Recently in a client meeting, we introduced the client to their digital media specialist who will handle their social media and content updates as their social media manager. At Dogwood, we assign a digital media specialist to clients who have a monthly contract with us as a way of maintaining a one-on-one relationship.
We began by explaining how the best and most effective social media will come through an open line of communication between the digital media specialist and the point of contact for the business. This potential client was having a difficult time understanding why there would need to be cooperation and communication between the two.
With that in mind, we thought it was a great opportunity to explain a little bit more about the nature of working with a social media manager and the options you have.
Different Types of Management
The first thing to mention would be that there are several different packages that we offer for social media management in particular. We have tools in place to help you as much or as little as you like.
The “Do It Yourself” Method
The most basic way we can help you with your social media management is through our management program, Sycamore Social. With Sycamore, you’ll be able to create content and schedule your own posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, and more! This method is completely up to you to manage but you do have access to our chat support as well.
The “Social Mentorship” Method
In this level of social media management, you’re still the one creating and scheduling all of your content, but we are here to mentor you! We’ll help you come up with content ideas, teach you how to make a coherent schedule, and even give you reminders if we see that you’re falling behind.
The “2-3 Posts a Week” Method
In this tier, not only are we here to answer your questions and help you out, but we’re also going to take over scheduling 2-3 times a week for you. We still encourage you to post on the other days that we aren’t because the more you post the more likely people are to see your content, but as always, the amount that you want to be involved is up to you!
The “4-5 Posts a Week” Method
In this final level, we’ve pretty much taken over your social media scheduling completely. You’ll have custom content scheduled to go out 4 to 5 days a week. You’re still welcome to post additional content if you’d like, but at this level more than any other, we have to work as a team to come up with the best plan to help your business succeed.
Let’s Be a Team
Regardless of the method you choose to use for your social media management, as soon as you sign your contract, we’re a team! Even our DIY clients have access to us through our online chat option and can ask questions and get help. We support one another! Particularly for our 2-3 posts and 4-5 posts a week clients, the more we work together the more successful their social campaigns will be.
Think of us as your outsourced marketing department. If you hired someone in-house to manage all of your social media marketing, you wouldn’t bring them in on day one and let them loose. Instead, you’d likely train them on your voice, what you expect, and hopefully, even share with them the culture of your business so that they can embody who you are and what you want to portray.
Likewise, we want to learn about you! As your social media manager, we want to know your voice so well that when we post it sounds identical to the rest of your branding. We want to internalize the culture of your organization and have a clear understanding of your expectations. However, unlike your in-house person, we aren’t in your office day in and day out.
We aren’t there to take photos of the office or snap a picture of a staff training day. We need your help to know when you’re having a sale, what new products you want to push, and when it’s someone’s birthday that you want to celebrate!
The digital media specialist assigned to you as your social media manager will have open lines of communication at all times so that we can make sure that we’re scheduling what you need posted when you need it posted and that we’re representing your business accurately!
“If I have to help with content then why wouldn’t I just do it?”
Great question! There are a million reasons why one of our Digital Media Specialists would be a huge asset for your business, but I’ll focus on just two.
Time
If you’re searching for a Social Media Manager, then you’ve probably already realized that running social media well takes a lot of time! Chances are, that’s time that you don’t have. You might spend an hour or so each week talking to your Digital Media Specialist to nail down the details of your posts for the next week, but that’s nothing compared to what you would have spent coming up with content ideas, creating the content, writing the captions, scheduling them or possibly posting them manually, and then monitoring conversations and responding back to people as they interact on your post.
We want to save you time so that you can do the 101 other things that need your attention!
Expertise
Believe it or not, it’s hard to come up with successful social media content especially if you don’t know how to read the analytics to decipher what’s working and what’s not. That’s where we come in. Since we do this every day of the week, we are great at coming up with a starting point for your social media and then tweaking it from there to help you reach your goals.
We know what all the social media metrics mean (and yes we’ll teach you what they mean as well) and we know how to translate that into real meaningful steps that you can take to better your business’ success.
If you’ve ever thought about working with a social media manager, contact us at Dogwood and let us talk to you about the ways we can help! We’d love to get you connected with one of our Digital Media Specialists and see you reach your goals.
