Should companies outsource social media? Why/why not? All those in favor, would you outsource to a digital, PR, or branding agency?
Clarification added March 28, 2010:
Things have changed a great deal in the last 18 months. Companies are getting serious about social media. Outsourcing digital is as much a risk as is hoping that a Social Media expert will save the day. Is there a role for agencies in the digital space?
Clarification added March 28, 2010:
[disclosure: this is background research for a post I'm composing. I've invited professionals from different countries/roles to this conversation. Any material used will be credited to its source. Thank you.]
Clarification added March 30, 2010:
Thank you everyone for the contributions. If you're interested, I put my thoughts together on this conversation and where I think we're going next at Conversation Agent - http://www.conversationagent.com/2010/03/should-you-outsource-social-media.html
Answers (42)
One of the opportunities for business to enjoy the benefit of social media is to express value to customers in an authentic, unmediated voice enhanced by the potential for immediacy.
Without doubt there are practices and skills that are needed in social media but it is important that organisations begin to acquire them directly, rather than mediating through third parties.
It is a significant trend that brands are moving away from a core obsession with how their image is projected to how well they engage with people (and I shy away from terms like consumers or customers intentionally - in an always-on world we are more than walking wallets). The metaphor of conversation takes on an altogether more literal meaning.
Being a useful part of people's lives, available when wanted or needed, human and accessible will trump the kind of specialised communications that depended on contrivance or artistry to get attention (advertising, PR, etc).
Bad news for specialty comms suppliers but good news for business and the people they serve in an unmediated present.
Simon Y.
Principal at syENGAGE, conference speaker and co-author of Social Media MBA http://bit.ly/rS5aoG
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As usual, the answer is "it depends". There are many facets to social media, some of which make perfect sense (e.g. monitoring, measuring, reporting, app development) and other things - mostly in the content development space - that really need to come from an authentic place within the client.
I'm biased about the answer to the second half, but I wouldn't outsource to a PR, brand or digital firm. I'd outsource to a consultancy that does the work with a transition of power in mind - i.e. taking on some tasks now because we have the expertise, but all the while working towards discovering or recruiting internal talent to take over from us.
Kind of like what the US is (apparently?) trying to do in Iraq. Be a facilitator of the client's own sovereignty.
Patrick C.
SEO in Dayton / Dayton Social Media Consultant / Dayton Mobile SMS Text Marketing
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I'd say it is much better to outsource to a social media expert, than fumble through and make a big PR mistake. Once you start a viral brush fire it's hard to put it out. Of course I'm biased as this is what I do for a living, but I believe that you need someone to do your social media, you can't just assign it to someone who's already got a job.
You need someone experienced in reputation and brand management, someone who can track it and give you daily or weekly statistics. Someone who also knows how to get ranked in search engines as that's part of the game. This can't be learned in a week or a month, some are obviously more talented than the rest.
I recommend either choosing to hire a talented community / social media analyst / optimizer, or outsource it. Just don't try to get by doing it yourself, or letting someone unqualified do it Failure to take control of your brand's image via the social space can be brand suicide.
As an aside, be sure to do your due diligence when choosing a social media 'guru', consultant, or expert. Make sure to check their web properties on alexa, and compete. Try and find how many backlinks they have in the search engines, and what their google pagerank is, or how many fans they have on facebook, or followers on twitter.
If they can't brand themselves, then they can't brand your business either.
DJ W.
Social Media. Email Marketing. Community and Network Building. Creating (killer) Events. Founder & CEO of Waldow Social.
The thought of outsourcing something that is so personal makes me nervous. Part of the beauty of social media is it's authenticity. I feel that once you begin down the road of having individuals not intimately tied to the product, service and/or industry, you risk sliding down the slippery slope. What's next? Automating tweets? Scheduling Facebook comments and likes?
Scott A.
Digital Marketing Strategist | Digital Media Mogul
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As social media evolves, I believe people will come to see it less and less as a separate business practice, or even a marketing channel, and more as simply another communication tool -- and an essential one, regardless of the size of the company and your role in it.
So in that regard, it's kind of like asking whether companies should outsource email or their telephone. And the answer is that there are some pieces that definitely should be outsourced, but other parts, it's ludicrous to even ask the question.
For any company over a few employees, it probably makes sense to outsource the installation and maintenance of your phone system. Your email server? It depends on your IT infrastructure, but even some of the largest corporations outsource it.
