Should you hire a full-time employee specifically for your Social Media Marketing?

The options are:

• Do it yourself
• Let the current marketing person handle it
• Hire your 16 year old niece
• Hire a part-time employee
• Hire a full-time employee
• Hire a professional consulting company

Your Social Media Marketing Strategy should be ongoing.  It is not a billboard you put up next to the interstate and wait for the mad rush of customers.  To effectively market your business using sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, you should be adding content regularly.

Another big question to answer is, “What is my budget for Social Media”?

The answer to this question as well as who you should hire depend on the type of business you are in and the size of your company.  Most businesses can benefit from implementing a marketing campaign that utilizes Social Media.  If your product or service is purchased by humans then there is a good chance your potential customers and current customers spend time on Facebook and other social sites. 

“Go where the eyeballs are.”

The following statistics are from Facebook:

• More than 500 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

What type of businesses can skip the social aspect of marketing?  Maybe a corporate attorney…maybe… morgue owner…there are not many.

If your business provides a social type of product or service your marketing budget should be significantly in favor of Social Media. 

A bowling alley, golf course, and a restaurant all fit into this category.  Your customers may actually help you populate your own social space with user generated content.

Here are some quick tips regarding all these questions:

• If you are doing it yourself…who is running the business?
• If you let your current marketing person handle it…they are probably not experts in this area and they will need training.
• If you hire a part-time employee…expect shoddy part-time work unless the person has  a passion for your industry, your company, and your product.
• If you hire a full-time employee…make sure they know what they are doing.  They do not qualify to be a social media manager just because they have 10,000 Myspace friends or 5,000 Facebook friends.  It proves they like to spend time on those platforms but it has nothing to do with writing great content, enticing copy, recording engaging videos, and analyzing and testing various marketing metrics. 
• If you want to hire a consulting company…good for you.  Just make sure you are not tied into a long-term contract.  Probably the #1 over blown hyped up business to start this year is a Consulting business with a focus on social.  People are hurting for money and looking for ways to pay the bills and next thing you know, they are a consultant.

Look at their website and determine what type of content they provide.  Do they provide valuable content?  Do they beg for business?  Do they allow you to pay month-to-month because they are confident you will continue to use their services?

While you are considering all the questions above watch this video from CBC News about social jobs.

Then check out our Social Media Marketing Services page for a more in depth look as well as one of the most powerful and informative videos online.