how to outsource social media

Outsourcing Your Social Media

Delegating your outreach while maintaining an authentic

expression of self

Conversation Overview

• Social Media for Business– Why use it?– How often?

• Outsourcing Social Media– Why outsource?– Which pieces to

outsource?– How much to outsource?– Who to outsource to?

• Outsourcing Twitter– How, what & why

• Outsourcing Facebook– How, what & why

• Outsourcing Google+– How, what & why

• Social Media Campaigns– Affiliates & joint ventures– Strategy & execution– Campaign monitoring tools

Social Media for Business

• Why should businesses use social media?– 74% of CMOs believe they’ll tie social media

efforts to hard ROI this year– 73% of consumers can be reached through a

social network– 56% of journalists said social media was important

or somewhat important when reporting stories

Statistics from www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com

Social Media for Business

• How often should businesses be engaging?– 1-4 Tweets per hour– 0.5 Facebook posts per day– CTR (click thru rate) is highest midweek &

on weekends

Statistics by KISS Metrics

Outsourcing Social Media

• Why businesses should outsource– Solopreneurs and small businesses have a cap on

available time to devote to social media therefore need to delegate out activities

– Consistency on social media is key to achieving goals and building a following but not all business owners can keep up with demand

– Outsourcing is more cost-effective than doing it at the business owner’s rate


• Which pieces should be outsourced?– Facebook, Twitter, Google+ & LinkedIn

management– Content creation for all platforms– Statistics / reporting on social media sites– Campaign management for promos / launches– Affiliate / joint venture involvement using social

media


• How much should outsourcing social media cost?– Social media assistants / virtual assistants can be

hired at $20-50 per hour– On average, a small business will need 15-30

hours per month, or more, to see returns– Social media campaign management tools (to

facilitate activities) can cost anywhere from $10/month to hundreds per month


• How do businesses maintain authenticity?– If using a ghostwriter: create a swipe file of

your marketing material, blog posts, etc. and provide to writer to get tone / voice.

– Be engaged: review written material, provide corrections and feedback often.


• How do businesses maintain authenticity?– Only outsource a portion: @ replies,

personal responses to Facebook messages, etc. should still be done by you.

– Only pre-schedule some updates: write the rest “in the moment” to maintain a presence.


• Write a social media policy guide / set of standards for your team that includes:– Content that is appropriate for posting

– Schedules for posting content

– Types of updates that require approval first

– Branding / messaging instructions

– Links to all of your sites, etc. pre-shortened

Twitter Facts

• 1 billion Tweets sent per week• During February 2011, there were 460,000 new

accounts created• The average Tweets per day in March 2010 was 50

million - by February 2011, the average Tweets per day was 140 million

• Between 2008 and 2011, Twitter saw a 5000% increase in the # of people they employed

Outsourcing Twitter

• Writing Tweets– Outsource your writing to a ghostwriter who

can learn your voice and write updates.– Have team write:

• Recommended / referral Tweets• Quotes and links to pre-written content• Marketing Tweets for promotions, etc.

Outsourcing Twitter

• Writing Tweets– Have your team recycle all of your content into

140 character updates• Blog posts can be chunked down and linked back to post

for additional traffic• Articles can be chunked down• Videos can be summarized and linked to• Portions of e-books (and print books, etc.) can be

summarized, posted and used to upsell product

Outsourcing Twitter

• Writing Tweets– Create an editorial calendar for your social media

updates• Do referrals / recommendations on Fridays• Schedule marketing type updates midweek• Schedule content rich material each day at 2-3 set times

– Your audience will enjoy the consistency of your updates and you will be able to pre-schedule updates far into the future

Outsourcing Twitter

• Prescheduling Tweets– Promotions / sales / launches– Upcoming events that you are involved in– Dated / timely updates– Recommended resources / Follow Fridays

Outsourcing Twitter

• Prescheduling Tweets– Have your team take content they wrote, or

content you provide, and schedule per a pre-determined schedule of your choice

– Have the team track CTRs (click thru rates) by putting links through Bit.ly or other link shortener

– Use a tool like Hootsuite so you can also monitor, edit and control content before it goes out

Outsourcing Twitter

• Following / Unfollowing People– Your business should have a following and

unfollowing strategy and your team should implement that for you

• Will you follow everyone or just select people?• Will you seek out people to follow or just follow

people back that follow you?• What would be your grounds for an unfollow?

