Because most of our audiences are online, you should prioritise social media marketing at various stages of your business journey.

At the start-up phase, this is something you can do by yourself. You can easily establish an initial presence on social media platforms by engaging with potential customers. However, as you scale and expand your business, it can be more challenging to work on your social media marketing by yourself.

It’s at this point that you need to consider whether it’s time for you to hire a social media manager, whether as an in-house employee or a third-party provider. In this blog, we will discuss the importance of a social media manager as well as the signs that your business needs one.

What is a social media manager?

Some people have the misconception that social media managers just have fun scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, but their work is much more involved than that.

A social media manager is responsible for creating, managing, and publishing content for a brand’s social media accounts. 

Their responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Strategy development: This involves defining target audiences, setting objectives, and outlining strategies to achieve the social media and overall marketing goals of the business.
• Content creation and curation: They create original content and curate relevant content from other sources to share with followers.
• Posting and scheduling: Social media managers handle the posting schedule across various platforms to ensure consistent and timely content delivery. They may use social media management tools to schedule posts in advance.
• Community management: This involves engaging with followers, responding to comments and messages and fostering meaningful conversations. They also handle customer inquiries, feedback and complaints.
• Social media advertising: Planning and executing paid advertising campaigns on social media platforms to reach specific target demographics, promote products/services, and drive traffic or conversions.
• Analytics and reporting: They use analytics tools to monitor key metrics, track performance and provide regular reports to stakeholders.
• Stay updated with trends: Social media managers follow new developments in social media platforms, tools, and trends. They adapt strategies accordingly to leverage emerging opportunities and stay ahead of competitors.

As a business owner, it’s important to understand the gaps in your own skills and expertise. You must recognise when to delegate to employees or third-party providers who have specialised training. Hiring a social media manager is a good example of delegating one business area to a professional with specialised expertise.

5 signs it’s time to hire a social media manager for your business

We’ve shortlisted five indicators that you need an expert to manage your social media marketing.

1. You’re struggling to prioritise your social media

According to Sprout Social, 94% of leaders acknowledge that social media positively impacts brand loyalty. Meanwhile, 91% of business leaders agree that social data helps them gain a better understanding of customers.

It’s not surprising that business leaders recognise the importance of social media in achieving their branding and marketing objectives.

However, it can be challenging to prioritise social media marketing if it’s not your field of expertise or if you lack the time to develop it. 

Running a business involves numerous responsibilities, and business owners often prioritise tasks that directly impact operations, sales, and revenue. Social media marketing can be time-consuming, requiring consistent effort to create content, engage with followers, and analyze performance.

Having a social media manager can help you maximise the potential of your social media and use it to achieve your marketing goals.

2. You’re unsure which social media channel to use for your brand

It’s understandable if you feel pressured to use most, if not all, available social media platforms. However, it’s not advisable to do for your business. 

Choosing a select number of social media platforms can be more effective than trying all of them at once. 

Social media advertising can be highly targeted based on user demographics, interests, and behaviours. You can achieve better ROI by choosing platforms that offer robust advertising capabilities and align with your advertising goals.

Different social media platforms also attract different demographics and user behaviours. By selecting platforms where your target audience is most active, you can maximise your reach and engagement with the right demographics.

Each social media platform has its format and style of content that resonates with users. Tailoring content to fit the platform’s strengths (e.g. visual content on Instagram and professional updates on LinkedIn) ensures that the content is well-received and engages your audience effectively.

A social media manager can help you identify the best options for your business and how you can seize opportunities on specific social media platforms for your brand.

3. You can’t measure your social media performance

Tracking key metrics allows you to assess how well your social media efforts are performing in achieving specific objectives such as brand awareness, engagement, lead generation or sales. By analyzing metrics, you can determine what strategies are working and where improvements are needed.

Data from social media analytics also provides valuable insights into audience behaviour, preferences and trends. You can use this data to make informed decisions about content strategies, ad targeting, timing of posts and overall campaign optimisation.

Key metrics that can help you assess your social media performance and generate social data include:

• Engagement rate
• Amplification rate
• Audience growth rate
• Reach
• Impressions

A social media manager can diligently track these metrics and produce reports on your social content performance. This allows you and your social media manager to identify top-performing marketing initiatives and ways to improve your social media marketing strategy.

4. You can’t consistently create social media content 

Consistency affects social media growth and your overall branding and marketing goals. Posting on a regular schedule gives your audience something to look forward to, and it demonstrates that you are a dependable source of information on social media.

Consistent posting also reinforces your brand identity, allowing you to establish a recognisable presence and build trust with your audience over time. On a technical level, many social media algorithms favour accounts that post consistently. This can lead to higher reach and better visibility on users’ feeds.

However, as a business owner, you may have limited time to commit to a regular posting schedule for your social media platforms, given that you’re focused on developing your core competencies.

Your social media manager can create a posting schedule, as well as the necessary content, to ensure that your channels are consistently populated with content.

5. You want to build a brand community online

Nurturing customer relationships and acting on their feedback are just some of the ways to retain your existing customer base. This also extends to your social media platforms, wherein you can build thriving brand communities online.

A brand community fosters a sense of belonging among your customers. It encourages them to engage with your brand on a deeper level, leading to stronger emotional connections and increased loyalty.

Engaged followers are more likely to recommend your products or services to others. Positive word-of-mouth within the brand community can significantly enhance your brand’s reputation and attract new customers.

Your social media manager can help you build a brand community on your platforms and encourage an active audience base.

Overall, a social media manager enhances brand visibility, audience engagement and effectiveness in leveraging social platforms for business growth. 

Contact us and we will help you identify what you need for your business.