If you’re an interior designer or vacation rental/boutique hotel business looking for social media management, you’ve come to the right place! I love getting to take the stress of Instagram off of busy business owners’ plates and give them valuable time back to focus on the parts of their business they love.
But just because I love Instagram strategy and could spend all day working in Canva, doesn’t mean that I can help all business owners sick of creating their own social media content. Not everyone is ready for social media management and the (different) work that comes with it.
In this post, I’m breaking down the three options you have when it comes to your business’s social media – DIYing, hiring an employee, or outsourcing to a contractor – and how to tell which one is right for your business.
When You Should Stick to DIY-ing
Outsourcing tasks that don’t light you up and take time away from revenue-generating activities is one of the most common (and most true) pieces of business advice. But as much as you want to get “Create Instagram content for this week” off your to do list, there are certain things you need in place before outsourcing:
- A business strategy
Your social media should not be the be-all and end-all for your business. Likewise, your social media manager is not your business coach. We are not responsible for your sales, your revenue, or the success of your business. You need to have a business strategy in place that social media will fit into.
- Clear branding, messaging and quality photography
Social media managers are not miracle workers. Unless you’ve found an absolute unicorn (and are paying them accordingly!), a quality social media manager is not also a brand designer. We implement your brand strategy and adapt it for social media. But if you don’t have a logo, established brand colors and a font hierarchy, messaging and an understanding of who you serve, and quality visual content – we can’t pull that content out of thin air.
- Time to communicate and review content
While investing in social media management gives you hours of your time back each week, it doesn’t mean you can fall off the face of the earth and never respond to your social media manager’s messages. We take the burden of creating content, writing captions and engaging off your plate but still need your input on that content and communication about what is going on in your business.
- A willingness to let go and not micromanage
One of the key parts of outsourcing – in general, not just for social media management – is learning to let certain things go and avoid micromanaging. Nitpicking or second guessing their decisions will hamper their ability to get the results you expect of them.
When an Employee is the Right Choice
So you know you’re ready to outsource your social media. You’ve checked off all the items on my list above. Amazing!
But before you sign the contract with your new social media manager or marketing agency, I want you to ask yourself one very important question:
Am I prepared to work with an independent contractor, or am I *actually* looking for an employee?
What I see a lot of businesses doing is choosing to work with an independent contractor because it’s less expensive. But they then expect that person or agency to act like an employee. Which isn’t cool 😬
Let me tell you a story. I had a very exciting client come my way, in an industry I had experience in and was PUMPED to work with. In the beginning, they seemed on board with my clearly defined processes and respected my boundaries.
But then it all changed.
Where It All Went Wrong
One Friday afternoon, I get a message wanting to get on a phone call IMMEDIATELY. There were two issues:
One: I don’t take client calls on Fridays.
Two: I never give my cell phone number out to clients.
So, I politely declined. I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty details of what happened next 😬. But ultimately this company accused me of breach of contract and asked for a refund. Luckily my contract was air-tight and we were able to part ways mostly amicably (as all of my boundaries were clearly stated in the contract). It didn’t have to be this way – they really weren’t looking for a contractor, and weren’t prepared to respect one. They needed an employee.
And here are some signs you might be better off with an employee too ⤵️
- You need to be in control of the process
- Rather than agree to a set package, you want to control and/or change deliverables
- You expect your new hire to be available at all times (although tbh this shouldn’t really be expected of an employee either, but that’s a convo for another day)
Hiring versus outsourcing comes with more control over when and how they work – but is more expensive. Most experienced social media managers and agencies charge $1000-2000/month. The average salary for a social media manager as an employee is over $50,000 a year. While you get more control over processes and deliverables with an employee, it will also cost you a LOT more. Geisha of GG communications breaks this analogy down so well on her Instagram and I recommend giving it a read. But the TL;DR is: you can’t get an employee for contractor prices.
So When Are You Ready for Social Media Management?
So you know you’re over DIY-ing, and you aren’t ready for the employee route. Here is how to know when it’s truly time to outsource to a contractor:
- You’re ready and willing to invest in an expert and trust their process (and not micromanage them constantly)
- You are prepared to respect their boundaries as a contractor and don’t expect them to act like an employee
- You have the foundations in place: branding, knowledge of your target audience, business strategy, & photography
Want more where this came from?
Check out these related blog posts:
- The ABC Social Media Management Onboarding Process
- Everything You Wanted to Know (But Never Asked) About Social Media Management
- 5 Things You Need To Know Before Working With a Social Media Manager
Feel ready to outsource your social media? Check out ABC Social Media Management’s services and learn how we can help you market your interior design business on Instagram, Pinterest and more.
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