is Necessary.
As we previously mentioned, leaving a direct message from a potential customer unread for weeks, days, or even hours is like giving up a perfectly qualified lead. You had them in the bag, and they were coming to YOU! What more could you wish for? But if you don’t reply to them promptly, all of that is lost. Moreover, they may have turned to one of your competitors while waiting for your reply. The same goes for your posts’ comments, stories’ replies, etc.
Engaging with your audience is the best way to humanize your brand and allow your viewers, followers, and current and prospective customers to understand who you are. Not only that, but it also supports your accounts’ performance. Social media algorithms are designed to highlight accounts based on the likelihood of user engagement, both incoming and outgoing. What does that mean? Well, if you’re not interacting with your viewers, replying to comments and messages, etc., the platform might not show your content to as many viewers as it would if you were engaging with them.
4. The Social World is Constantly Changing
Circling back to #2, The world of social media is constantly shifting and changing. The goal of social platforms is to connect people in a unique, social way. They constantly adjust features and algorithms based on their understanding of users’ preferences and wishes.
Staying on top of these constant changes is a challenge even within the social media industry, not to mention when you’re on the outside looking in and trying to play along. Working with a social media manager leaves the management of these changes in the hands of a pro, so you never have to worry about whether you’ve missed a critical update. You can rest assured that your SMM has it covered and is looping you into the latest trends and updates.
5. Improve Your Reach
Don’t get us wrong; posting content and crossing your fingers for organic reach and engagement isn’t the worst thing in the world. After all, waiting on engagement without any new content is like hoping it’ll snow in mid-August … not impossible, but pretty unlikely. So how can you improve your account’s reach?
One of the many roles of a social media manager is to increase your page’s reach. But this is no simple feat. Effectively increasing your account’s reach includes sharing new content, using relevant hashtags and keywords in your captions, tagging relevant accounts, and even targeting your ideal customer through direct outreach. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is … but luckily, that’s what your SMM is for.
Social media managers specialize in identifying hashtags and keywords based on what users search for and what is regularly trending. Similarly, they use these hashtags and keywords to identify similar accounts they may suggest following or even want to get to follow your account.
6. Understand Your Performance
Data, data, data! How can you expect to learn from your accounts’ performance if you aren’t tracking it?
Many people may not know that all social media platforms offer clear insights and reporting into the performance of your accounts. They follow everything from followers and likes to comments, engagement, and more. If you’re not referencing this data as you build your ongoing strategy, you’re doing yourself a great disservice.
That being said, understanding the data that each social platform shows you may be easier said than done. Understanding what the various metrics and statistics are saying may be pretty tricky for a beginner. Further, if you don’t understand what to DO with those numbers, you will waste your time feeling like a fish out of water.
Social media managers are pros at looking at your account performance and understanding what it means and how to apply their findings to your future strategy. Did your account have a 50% increase in profile views last Wednesday? Why? Well, because you shared an interactive story. Did your LinkedIn engagement drop month over month? Why? Because you didn’t share any employee highlight posts as you had in the past. These are questions that an SMM can answer in a second, whereas trying to tackle them yourself may be much more difficult.
If your mindset has shifted from ‘why do I need a social media manager?’ to ‘wow, I need a social media manager,’ give us a call or schedule an information session. If you have remaining questions, check out our blog and service offerings, or give us a call to chat more!