So the "plumbing" -- the technical infrastructure -- makes sense to outsource.
Use of email or telephone for large-scale, focused campaigns (whether for marketing, market research, whatever) is often outsourced, because it requires specialized skills beyond what a company can typically manage in-house, especially if it's something that's not being done full-time.
However, it's ridiculous to talk about outsourcing most employees' individual use of email or the telephone. It's an integral part of their job -- how they communicate with coworkers, customers, colleagues, etc.
Social media is no different. It makes perfectly good sense to outsource the technical infrastructure. including some of the maintenance tasks. You don't need to be figuring out WordPress plugins in-house.
It also may make sense to outsource the bulk of certain types of communication, or specific campaigns outside the normal day-to-day operations, to an outside firm, either because they have expertise you don't have in-house or because of the resource requirements of a project.
But there is always a piece of social media that will be in-house. Really, though, stating it that way isn't accurate, because "social media" isn't this thing that can be "owned" any more than it makes sense to talk about ownership of telephone or email.
Glenn H.
Owner, HansenHouse Communication
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For the great majority of companies, social media should be outsourced. How and to whom depends on the company's goals (and budgets, of course). If the social media is a video blog or music based, for example, the work will be handled differently than if the main goal is customer service communication. So, yes, the outsourcing will make sense for most companies simply because of the specific and evolving technology tools that can help make the most of social media efforts.
gianandrea F.
founder and owner at Buzzdetector, the strategic monitoring company
Valeria, my take is that this is not a black or white situation for several reason: the company structure, the attitude toward relationship with clients, the market, the consulting agencies roster (adv, pr, etc.).
I believe that companies should not outsource social media function, because social media is strictly related to brand perception as well as brand value. Indeed, companies should look for advisors able to carry them across the perils of the social web: when to answer and when not to answer, how to answer, to whom give the first answer, etc. To be honest I see a majority of consultants prepared on the social web but not on some marketing and branding basics.....
It all comes down to a matter of resources. Many companies are dipping their toes in the vast domain of Social Media, and it's hard to justify a fully dedicated team (with knowledge on web Analytics, content strategy, web development, etc) on a such a new field.
Agencies can provide teams that are more scalable, and benefit with the learning from other clients. The risk is also diversified, mainly on the social platform fees, with the benefits of discount and agency pricing.
The economical incentives are sound, and for clients that have a long time partnership with an agency, the downside of business knowledge or authenticity isn't much of a problem: with a CMO turnover of 2/3 years, an agency most of the times has better knowledge of the brand than the company.
The whole prejudice against agencies by the social media "experts", isn't helping them either: there are agency people that are also authentic, conversational, inspiring and with a sound knowledge of the social web. And with decades of practice in communication, not 2 years on Twitter.
In the end, it's the result that matters: you can have an internal team with 10 people but with no freedom to act, or partnering with an agency that sometimes is free from the corporate culture and more agile on shipping things.
At Fullsix, we have a few clients with internal social media teams, and we mostly help them fine tune their efforts, from consulting to brainstorming, from promotion to monitoring. On each case, the partnership with the agency mostly depends on the stage they're in in Social Media engagement and the objectives defined (sometimes defined with the agency). Some functions belong fully to the client (e.g.: customer support) are could be managed mostly by the agency (e.g. promotion, social ads), on what can be seen as a collaboration cycle, where each actor (Adv, PR, SEM, Dev) is aware of the policies and guidelines set by the brand.
There's a line here that shouldn't be crossed. Any company or organization can benefit from outsourcing the "how to" of social media to a credible consultancy. The rub is when you lose authenticity by outsourcing "go to" implementations.
Daniela B.
Digital Delivery Manager at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
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Hi Valeria,
I think it first depends on how large the company is and how much time and financial resources they are willing to invest. Small businesses could easily just hire a freelance on social media or just add a small team of 2-3 people that could handle the social media strategy. For medium to large companies that are a brand name already, i would suggest using a digital media agency. That is because they need to put a lot of effort in their social media strategy, so they need expertise in this area. If they go wrong, they have a lot to loose, so professionals that are dedicating their entire time to this is what they need.
However, for very large brands, I would suggest both an indoor team and a digital media.
