Hiring a Social Media Manager vs Learning Social Media Yourself - Which Option is Best For Your Business?

You set up your business knowing you have an amazing product or service that will help people but what you didn't get told was how to market your business.

It' OK, neither did I when I first set up as a children's entertainer!

Two years into my business I was so lost, I wasn't getting any customers and I thought my run of luck had come to an end.
Until I found that social media was my new friend and off I went to learn how to market online.

I then worked part time for four years managing other people's business accounts as a social media manager and helped them to grow their businesses too.

So I have seen both sides of managing social media, the question is, which is best for your business?

Here are the benefits and disadvantages of having a social media manager or learning social media yourself:

Hiring a social media manager
BENEFITS

• A social media manager will know exactly how to use a strategy to help your business grow on your platforms.
• You are essentially saving time by outsourcing your social media posts to someone else meaning you can focus on the important things in your business.
• Feel relieved knowing someone who knows this stuff is taking care of things for you.
• It's one less thing for you to worry about.
• You can still see the posts and comments so can reply to them when you get time if needs be.

DISADVANTAGES

• Costs money: a good social media manager can charge from £600 a month, and it varies from charging per hour or charging per platform.
• You need to find someone you trust and have a bond with otherwise they won't have the same passion for your business,
• They won't be able to get YOU across, no matter how good they are, they are not you.

Learning social media yourself
BENEFITS

• Learning social media yourself opens doors that you never thought possible!  I ended up being hired for a job I never thought I would ever do because I learned how to grow online myself.
• Once you know what you are doing, you can get your message across in a more effective way because it will come from you directly and there is nothing greater than having your message and values all over your social media platforms.
• Your creativity knows no bounds!  Once you know how, you can offer something that no one else can.  Your creative posts, your tone of voice, your love and heart behind your products and services and you can talk to your customers directly.
• You're in complete control of what you post!

DISADVANTAGES

• Although it won't cost as much as outsourcing this, i=you will need to invest in something in order to get yourself to a good knowledgeable level so your social media works.
• It takes time, it certainly won't happen overnight and you need patience and the will to not give up.
• Learning social media yourself is something else to focus on instead of your business so you need to have a plan.  I grew my business whilst learning how to promote it and it took around two years to start seeing results.

The best thing I ever did was learn social media myself, and I am still learning today!
But I am a big advocate of knowing that if you're the face behind your business, then that should come across in your posts rather than someone else doing it for you.  This probably only applies to bigger companies who need to hire in an expert.
I love that as a sole trader, I have complete control over my posts, it's up to me what goes out and what I want my audience to know.

I am here to help you learn social media with my upcoming classes and handbooks, if you want to be the first to know about them, sign up to my mailing list here, and receive your guide to Optimising your Facebook and Instagram pages.

Many thanks for reading
Jade 

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