If you’re struggling these days, are concerned about your social presence, trust us, you’re not alone.
After all, when it comes to social media and customer expectations, most of the businesses have their hands full.
But perhaps the most striking thing is how many brands are tackling at the same time, with the same thing for days and weeks. From increasing brand awareness to making hefty sales, from growing web audience to increase the traffic, online brands have to handle a lot.
With so much on the table, it’s no wonder that companies are looking for support from hands that walked the social media walk.
That’s where the Social Media Marketing agencies come into play!
Well, in this guide we’ll help you understand what you should look for in an agency & how you can make sure you find the best one!
Why Hire A Social Media Marketing Agency At The First Place?
Okay, this one is a fair question!
Modern marketers have an astonishing amount of information and resources available to them.
Heck, just have a look at what we’re offering at Riseup Holdings. We have helped countless companies to grow their online presence from scratch through our suite of social media management resources and strategy guides.
That being said, a social media approach comprising of DIY is not always particularly suitable or plausible. Not every business is capable of taking care of their social media in-house and hey, that’s all absolutely fine. However, ever thought of how can a social media marketing agency assist you to fill in the gaps or level your approach when it comes to social media and business goals? Well, here’s how:
- They Have An Unparalleled Degree Of Expertise
In other words, companies are able to run campaigns and provide a degree of knowledge that is probably not possible in-house.
For instance, a company with a proven history of handling social ads has a big edge over someone discovering the in-depth ad targeting of Facebook’s ropes.
And quite properly so. That is the kind of experience everyone pays for.
Social media is more than just clever captions and chasing the “going viral” rabbit. It takes some real expertise to explore the fine details of social algorithms, segmentation of audiences and analytics alone. Again, that’s the benefit of hiring and doing somebody who was there.
Whether because of their years of real-life experience, their wide range of customer work that has subjected them to a range of social and marketing tactics, or just because the agency experts live and breathe day-in and day-out social and digital marketing strategies, companies are an untapped market for so many brands… a competence that people can’t always replicate in-house.
The same can be said truly when it comes to community growth or customer engagement. You could, of course, do it yourself. But would it make any sense for the time and energy of your team? A company will carry out a program in no time that could take months for you to set up in-house
- They Have Access To The Best Tools One Can Possibly Have
On a related note, plenty of software and analytics solutions are available to any company worth their salt to better manage those campaigns and deliver results faster. ⠀Which most of the in-house marketing teams will lack, hence, giving the marketing agencies a solid edge!
- They Juggle Between Multiple High-budget Campaigns Day And Night
To claim it may be cliché, but time is money.
Agencies have the ability along with the bandwidth to run multiple projects at once, which might otherwise internally bog down your team. You can make better use of the team’s resources by partnering with a social media marketing firm and let them take care of the social media, whilst you get more done with the staff you already have.
- They Can Elevate Your Team’s Own Social Media Skills
Collaborating with a social media marketing agency is not just a matter of outsourcing, contrary to popular belief.
In fact, working closely with a marketing agency is one of the best ways possible to invest in the social skills of your own team.
Think about it. Agency-run campaigns can show you which strategies, tactics, and channels make your brand most sense. Each piece of data or success story is a learning opportunity on what works (and doesn’t) on social media on behalf of your business. This mentality is particularly essential if you are only planning to work in the short term with an agency.
The common factor of these advantages? The key to discovering a successful ROI for your social activities can be a social media marketing firm. A social agency’s insights can make the trick for brands that are still trying to wrap their heads around social.
How Do I Know If I Need A Social Media Marketing Agency Or Not?
Well, here are certain questions that you can ask yourself to understand whether working with a social media agency makes any sense to your business or not.
- To start with & to help define your social media goals and campaign strategy, do you think your business needs a fresh perspective and expertise?
- Are you struggling to increase your level of social support or commitment?
- Do you fail to see a clear, determinable ROI for your presence on social media?
- Do you think you spend far too much time or money on social media in-house?