I am saying digital media agency rather than PR or branding agency only, because a digital media should be able to understand the principles of online reputation management. And that is what a company needs. A digital media agency should be able to consider PR and branding as well when developing a social media strategy, but add the online bit to it.
Daniela
Links:
Steve L.
Award-winning audio/video producer, photojournalist, videographer, c-level PR counselor, professional podcaster.
I think it will depend on the organization's budget and resources and the kind of relationship they have with their communications consultants. There are some tasks that may or may not make sense to in-source. For example, companies that want to produce high quality audio or video podcasts (the kind we produce for clients) may not want to make an investment in equipment and training, and while inexpensive tools like Flip cameras are available, we don't encourage clients to depend on them for sophisticated productions that require professional equipment.
Content development should always originate at the client with input from the consultants about what works and what might not, but it has to be a closely integrated partnership, and doesn't necessarily all belong in-house.
Links:
The quick answer: if it is transactional, not core, someone else can do it for you. If it is relational, keep it as close to home as possible. An organization should outsource the engine, but own the strategy.
Valeria, it depends on how you're defining 'Social Media'?
In general terms though, Social media is a two-way, or multi-directional 'conversation' that you're having online. It's the same conversation that you'd have off-line.
So if you're confident in giving responsibility for someone else, external to your company, to speak, engage and converse on your behalf (off-line AND online), then perhaps outsourcing is a possibility for you.
Myself, i would not feel confident in an external company having the same passion, experience, drive or vision as my own team, so from that perspective i would never contemplate outsourcing.
As various people have already said, it depends on what you mean by social media and what the organisation's goals are.
If you're talking about using Twitter, Facebook etc...to engage with people as an individual or as a small business, then I'd say do it yourself, but do it wholeheartedly and combine it with regular blogging about your business sector.
If you are talking about a wider comms strategy on behalf of a brand then I think there is a place for external help. A lot of people (usually people who run "social media consultancies") talk about social media as if it stands in complete isolation from other types of media.
I am inherently biased because I run a PR agency, but we are finding a lot of success in integrating digital and social media activity into wider PR campaigns for clients. This is all about communicating with an audience, whether that's through the filter of traditional media, or more directly through social media, and this is a skill that PR consultancies are naturally very good at, with the caveat that specific skills such as SEO and online monitoring are often best left to experts in those fields.
Social media culture implies a different approach to internal organization, Human Resources, R&D, production and customer care, it's not only a communication and marketing business.
Companies need to rethink themselves in order to fully embrace the culture of open conversation, and good consultants (digital strategy ones, I'd suggest) should help them to understand the tools and define effective strategies, keeping in mind branding and business objectives.
You can not externalize your daily conversation (be it CEO's blog or the answer to a customer in trouble), nor you can fully delegate the definition of your objectives, or the evolution of your corporate culture and ethic.
Nonetheless, good external experts can contribute with their expertise, and bring an external point of view which is precious to define an effective strategy.
Links:
Clarification added March 29, 2010:
For those of you who can read Italian (or who trust automatic translation), the question raised an interesting discussion on FriendFeed, follow the link:
Jeff G.
Rethinking business from the inside out | Customized integration of social technologies to drive unprecedented results.
I think it depends on what you are outsourcing.
I think the creation of a social media strategy is best done with the help of a social media consultant or outside agency.
I think the day-to-day is probably best done by someone internally provided they have the time and autonomy to engage on behalf of the company.
Ultimately it's a question of resources and core competencies. Much the same as a company with no knowledge of accounting might outsource their accounting, I think certain companies may struggle, at least initially, with social media. Having an outside perspective from an individual or team that is passionate and well informed about social media can be exceptionally valuable for a company and could help avoid future mistakes.
Jeff G. also suggests these experts on this topic:
Gianluigi C.
Managing Partner 90:10 Group ★ Do you leverage Social Media as business accelerators? Be Faster, Better and Cheaper
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Hi Valeria,
It depends on what kind of Social Media it is. You refer to PR , so probably it concerns Communication.
Social Media does have lots of other applications as well.
Outsourcing the Communication itself is a tricky one, outsourcing the Social Media Architecture, Yes!
Best regards,
Gianluigi Cuccureddu
Links:
Outsourcing does not have to be such a dirty or negative term, nor is it so black and white of a decision. The choice to outsource must be determined on a case-by-case basis based upon the company's culture and objectives. It is alright to outsource as long as the company and consumers have clear expectations of responsibilities.
