My old views

I used to adamantly believe that everyone can learn how to do social media themselves, and should do some of it themselves for at least a month so that they can be more responsible if they outsource it. By doing so, they will be able to understand better what works and what doesn’t. I’d seen so many people hiring in interns and their teenage relatives, and with very little information imparted about their business, handing over the keys and the passwords to their social profiles.

Interns and teenagers don’t usually have business experience

Plus, social media can be very daunting to begin with, and there are all the different unique platforms you would need to learn and understand – and all those rules! We hear all sorts of questions: “How professional should my LinkedIn business profile be?” “Can I hashtag on all platforms?” “What’s the difference between a personal Facebook account and a Business one, especially if I run the business on my own?”
Learning some basic rules about it is still a must – we insist our less experienced clients have at least one quick and easy social media overview session with us.
But I realise with your busy life, you’re thinking “can’t someone else do this?” and they can!

But they can’t be just anyone. I’ve listed below some characteristics of the best social media managers:

• Great attention to detail
• Organised and efficient
• Excellent spelling, grammar and punctuation
• An eye for basic design aesthetics (or even better, a talent in design!)
• A real interest in your business
• An interest in other people
• An interest in social media and continuing to learn about it
• A thirst for knowledge – social media activity requires you to read articles and watch videos in your business sphere.

Hiring someone who fulfils this criteria to to help takes the guesswork out of it, and will mean you will have a proper strategy in place, knowledgeable people behind your accounts and proper content that your visitors actually want to read.

What social media should I do myself and what should I get an “expert” to do?

Based on you finding the right fit with your social media expert you can still ensure your voice and personality is being conveyed – and therefore you could get an expert to do it all for you. You can’t just hire someone and then sit back and relax, you will need to assist with content ideas – but as long as your expert understands you and your company you can have a very active social appearance without having to do to much!

Want to learn more?

We run social media and content marketing workshops regularly here at TLD – check this page to book your spot! Or if you’re ready to take the plunge, email us at team@toleftdesign.com or fill in our contact form.