I’m guessing your main business product or service isn’t centered around building social media networks, websites, blogs, and microsites…right?
But you read blogs, maybe write one of your own, and hey, Twitter isn’t so hard to understand. So when does it make sense for your business to make the jump from internal management to hiring a consultant to guide your strategy?
*Disclaimer: I provide social media management and SEO services, however this post is not intended as a sales pitch, just a handy guide you can use before hiring any outside consultant.
Decide on Concrete Goals First
Before you choose to pay someone to boost your social status online, think about what you’re looking to achieve. Are you trying to increase the amount of leads your business receives? Do you want to network with industry veterans? The more specific the goals, the easier it will be to achieve them (Hint: write your goals down!).
If you’re curious about which networks to participate on, head to a list of free social networks you should secure your business name with ASAP. The longer you wait, the more likely someone has the opportunity to ‘brand-jack’ the profile that should be yours.
Finally, take your profiles out for a spin! You don’t need to hire anyone to get you started tweeting and facebooking, so long as you…
- Keep your posts relevant to the target audience reading them
- Remember that social media is ’social’ and meant to stoke two-way conversation
- Don’t try to use ‘free’ social networks to spam followers with advertising messages
What to Expect from an Internet Marketing/Social Media Consultant
If someone tries to bill you for setting up your Twitter username and password, run like hell.
Experienced ’socials’ want to get to know your business and match your goals and expectations with a workable strategy. This includes a realistic determination of what can be achieved with the time and money you have to invest. Sometimes simple is better, and all you need is an SEO optimized blog to get moving.
More ambitious companies, however, realize that potential fans and customers (yes, social media is a part of your revenue generating marketing plan) hang out in different places and need to be approached across multiple channels. That’s why an SEO optimized blog/website/microsite acts as the landing page you direct people on social sites to, but it’s far from being a complete network.
You need to participate on Twitter…and Facebook…and most likely on either YouTube and/or a free streaming video site like UStream. The payoff for participating on networks like these is the distribution of your marketing message, making connections and …yeah, driving sales.
So when hiring a social media consultant, check out how effective they are at promoting themselves on Google and all the networks they want to plug you into. When you search their name, what shows up? How many conversations are they engaged in on their own time?
Oh, and my fellow professionals will want my head for saying this, how does the consultant justify their cost? I use a simple hourly rate, but it’s also fair to charge by project so long as you can prove value aligned with the businesses interest. What I fear is the people who hire a person to get them linked in, then don’t know what they hell they spent $10,000 on when the process is over.
So businesses — and their partners (Hint: your online partner better not be just another ‘vendor’ to you) must have iron-clad agreement on expectations. Don’t be shy about asking your potential online representative what to expect. If you want this person to write your first 10 blog posts and provide a weekly phone call to advise on strategy, speak up. The more aligned your interests, the better.
Alright troops, go forth and conquer the Interwebs (with or without a consultant of your own)!
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