Some areas I can see where it would be helpful to outsource are:
-aggregating data
-gleaning insights from large data sets
-filtering through data stream to highlight items requiring personal response
If I were to outsource these tasks, I would hire a PR agency because they are used to aggregating this data from MSM. (As a side note: The PR Agency should also be able to provide guidance of how to respond in an authentic voice.)
Tiffany M.
Senior Content Marketing Manager, Social Media & Community Strategist, Writer, Speaker
I just saw this report today about how many are outsourcing social media and thought I'd pass it along.
From the corporate perspective, I think that you have to approach this answer strategically. What's the attitude and approach your company already applies to marketing and advertising, to customer service, to outsourcing in general? If outsourcing is already a core tactic your company uses to create campaigns or implement programs, them outsourcing some social media functions may make sense for your company. If most of these programs are run in-house, then I think working with an agency should be handled very strategically so that efforts align with your internal efforts.
However, regardless of whether you choose to use outsourcing to help fulfill some of your company’s needs in social media, when it comes to social media in the enterprise, it's critical to have key personnel within the company who are actively using social media in some way so that there can be advocacy and education within about all the different areas of business social media can touch - from marketing, communications and PR to customer service, employee relations, technology, HR and beyond.
Seeing social media as strictly a marketing function you can simply check off the list by using an agency is an attitude that could rob your company of incredible and even critical conversation and innovation.
Links:
While I strongly believe in keeping functions like marcomm in-house, I do believe organizations just starting adding social media to their marcomm mix should consult with an experienced professional to ensure it starts off right if they don't have staff already working with social media.
Kent L.
President & Founder of Anvil & Formic Media - SEM & social media marketing agencies
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Should a company outsource it's employees? Same question. Social media is a direct communication platform, which is a unique opportunity to ask, listen and engage. Why would you outsource your R&D, customer service and marketing? Easy: you don't care about your business OR you strive for a 4 hour workweek.
An agency's role is to help develop strategies, guide implementation and train internal staff how to manage social media. We do monitor social media for select clients and provide monthly reporting for many more, but we primarily focus on research, planning, training and consulting. That is how I believe ALL agencies should engage in social on behalf of their clients. I've provided links to our social media marketing white paper, articles and case studies to illustrate my point.
Links:
If you truly "get" social media and have the time to nurture it, you can do it yourself, but most CEOs and company owners don't have the time or desire to do so. So, outsourcing makes sense.
I run one of those companies that gets the outsourced work. We are an internet marketing and PR firm. It all blends together and is semantics, but I tend to think of branding agencies as dealing with the bigger strategy, and smaller firms like mine being able to be nimble and react quicker to the changing tides of social media.
The key is: do it, however you do. Still some companies are reluctant to jump on the social media bandwagon and they are beginning to suffer from being behind!
Links:
Brian O.
Owner/Consultant: Conversation Starters Public Relations
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No. Social media is deeply personal. You've got to live and breathe the message and no one does that better than you.
Can you go outside to learn tips and tricks? Yes. But the everyday stuff needs to stay in house.
Emma H.
Employee Adoption specialist at 2e2 (Focussing on Technology, Media and Telecommunications sectors)
Best Answers in: Organizational Development (1)
I agree with a lot of the previous comments - using Social Media is about creating a personality for yourself, engaging with people, establishing yourself as a thought leader - who better to do this than you?! The common reason people outsource is that Social Media all seems a bit scary; companies don't know where to start, how much time to invest, how to prove ROI - even the very basics such as WHY they need to use Social Media.
When I started a Social Media strategy for my own company, it was quite overwhelming. What tools to use to save time, how to attract more followers / fans, what content will people be interested in? What worked for me was attending various seminars and training sessions [disclosure: 2e2 provide Social Media training] which provide this sort of understanding for me, then once I was empassioned enough about it, did it all myself.
People will realise if your SM activity is outsourced, and once they do, you lose the credibility you have tasked the agency with establishing for you.
I disagree with the notion that there is such a thing as a social media expert, guru, or strategist.
There are, however, communications pros within agencies or other types of firms who can help you reach your business goals by communicating via all channels including social media.
Agencies will be most useful by creating or managing the platforms where companies can engage consumers, media, or both as well as by creating some content.
@jackmonson
Links:
Stephen D.
