You’ve got your business up and running in the physical set up, but to make it in the industry you need to have your presence felt online. That is just how it works now as the world continues to move forward and businesses find new ways to engage their markets.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos user basketman

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos user basketman

Running a social media campaign or an online marketing/advertising strategy can be a very time-consuming process. On the average a marketer will most likely spend at least two hours on just a single social network in a day, and currently there are a number of social networks that you need to be on: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the top three.

To push your brand some more you might need the help of sites like Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram and Foursquare. Over time more social networks will crop up, and you need more than 8 hours of a regular work day to accomplish the requirements of a social media campaign.

As a small business owner, here are several reasons why you should consider outsourcing your social media.

According to Online Social Media, there are three considerations for calling upon an outsider: expertise, time and money.

First up is expertise. As much as you know your business in and out because you are the owner, there are people who have been trained to analyze different markets and target these markets using strategies tailored to their characteristics. PR practitioners, marketers and advertisers have extensive background in launching and maintaining campaigns. A practical knowledge of your market combined with intuition allows these experts to stay on top a social media campaign.

If you see your competitor constantly tweeting about the latest industry news and updating their Facebook page, you can be certain that someone else is managing their campaign for them. A good social media service will take time to research on relevant news that could be posted on your behalf. They will also know when to post them, as the right timing is just as important as the right content, when it comes to sharing information to markets.

Second is time. As a small business owner, you cannot micromanage everything even if you want to. Going online takes up a huge chunk of your time and will deplete the rime resource that you could use instead to oversee the other aspects of the business such as production, operation, financials, etc.

If you think you can just unleash a tweet in five minutes, think again. Why? Because in the world of social media, content is still king. No matter how many social networks you sign up for, or how many posts you release in a day, if your content is not engaging or well thought off, your customers will simply ignore it. What is worse is that they will unfollow you and associate your brand with annoying posts.

“Although it may only seem like a quick 140 character Tweet or a short Facebook update, it takes time to produce quality content. If you’re a small business or a start up, you don’t have the time to manage your social media activities, yet you want an active presence over all the major networks,” according to Online Social Media.

You need to outsource your social media because a campaign or an online strategy because spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet is a huge part of knowing what works in this landscape.

Third consideration is money. Surely you want to be assured that an outsourced social media campaign is doing its job in promoting your brand online. More than just liking and tweeting, experts will constantly provide you with reports to help you keep track of your strategy’s progress.

“Although social media services come at a cost, your service provider will be keep to demonstrate the ROI, because they will want you to invest with them. Consider this, if you’re are [sic] going to do it properly in house, then you’ll need to think about changing a current employees job role so that they can invest their working day in social media. Then you will also need to consider who will take on their previous role? This could lead to an unnecessary recruitment drive within the business, which requires, investment of both time and money- both of which could leave you with more overall outgoings than you had originally anticipated,” according to Online Social Media.

If you feel that outsourcing your social media campaign is the right track for your business, research on potential companies so you can narrow down your options and be sure that you will be getting the right service your needs.