When your company grows, you may want to outsource various aspects of your work to a third-party company. Many companies turn to a social media marketing agency at this stage in order to manage their digital campaign and take it to new heights.
The hard part is that there are an ever-increasing number of social media marketing agency to choose from, and that number is growing by the day. So, how do you go about selecting the finest one for yourself? You’ll almost certainly need to conduct some research on your end, but here are eight factors to consider while narrowing it down.
Quick View
- Dedicated Experts
- Willing to Learn
- Powerful Tools
- Quick and Efficient
- More Proactive, Not Reactive
- Proof of Success
- Good Example of Work
- Clear KPIs
Dedicated Experts
If an agency is going to put your job in the hands of a client account manager who will handle everything from graphic design to writing your articles, you might want to think about it again.
Managers are wonderful for being your go-to person and managing your account. It’s also beneficial if they have a passing knowledge of the many competencies. However, if they’re the ones who do the work, this may not be the best choice of social media marketing agency for you.
There are simply too many distinct abilities required for a single social media manager to master them all. On your team’s list could be graphic designers, writers, someone who looks at analytics, and perhaps even a photographer.
But this is where your agency comes in. They’ll take the many different voices you’ll be hearing about, mix them together, and come up with one cohesive presentation that will appeal to everyone involved. Now, it’s understandable if you as the customer don’t have close contact with each of these people. It would quickly become quite messy.
Willing to Learn
A social media marketing agency that boasts about the many industries they serve should cause you to reconsider. Do you want to deal with an agency that works in a few areas at once?
You’ll want to make sure that the company you’re working with has a deep understanding of your industry, your specialty, so they can produce content specific to your brand. Alternatively (which isn’t necessarily an indication of failure), if they aren’t willing to learn, then this shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s similar to the previous point. An account manager can’t be an expert on everything. Nobody can do it. Similarly, a company that deals with a large number of clients can’t be an authority on all of them.
If you own a salon, your social media marketing business should know about the various services you provide, how they operate, the advantages, and more.
If you’re working in a highly sensitive sector, such as law or medicine, your choice of agency is especially important. One incorrect move here may lead to the agency and the customer getting into hot water.
This isn’t to say that you should only look for a company that exclusively caters to salon owners. The objective is to locate an agency with enough industry knowledge to be able to help you out.
Powerful Tools
The ability to quickly scale up is an incredibly important characteristic that should be taken into account while planning a digital marketing strategy. Even if you establish your own platform, it won’t be sufficient on its own.
A social media marketing agency should have features that allow you to plan out postings ahead of time, produce and edit beautiful graphics, run advertising, and closely monitor data and analytics.
They should also have the ability to monitor what others are saying about them and about you on social media platforms. If you want your connection to develop, you must first interact with people (surprise!). When someone mentions you, likes your stuff, follows, or reactivates accounts that aren’t yours; it’s important to interact with them.
Keep in mind that it’s not only about keeping your account up to date. It’s also a matter of growing and finding new methods to improve it.
Quick and Efficient
It’s a fast-paced world out there. As a result, you can’t afford to wait three or four days for a social media marketing agency to respond to an email.
We all experience periods of inattentiveness. Every one of our inboxes is overflowing. However, even if only to state that they will review the email and respond by PIC, a competent agency should always respond promptly. There’s trouble if an agency goes silent and you can’t get the answers you need.
Communication is more important than ever, given that many of us now conduct our entire business exclusively online with firms that aren’t located in our region. You must know that you can reach out to them and expect a reply within a reasonable amount of time if your company is based in Bali and your social media marketing service is in Jakarta.
Additionally, keep in mind that when you’re dealing with an agency, you’re working with other customers. Take a breath if you don’t receive a reply within minutes; it’s fine. Patience is still a virtue.
More Proactive, Not Reactive
What’s better than leaping to repair something when it goes wrong? Taking measures to avoid things from going wrong in the first place. That’s the distinction between being reactive and proactive.
To be clear, things will go wrong. People make errors. We’re only human. So don’t come out swinging the first time your firm stumbles. What we’re implying is that they should work as hard as possible to prepare and avoid anything ever going wrong in the first place.
They should be aware of current and evolving trends in order to alter their methods. When something goes wrong (which will happen), your social media marketing agency should immediately acknowledge it and tell you how they’re going to repair it. The pace at which the world of social media evolves is too quick for any of us to slack off.
Proof of Success
Anyone can self-apply the label “social media expert,” and there are now hundreds of firms to help you. However, a social media marketing firm that can show you it’s worth your money is less common. This is why you should request proof: evidence!
A social media marketing agency that has worked with different businesses in the past should be able to offer testimonials, case studies, and other examples of how their services have benefited clients. You need a clear indication of what they did and what the outcomes were.
Did they make more page likes? Did they increase traffic and engagement? By how much? Did they run a profitable sponsored advertisement campaign? To what extent did they use social media to grow a client’s email list significantly?
Furthermore, what was the price to the customer for these outcomes? That may not be something an agency can talk about too much, but it’s worth asking.
Get down in the weeds and ask them these sorts of things. It’s not enough for an agency to show you a screenshot of a post they created that received 100 likes. This is too surface-level. Really delve into it and see what kind of value they’re delivering to their clients.
Also, be sure to check out other consumers’ comments on the firm’s website. Online reviews can provide a wealth of information.
Good Example of Work
A company’s social media accounts function as a portfolio in a sense. The standard you see here is what you can expect of the quality of work they’ll do for you. If their corporate platforms are a disaster, this isn’t a good sign.
Look for all of the features you’d want on your own page: a lot of activity and developing interaction, high-quality content that includes text, images, and videos, crystal clear branded visuals, and so on.
In fact, you might even inquire with social media marketing agency about what measures they’re taking to develop their own sites and how they plan to do so. You’ll be shocked at how many aren’t prepared for this question.
Clear KPIs
A performance indicator. Performance indicator. These are what we use to track and assess our progress. For example, it’s insufficient to simply aim for a higher level of participation. What will you measure? What is your objective? That’s your KPI.
A social media marketing agency should be able to provide you with a list of KPIs to measure so that their efforts were paying off once they get to know your brand, objectives, and pain spots. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your money.
We all know how intimidating it may be to see so many different possibilities and pick just one. And here’s a harsh reality: You might not pick the best option on your first go.
If that happens, don’t be alarmed! This is quite common. Sometimes, you must embrace a number of frogs before finding your prince. Narrow down the agencies by doing your homework; don’t be scared to ask a lot of questions, and expect to make some mistakes along the way. There may be an overwhelming number of agencies to choose from, but many of them are qualified and will find the ideal match for you.
Contact SATUVISION right now and discover why everyone is loving our social media marketing agency services. If you’re ready to take your social media presence to the next level and need a management solution that does it all, contact us today.
