If you’ve had the realisation that there are just not enough hours in the day to do it all, it’s time to outsource your social media to an agency! First of all, chin up, it happens to the best of em’! Second of all, that’s a good sign your biz is growing!
New to this whole outsourcing wizardry and wondering what to do first? We’ve got you covered with a list of things you’ll want to have in place before you outsource your social media to an agency … and not just any agency, aim for the stars and look for your dream match.
First, have all your tracking set up
When you finally hand over the keys to the social media castle [yay!], getting started quickly is pretty high on the agenda. It’s vital from the get-go to have all your tracking mechanisms in place, so you can start measuring and reporting as soon as you’re live.
This means the all-important pixels for advertising. Every social media ads platform has a separate pixel, too. Which means they all need to be integrated into your website individually [oh goodie!]. This isn’t something we’d recommend doing with the deadline of a live date looming, since there are often roadblocks you might need to tackle along the way.
Ads can be launched on any platform without a pixel, sure. But, it wouldn’t be something we’d recommend, so it’s best to have it all sorted ahead of time.
You’re also going to need your old friend Google analytics set and ready to go. This will show you where you’re getting the most traction on social media and help you to start understanding how social traffic is impacting your website performance. Without it, you’re going to have a very hard time seeing where your investment is paying off!
There are also a range of other tracking tools and software that can be used to understand your social performance. For most agencies they’ll manage that for you and provide a dazzling report each month, to give you a full rundown. #welovereporting
Next on your list, we’ll need some shiny assets to work with
If you’re working with an agency that’s also going to be creating content for you, then you can skip this step and move onto the next one [#luckyyou]. If part of your agreement is supplying the images and videos for your social content schedule, listen up!
Great content is non-negotiable on social media. If you’re going to invest your hard earned cashola into someone managing it for you, it’s imperative you give them some pure-fire assets to work with, so they can get you the best results.
The best news is that social content doesn’t always have to be fancy to succeed. In fact, what we’re seeing now with the growth of TikTok, Reels and Instagram Stories is that audiences are loving less-polished, ‘real’ content more than ever!
We’d recommend building up a great store of behind the scenes and humanising content. Even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. Oh, and please don’t forget the video, that’s something that you can also get creative and shoot with your phone, ready for your awesome new agency to use!
From there, you’ll need a solid marketing calendar
When you on-board an agency, you’ll only have so many hours within scope. Make sure each of those hours drives the maximum value for your biz and your amazing new social media strategy!
Being able to communicate the exciting marketing activities you’ve got in the works, in advance, will go a long way in making sure that you’ll get the best bang for your buck.
With this one ticked off, your new agency pals can pop on their strategy hat and be extremely considerate of the opportunities coming up. No scrambling at the last second to bring something to life! Of course, there will always be some unexpected changes [such is life] but even having a plan pencilled in is going to help ensure that you get the best work possible!
Perhaps most importantly, an open mind and desire to take one thing off your crowded plate
This can [honestly] be a pretty tricky one to prepare for, but hear us out …
If you’ve been tirelessly managing your socials in-house up to this point, firstly, serious hats off to you. It ain’t easy and secondly, you’re probably pretty attached to it, even if it’s a love/hate relationship. 😉
It’s natural that handing over the reins can be a little bit scary. We highly recommend you get nice and cosy with the idea in advance, to make that transition a little less frightful.
This means accepting that you don’t have the time to be responsible for it all anymore. While your agency is going to do their very best emulating all of the magic you have brought to your socials up to this point, the reality is they’re not you … and that’s ok.
They’ll definitely have some new and fresh ideas which can be a godsend to anyone feeling burnt out by social media [defs a real thing!]. They’ll also have a wealth of strategic knowledge from working in this fine industry on a range of other accounts.
Trust that you’ve made a good choice and a wonderful investment in their work, and let them work their magic! That way, you can finally get the mental load reduction you’ve long been craving! 👯♀️
With all of that polished off nicely, you’re all prepped to soar when you hit go on outsourcing your social media to an agency!
If you’re craving any further info about this somewhat-magical thing called outsourcing just hit us up either on socials or drop us a line on our website.