Social Media: Outsourcing vs Insourcing vs Coached

In this article, we explore 3 ways to pathways:

1. Insource Social Media: Build an Internal Competency
2. Outsource Social Media: Call the Pros
3. Coached: In-house, with Guidance

Advantages:

1. Deep Brand Understanding: Your team, being intimately familiar with your company’s core values and culture, can produce content that’s deeply aligned with your brand’s essence.
2. Instant Communication: Immediate feedback and swift decision-making are possible when your social media team is in-house.
3. Full Control: You retain a hands-on approach, allowing for a tighter grip on your marketing strategy.

Challenges & Solutions:

1. Potential Overwhelm: Managing social media in-house can be daunting, but this challenge can be mitigated with comprehensive training.
2. Resource Allocation: Ensure you allocate enough resources to manage your social media effectively, from tools to personnel.

Advantages:

1. Expertise and Strategy: Leveraging the knowledge of social media professionals can provide strategic advantages, from audience targeting to content strategy.
2. Time and Resource Optimization: By delegating to experts, you free up internal resources to focus on core business functions.
3. Consistent and Engaging Content: Specialized agencies or professionals can craft content that stands out and engages your audience effectively.

Challenges & Solutions:

Outsourced or not, you cannot take your hands off the wheel (or your eyes off the road). Ensure the following is in place:

1. Clear Communication: Regular check-ins and meetings are vital to ensure the outsourced team aligns with your brand’s vision.
2. Maintaining a Unified Voice: Clearly define roles and expectations to ensure your brand’s voice remains consistent, regardless of the number of contributors.
3. Approval Processes: An effective approval system ensures content aligns with your brand image and guidelines.

Advantages:

1. Bridging Knowledge Gaps: While the in-house team brings passion and brand knowledge, a strategic coach can fill in expertise gaps, ensuring your team is well-rounded and informed.
2. Alignment of Sales and Marketing: A coach can help synchronize your sales and marketing efforts, optimizing your strategies and ensuring consistent messaging.
3. Long-Term Investment: While there’s an initial cost in hiring a coach, this investment can yield long-term returns. As your team becomes more adept, the reliance on external expertise decreases, and your in-house team can operate independently.

Challenges & Solutions:

1. Balancing Costs: While coaching can be an investment, it’s essential to weigh this against potential long-term benefits and savings.
2. Finding the Right Fit: Just as every business is unique, not every coach will be a good fit. It’s crucial to find someone who understands and can align with your company’s goals and culture.
3. Keep it Tight – but Loose: You are not beholden to an agency, but keep systems in place. Make sure you’re taking advantages of possible agility and responsiveness.
4. Freedom to Let Go: At some point you will be ready to go in without your coach, but you might never be able to let go of your agency and still maintain your presence.

Making Your Choice in the Jungle

All pathways come with their own sets of challenges and rewards. Insourcing provides intimate brand knowledge and quick decision-making, while outsourcing leverages expert insights and saves precious time.

Owning the task, be it in-house, outsourced, or a blend of both, is paramount because it ensures accountability, fosters a sense of responsibility, and guarantees that there’s a dedicated focus on the specific task. When someone has clear ownership, there’s a heightened commitment to the success of the project, ensuring that milestones are met, challenges are addressed promptly, and objectives are consistently pursued with vigor.

This sense of ownership not only streamlines processes but also cultivates a culture of pride and dedication in achieving the best possible results.

Whether you decide to rely on your internal team or trust the expertise of external guides, remember: with the right approach and tools, navigating the marketing jungle becomes less about survival and more about thriving and seizing every opportunity. Prepare, be vigilant, and you’ll find your way through. Safe journeys!

In conclusion, the marketing landscape offers multiple pathways, each with its own set of advantages and challenges. Whether you decide to go entirely in-house, rely on external expertise, or blend both approaches, remember that with the right strategy and resources, you can find your way through the marketing maze and emerge on the other side, ready to seize every opportunity.
Regards,
Your Strategist
Jonathan Jensen


--------
Hi, I'm Jonathan, founder of Competitive Plays
I help analyse how customers find you and buy from you.
Then, we deploy strategies to optimise your success at each node on your buyer's journey.
One of those strategies is your social media strategy, and I help businesses thatwant to take this in-house.
If that's worth a chat, book a FREE 50-minute consultation with me.
Find out more at https://competitiveplays.com