Outsourcing Twitter

• Brand Monitoring– Keywords - useful if you want to engage

people in conversation when they are talking about something you specialize in

– Name usage - tracking your brand on Twitter allows you to provide ultimate customer service to those talking about you

Outsourcing Twitter

• Brand Monitoring– You’ll want to monitor:

• Business Name• Domain Name• Your Name• Pen Names• Trademarks / Trademarked Phrases• Major Product Lines / Brand Names

Outsourcing Twitter

• Brand Monitoring– Tools to help you / your team monitor your brand:

• http://search.twitter.com• http://socialmention.com/• http://tweetbeep.com/ • Hootsuite (create a column for mentions)

http://search.twitter.com/

http://socialmention.com/

http://tweetbeep.com/

Outsourcing Facebook

• Writing Updates– Many of the Twitter concepts apply here with a few

key differences– Facebook has more space so you can share more

content– Facebook has the ability to use photos and video

captions to make posts more interesting so share dynamic content


• Writing Updates– Posts can be pre-scheduled in Hootsuite’s

dashboard interface (where your Tweets are done)– Long URLs can be used, if you wish, which seems

to increase CTRs (click thru rates) since the link destination is visible


• Prescheduling Updates– Facebook is a great place to schedule

updates that request engagement from your audience or encourage sharing

– As with the Twitter concepts, recycle your content and bring people back to your main websites


• Managing Posts & Comments– Have your team report back to you on comments

and engagement on various posts– Follow-up replies should come to you but a key to

keeping it organized: • Schedule a time each day, even 30 minutes, where you’ll

reply personally to conversations• Your team can keep a list of conversations, with URL, for

you in a project management tool such as Basecamp


• Monitoring & Reporting Page Statistics– Using Facebook’s built-in stats tools, have your

team report on your page, specifically:• Demographics• Interactions• Popular Content

– This will guide future updates / targeted messages


• Facebook Ad Management– Have your team:

• Write ad content• Do split testing• Monitor spending and CTRs (click thru rates)• Provide you with a monthly report on success

Outsourcing Google+

• Finding Contacts– New users are coming on Google+ daily therefore

keeping your contacts up-to-date is key• Your team can go into Google+ weekly / monthly and,

using your address book, find new contacts• Your team can also look at the recommended users and

organize those people into appropriate circles to give you more people to network with

Outsourcing Google+

• Organizing Circles– Circles are key in Google+ to keeping your

content relevant for the people you update• Have your team strategize around the best

circles for you to keep• Have them organize your contacts into specific

circles based on criteria you provide them

Outsourcing Google+

• Crafting & Posting Updates– Using many of the previous content creation and

posting tips, you should also note:• Google+ allows long updates to be added - almost blog

style• Use the long posts sparingly but do include links /

images to make your posts more interesting• Content-rich posts that engage conversation do well on

Google+

Outsourcing Google+

• Monitoring Comments & Conversation– As with previous sites, make sure that your team

is tracking updates and notifying you where your personal interaction / engagement is required

– You should also schedule 15-30 minutes per day to devote to reading other people’s content and commenting -- networking is key!

Social Media Campaigns

• Affiliates & Joint Ventures– Launches / Promos / Sales - planning out all of

the social media pieces and implementing prior to launch and incorporating affiliates + JVs

– On-Going Affiliate Outreach - using social media to support affiliates with promoting your products / services on an on-going basis


• Strategy & Execution– Your team can help you organize social media

campaigns that involve many pieces• Write content• Organize the marketing calendar• Communicate with affiliates / joint venture partners

– You should also invest in a social media campaign manager to help you facilitate these larger campaigns


• Arkli– Used to pre-schedule blog posts, YouTube videos,

Tweets, Facebook updates, etc.– Tracked by Google Analytics and internal Arkli

statistics– Perfect for managing marketing campaigns that go

out via social media– Has a WordPress plug-in that makes it even

easier to use - right from the WP dashboard

Questions?

• Ask Questions Live

• Tweet Questions to @ErinBlaskie

• Ask a Question at www.HowtoOutsourceSocialMedia.com

http://www.HowtoOutsourceSocialMedia.com/