Social media is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful tools that businesses can use to achieve their goals. In fact, according to Entrepreneur, 97% of Fortune 500 companies use it to leverage their online presence.
However, you should know that simply making social media accounts and posting your products aren’t enough. You need efficient social media management to ensure success.
What Does Social Media Management Mean?
Social media management refers to the process of managing a brand’s online presence on social media platforms. This includes creating, publishing, and analyzing content on various channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Managing social media accounts also involves developing and executing digital strategies that align with the organization's goals and objectives. Hence, apart from handling the accounts, the social media management team will also make it a point to engage with followers, monitor and respond to comments and messages, and analyze online social metrics.
A company’s social media management team can either be in-house or outsourced to a social media management agency. This is necessary if your business goals include having a strong social media presence, building brand awareness, and driving traffic and sales.
What Is the Purpose of Social Media Management?
The main purpose of social media management is to help businesses establish and maintain their branding on social media platforms. Below are the other objectives that this strategy aims to achieve:
Building Brand Awareness
Social media management aims to help increase brand awareness by creating and sharing content that is relevant and engaging to the target audience. Depending on the company and the industry it’s in, social media managers may also try to make the brand available on several social channels to achieve max online presence.
Increasing Engagement
Increasing engagement is another goal of social media management. The strategy aims to make it easier for the brand to engage with their target audience through content creation, responding to comments and messages, and actively participating in conversations online. Similarly, businesses can also use social media management to avoid the impact of ignoring unanswered comments on their brand image.
Driving Traffic and Sales
Social media management is also a good way to help drive traffic to the brand’s website or ecommerce platform. Ultimately, this will lead to increased sales and revenue for the business.
Establishing Credibility and Thought Leadership
Social media management is the key to gaining valuable insights, knowledge, and expertise. This can help a business establish credibility for itself in the industry it’s in, which will be extremely handy if they’re just starting to build a name.
Monitoring and Managing Online Reputation
Through effective social media management, a business will be able to monitor and manage their online reputation. This will give them a better view over how their customers see them, the positive and negative reviews they receive regularly, and where they stand in the social media scene. This is also where using social media moderation to maintain a positive brand image comes in.
What Are the Benefits of Social Media Management?
If brands execute their social media management strategies right, it will come with a long list of benefits. These include:
- Increased brand recognition and awareness
- Better engagement with customers and followers
- More website traffic and leads
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Better understanding of the brand’s target audience
- Higher competitive advantage over the other businesses in the market
Overall, social media management can open a lot of opportunities for your brand. However, keep in mind that it requires careful planning, a deep understanding of the target audience, and the ability to adapt to changes quickly. It also requires several skills, like effective communication, the ability to manage and respond to feedback, and professionalism.
What Are the Challenges in Social Media Management?
The effects of social media management will depend on how brands implement it into their operations. Hence, if you’re still learning the ropes or the strategies just don't fit with your business goal, you may face challenges like:
Keeping Up with the Constantly Changing Social Media Landscape
Social media platforms are constantly evolving and adding new features, which can make it challenging for businesses and social media managers to stay up-to-date while being able to easily adapt to changes.
Difficulty in Maintaining Consistent Branding and Messaging
With so many social media platforms around, poor social media management may make it difficult for brands to maintain a consistent image. This is most especially when it comes to their branding, messaging style, level of support, and the like.
Generating Engaging and Relevant Content
Creating content that resonates with the target audience and drives engagement can be a significant challenge, especially with the volume of content being produced on social media. The brand and its managers have to work together to come up with an extensive social media plan, but may still find it hard to reach their target metrics.
Dealing with Negative Comments and Reviews Professionally
Social media can provide a platform for customers to voice complaints and negative feedback, which must be addressed promptly and effectively. However, the quality of social media management may affect the effectiveness of using the negative comments for improvement.
Balancing the Need for Engagement Without Risking Reputation Damage
Social media can be a double-edged sword since engagements with customers can be positive or negative depending on the situation. There is also the risk of reputation damage if social media is not managed effectively. You have to make your brand’s social media come off both professional and friendly, and also consider how often you publish posts.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media Activities
Measuring the ROI of social media activities is also one of the biggest challenges in social media management. For one, it can be difficult to attribute revenue directly to social media activities.
Can You Do Social Media Management on Your Own?
You can do social media management on your own. However, note that it will require a significant amount of time and resources on your end.
If you choose to manage your own social media channels, you have to pay attention to creating and scheduling posts, engaging with followers, and monitoring activity on a regular basis. Depending on the size of your business and the number of social media accounts you have, this can take several hours per week.
Moreover, you have to equip yourself with a range of skills, including content creation, copywriting, graphic design, and analytics. If you aren’t knowledgeable in any one of these, you may need to invest more time and money into learning them.
While it is possible to manage social media accounts on a limited budget, investing in social media management tools and advertising can significantly improve the effectiveness of your social media strategy. If you are working with a limited budget, you may need to prioritize your efforts and focus on the platforms and activities that provide the most value.
In summary, managing social media accounts on your own is possible but it will take a lot of work. Also, you can’t stay on your own for long. As your business grows, you will need additional staff, so you can cater to the increasing demands of your audience.
How Much Do You Need to Pay for Social Media Management?
The cost of social media management in the US can vary widely depending on several factors, such as the size and complexity of your business, the number of social media platforms you want to manage, and the level of service you need. Here are some common pricing models and their average costs:
Hourly Rate
Some social media managers charge an hourly rate, which can range from $50 to $200 per hour, depending on their experience and skill level.
Monthly Retainer
Many social media management companies offer monthly retainer packages that include a set number of hours or services per month. These packages can range from $500 to $10,000 per month, depending on the level of service needed and the number of social media platforms you want to manage.
Project-Based Pricing
If you have a specific project or campaign that you need help with, some social media managers may offer project-based pricing. The cost for a project can vary widely depending on the scope of the project, the level of service required, and the number of social media platforms involved.
Are Social Media Management Services Worth It?
Whether social media management services are worth it or not depends on several factors, including the size and complexity of your business, your social media goals, and your budget.
If you have a small business or a startup with limited resources, managing social media accounts on your own may be a viable option. This is most especially if you have experience with social media marketing. However, managing social media accounts effectively can be time-consuming and requires a range of skills, which may be equivalent to several skilled workers.
If budget and scale are none of your concerns, it’s easy to say that social media management services are worth it. They can provide a range of benefits for businesses of all sizes. Social media managers are experts in their field and can help you develop and execute a strategy that aligns with your business goals.
However, if you want to ensure a more worthwhile way of implementing social media management for your business, you should consider outsourcing social media management services to professionals. It will save you time and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business. You also won’t have to worry about being up-to-date with the latest tools and techniques in order to increase engagement, website traffic, and sales.
Not to mention, outsourcing social media management services, especially to a developing country like the Philippines, will allow you to enjoy significant cost savings compared to building your own in-house staff.
Manage Your Social Media by Outsourcing Digital Marketing Services to the Philippines
Don’t stress about social media. You can’t devote all your time managing your social media accounts and neglect your other business operations.
Manage your time wisely, and consider outsourcing digital marketing services to experts in the Philippines.
Our team at ManilaPros offers all-around digital marketing services to online brands. Our digital marketing experts will manage your social media channels for you by curating effective social media content for your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, and Tiktok. You will also receive monthly reports to ensure that your social media accounts are performing well.
Meanwhile, if you want a team that can engage with your customers through comments and messages, you should also check out our customer support services at ManilaPros.
Do you want to know more about our services? Contact us today!
