5 Signs It’s Time To Hire A Social Media Manager – And Why It’s Worth It

These days, social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are way more than a hobby or a fun way to communicate with friends and family: social media is a crucial digital marketing tool for businesses, especially small independent ones. However, many business owners often overlook the importance of it, either due to a lack of understanding, a personal antipathy to social media in their own life, or a straight-up a lack of time — it’s hard to add one more thing to your plate each day, especially if you have to do a little self-education first. 

Business owners who do pursue social media, often ask an existing employee to helm it, frequently someone younger with a decent following on their own social media account (because they “get it”) – but that’s not quite the same. Developing and executing a successful social media strategy requires enough focus that whoever is managing it should be dedicated to that. Plus, there’s no guarantee that just because someone knows the ins and outs of TikTok, that they can represent your brand well online — or understand how algorithms work in general. Social media marketing really is its own thing, marketing-wise. 

That’s where hiring a specialized social media marketer comes in — and it doesn’t have to be a full-time hire. In fact, if you’re a small business, you probably just need someone helping you externally. Trust us when we say that in the end, you’ll save yourself time and money hiring a pro right off the bat. 

On the fence? Wondering how your business fits into this? Here are five signs it’s time to hire a social media manager — and why it’s worth it. 

IT’S TIME TO HIRE A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER IF…

You Have Difficulty Prioritizing Social Media. 

Social media is in its own sector of marketing and needs its own unique strategy. Because of this, it requires prioritization. If you cannot balance all your company’s ongoing marketing efforts and also devote enough time to do a good job with social media, it’s time to hire someone who can. If your marketing team is small for your company, be realistic about their workload and whether they can give social media the attention it deserves to see results. If you’re considering devoting more time to it yourself, just keep in mind that when you have too many things on your plate, something's got to give — so either social media will suffer, or something else will. In the end, it just makes sense to hire someone. 

You’re Not Sure How To Measure Success. 

All the work you put into social media is only worth it if you can determine a return on investment (time is money too) — we have witnessed many business owners think that social media's only purpose is advertising products. But that’s not the only way to build qualified leads — and it’s far from the best way when measuring success. 

If you’re not quite sure what success looks like, or how to set benchmarks for progress and analyze your metrics, you won’t know what strategies are working and what’s not — and if you don’t know that, you can’t tailor and tweak your strategy for success. A social media manager can collect performance data, analyze it, translate it for you, and then take their findings to adjust the strategy. 

You Aren’t Sure Which Social Media Platforms To Use.  

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn — each has its own point and purpose in the social media universe, and some are going to be a better fit for your business than others. Rest assured that you don’t need to have a presence on each; in fact, it’s better to focus on a couple platforms and dedicate your energy (or your social media manager’s efforts) to those. Can’t decide which one is best for your business? A social media manager will be able to identify this and get you going. 

You Can’t Keep Up With The Trends — And Don’t Really Care To. 

Trends on social media change in an instant, and what is popular one day might not be the next. The reality is, if you don’t keep up with the latest trends, don’t live and breathe social media, or just don’t really want to do either, you cannot have a solid, successful social media presence. This, however, is a social media manager’s job, and they’re all too happy to be your eyes on the trends instead. 

You’re Not Getting Engagement. 

Receiving engagement on social media is essential — think likes, shares, and comments. This indicates that what you’re posting is resonating with people, and that’s what attracts them to buying your products or services. No engagement? Maybe you’re not posting enough; maybe you’re posting at odd times; and maybe what you’re posting just isn’t doing it for people. That’s OK! But it’s also good to recognize that if what you’re trying just isn’t hitting, it’s time to leave it to a pro who can analyze the situation, figure out what’s going on, and then develop content that people engage with (your life will probably be a lot easier, too). 

When it comes to social media, strategy, monitoring, and content are so important — and if each doesn’t get its own focus, your social media won’t be able to do the job you want it to: engage potential customers. Plus, social media marketing is an entire ongoing job in itself, so hiring a social media manager is well worth the time and energy it will save you (or someone on your team having to learn on the fly). If you are spinning about what direction to move in, contact Joba to learn more about hiring a social media manager, and how we can help you and your brand.