- Are you able to fetch leads from your social media platforms, but are you not sure how to close them?
- Do you have a substantial budget internally for social media but aren’t sure how to maximize it?
Well, if you said yes to any of these above-mentioned questions, it might be time to start looking for some good social media agencies!
How To Find The Best Social Marketing Agency For Your Brand?
Well, here are our 6 factors that would help you the best social media agency for your brand. They are:
- Figure out your needs
Know what social media success means to you before you approach an agency. Do you need to develop a strategy, implement a strategy, or simply modify an existing strategy? Maybe you just want to increase your visibility, generate leads, or distinguish yourself from competitors. Determine on a course, then look at an organization to explain the most important priorities, plans, and programs.
Numerous positions can be filled by marketing agencies, so determine what kind of work you want them to do. Want to outsource your social media management? An external group would allow your workers to concentrate on more central tasks. Need to rebrand or want to launch a national campaign? If so, the expertise of an agency will be key to your brand scaling. Your close-term business goals must guide whom you are hiring as an agency partner.
- Ask the right questions
Well, in order to gauge the competency of prospective agencies, you can ask them to use the following questions.
- What are your core skills?
- Are there any famous examples of success in the industry I am operating in? ⠀Can you show us some?
- How are you investigating and analyzing my industry?
- How do you manage the development of content?
- What are some examples of the modification of a mid-execution strategy?
- In what way you measure reach? And Growth? And Engagement as well?
- Who’s my contact point from your organization?
- How often are you going to communicate with me?
- What is your process of reporting?
- Are you outsourcing your work?
- Ask for referrals
Most relationships with agencies start with word of mouth, and for good reason. Peer reviews and recommendations are two ways for advertisers to find a suitable company efficiently and effectively.
As one of the most popular ways to find a digital partner, referrals promote agencies that have proven to be reliable, priced and encountered in their industry. Asking for suggestions can save you time in the recruitment process and help you find a good fit.
- Prioritize a good fit
Great relationships between agencies lead to great results. It is, therefore, best to look for a partner whose culture of the company aligns with yours. Unity between teams leads to success, from collaboration to communication to exchange of ideas.
In comparison, a lack of cohesion can affect workflows and performance negatively. Research indicates that the leading factors influencing a final hire are a recommendation from a friend or colleague (37%) and a cultural match (31%) after cost.
Culture fit will help simplify your operational efficiency, increase productivity, and push you to a valuable result.
Ask yourself— can I work with this one? Would I like this person to have a beer with? Do I trust them on social media with the name of my company? The longer the partnership duration is, the more important interpersonal factors become, whether you are speaking on a daily or bi-monthly basis.
- Do your homework
The value of the online resources of an organization tells a lot about its skills and experience. With an eye for relevance and thought leadership, read blogs, case studies, webinars, and company testimonials. An organization that suits your procedures and approaches will be able to help you achieve your goals.
Apart from referrals, the most common avenues for businesses to study social media agencies are through case studies (22%), company references (17%), online ratings and reviews (16%), and the agency’s internal online presence (14%). To ensure that an organization can do what it says it can do, use these tools.
In practice, the strongest evidence of ideas is the social media presence of the agency. Is the company taking the advice of its own? Case studies allow you to predict your own results, so look for solutions that fit with the goals you have chosen.
- Go through the reviews
Crowdsourcing is a fast and easy way to safely navigate the purchase decision. Third-party review sites such as Clutch.co allow you to access various specific customer testimonials. Check various lists, read reviews, then check for the rates they charge!
Sites like this help you find top-ranked companies as an all-in-one tool and save time in the assessment process. You could look at Yelp or Facebook in the same way. When you consider anything troubling when conducting research, be sure to mention it and see how the department is reacting.
This was our guide on how to find the best Social Media Marketing Agency for your business. If you are already in the market, looking for the best Social Media Marketing agency which can help your business meet its marketing goals, make sure to contact us. Good luck!