Consultant, Speaker, Author of "Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath In Your Industry"
Valeria - getting started in social media is daunting for most brands because to those who don't have this in their bloodstream, it's a buzz word - a box that needs to be checked. The CEO heard that Twitter is all the rage, that smart companies are blogging, or that they need a Facebook "presence," and it becomes a quarterly objective. It also comes with a 10 page contract for internal employees before they post their first tweet, describing what they can/can't say under penalty of termination. It's enough to make you cringe.
Hiring an expert - an agency or a consultant - to provide guidance on the tools and potential strategies is smart, as it will shorten the learning curve. But you can't outsource your voice. Unless social media and the willingness to converse openly and honestly is a part of the culture, it will evaporate as soon as the agency relationship ends. And agencies get fired every day.
Social media is part of the overall communication strategy of a company. If that company works with a PR or Branding agency, they should be involved in shaping the strategy for engagement and suggest content. As a PR person, I do not speak for my clients, I work with them to help shape their message and stay on track with their strategic goals. Social media is social. It's a conversation. Conversations are between individuals, not representatives. Everyone markets you whether it is part of their job description or not. It is the job of the digital, PR or Branding agency to help shape the message, not engage directly on behalf of the client.
Eric T.
Delivering Business ROI via Paid Search (SEM), SEO, Social Media & Content Marketing.
Valeria and everyone,
First this is what social is all about exactly what Valeria is doing right here, right now, so thanks Valeria and everyone who participated.
This is how I break it down:
Companies that's ready for social media (willing to invest time/money, resources)
--------- YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE IF YOU NEED TO ---------
- Gain knowledge and training for your internal staff
- Build processes to streamline with your existing marketing
- Assess current needs (facts, numbers, traffic, engagement..etc)
- Help your internal staff to scale campaigns (lead and educate)
- Quickly ramp up your social media needs (time to market)
- Accountability, ROI (from agency to client and vice versa)
Ultimately from the business owner's perspective, I recommend to teach someone how to fish instead of giving them the fish and charge them every month. But they need to know the implication of both to decide what's good for them.
However; agencies come in handy to scale and provide the missing pieces from a resource perspective such as production and ideas; and they may be a better choice when you're running an hybrid campaign which has social media as part of the integrated effort. When you mix and match online with offline, social with SEO, it can get overwhelming.
The role of agency also depend on the agencies themselves where they stand in their core competencies. It doesn't matter if you're digital, PR or branding agency, if all you worry about is billable hours and not the value you bring (I've clean this up before), it'll reflect on the results.
So when in doubt, go to an agency or an expert, lay all your cards on the table because ultimately you can mess up doing it in-house or outsource regardless; the key is to have processes and policies in place that's flexible enough to constantly evolving with the changing landscape in digital.
Just my 2cents.
Karen H.
Marketing Communications Consultant, Project Manager and Business Writer at K-Vision Communications
Hi Valeria
I think there is a role for outsourcing digital in the social media space. Surprisingly, there are still many companies out there who are not familiar with how to use social media to build and monitor their brand. That said, if I were to hire an external supplier to run my social media campaign, I would choose someone who had expertise in social media - and social media only. I wouldn't hire a PR company as they focus on just one aspect of the business. The same applies to ad and/or branding agencies. Their core businesses and skills are too diversified to trust the extent of their knowledge and experience in the social media realm.
Agencies with a proven track record that specialize in social media are your best bet to achieve results in what many are still calling the 'Wild West of digital and cross-platform branding.' As long as you stay close enough to the strategy side to keep track of what's going on, you'll maintain enough control to be able to monitor your brand. After all, social media is all about starting and maintaining the conversation and/or brand - isn't it?
Hi Valeria,
I think everyone so far has made great points.
My personal opinion is that social media sites should be used by the companies themselves. The reason is because no one understand your company better than you. Your brand, your products/services, your passion can only be conveyed by you. These are used to communicate with your customers (and potential customers) and I feel it's the company's responsibility to do this. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable allowing another agency being a spokesperson for my company on social media sites. If something went wrong it would be hard to bounce back as this medium is so public.
Agencies have a place in this - the set up, teaching companies how to use them and being around for further support and teaching.
I think agencies like us should teach companies how to use these effectively. We can set them up but that should be where our involvement ends really - unless the company has IT issues or questions.
