How an outsourced digital marketing team can impact your bottom line

If the digital transformation was already in full-swing before the global pandemic … well, you can imagine how important this reimagining of business is now! Certainly, this transformation marks a turn of the tide in how businesses and consumers view, use and value social media—and Sprout Social has data to prove it.

The Importance of Social Media Marketing

In a recent Harris Poll, Sprout Social surveyed more than 1,000 US consumers and 250 business executives to better understand how they use social media, the importance of social media marketing, social’s impact on organizations and how its influence will change in the coming years. Here is what they found: 

💡 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social

💡 68% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies

💡 43% of consumers increased their social media use to discover new products in the last year

💡 78% of consumers are willing to buy from a company after having a positive experience with them on social

💡 80% of business executives think it’s very important or essential to invest additional resources in social media marketing

💡 91% of executives will increase social media marketing budgets in the next 3 years

💡 72% of companies use social media data to inform business decisions

But let’s be honest, even those who recognize the importance of social media marketing may not know the best way to go about doing it or have the time to do it effectively. As we like to tell our clients, social media marketing is not rocket science, but there is an art to it that takes time, knowledge, analysis, and creative ability to do it well. And is there anything worse than social media that is not done well?! (Hint: The answer is NO!) 

Benefits of Outsourcing Social Media Marketing 

Many small and medium-size businesses decide upon the DIY method of social media marketing, or rely on their college-aged kid to manage it alongside their coursework. While this may have been okay ten years ago, it is just not okay in today’s landscape. The fact is that when done this way, social media marketing is oftentimes very poorly executed and lacks any consistency and cadence, and delivers minimal results.

According to a Forbes article, for a medium-sized company to manage a single social media platform it takes approximately 32 hours per month. That’s a lot of time! Outsourcing your social media marketing allows you to not only delegate that time-consuming job to an agency that specializes in the work, but it also provides greater long-term benefits for your brand. 

Trust us, social media is about much more than just Facebook and Instagram posts, rather it should be an integrated strategy of organic and paid content that builds brand awareness and client trust. 

So, is outsourcing your social media marketing efforts really worth the cost? Of course, we emphatically answer yes. But, don’t just take it from us. Here are some key points to consider as you analyze the state of your social media efforts and how you can improve. 

7 Reasons to Outsource Your Social Media Marketing

In addition to simply having the time to dedicate to your social media efforts, a professional digital marketing agency brings an extensive set of knowledge and resources to ensure that your company does far more than just make a few weekly posts to Facebook. 

1. Expertise – A digital marketing agency that specializes in social media marketing understands how businesses can utilize the platforms and they know how to use data to improve the business performance of social media.
2. Understanding of best practices –  While some outsourced resources choose to specialize in a particular social platform, a true digital marketing partner will stay ahead of trends across all platforms and develop comprehensive digital campaigns that utilize best practices. This includes thumb-stopping creative (nope, Canva won’t cut it!), industry and hashtag research, and the use of data to drive decision making.
3. Knowledge of useful tools – Professional social media marketers have the processes and software in place that save them time and money, which in turn, saves you time and money, as well. At MJ2, we use a variety of tools to help us to offer highly effective social media marketing for our clients, including, Gain and HubSpot to streamline content creation and the approval process, Asana and Trello for workflow management, and assorted design platforms like Illustrator and PhotoShop that help our creative team make thumb-stopping creative.
4. Content– This might seem strange, but sometimes it is easier for someone outside of your business to talk more effectively about your business. When you’re too close to your content, it can be difficult to see things from the perspective of a new customer or client.
5. Fun – At its core, social media (should be!) fun. Establishing your company’s own unique voice is something at which professional social media marketers excel and can help to balance the fun with the informative so your feed has a healthy dose of both.
6. Reliability – As in many areas of your business, the hardest aspect of trusting a professional social media marketer is finding one that you can depend on. With that said, we’ll just leave this right here … 

“The team was a bright spot in a rather dim 2020. They’re a true extension of our team. People often promise that, but MJ2 is the only vendor to deliver.” – McSteen Land Surveyors

7. Cost –  When you work with a professional digital marketing agency you are guaranteed to work with a professional who knows the ins and outs of social media who is supported by a whole team of resources, at a lesser cost than a full time employee.

At MJ2 Marketing, we bring a blended team of resources to work for each of our clients. Including graphic designers, content creators, strategists, social media specialists, and videographers, our team is able to provide thumb-stopping, timely, and thoughtful content for our clients who come from a wide variety of industries.

Check out some of our work, explore our services, and let us know when you are ready to chat!