The 4 Can’t-Live-Withouts of Social Media Services

Social media this, social media that. You’re probably feeling inundated with advice on social media these days.

B2B or B2C, if your business doesn’t have an active, engaging, and relevant social media presence, you need to build one.

And maybe you’re trying.

But since you’re reading this, you’re probably also fumbling—or at least know that you could be doing better. For many businesses that have that “Aha!” moment, the next step is to find relevant social media services.

But here’s the truth:

“Services” is a little misleading.

Alas, social media isn’t something to be “serviced” like a broken A/C or bad brakes.

Done right, social media services are a lot more complicated than leveraging automation platforms and letting the content flow. And the payoff for following best practices is well worth the wait.

1. Social Media Services: S@!% Should Get Personal

Who not to hand over your social media account information to:
Social media services providers you call for the first time on a Friday who claim they can start by Monday.

Believe us, they’re out there by the hundreds.

Don’t consider your social media “serviced” if said provider boasts they can hit the ground running in a week, either.

Like any other element of marketing, social media management requires a thorough understanding of your brand.

To manage social media well, that understanding means a lot more than being able to list off the breadth of products or services you provide. Anyone who touches your brand should be able to identify your buyer personas and be savvy to targeting content to the right people at the right time.

Someone ready to execute social media services should understand your brand’s whole reason for existing.

They should know—and, if necessary, help you identify—the pillars on which your brand stands.

They should know how you would want to respond if a disgruntled customer complains that your bubble bath isn’t gluten free.

And we’ll scream it from the rooftops:

They should have strategy developed just for you—not simply “goals.”

2. This Is Your Brand on Social Media Strategy

After getting to know your business well—both from what you tell them and their own research—an agency or individual taking on social media services for your company should have a solid strategy that informs every action they take.

They should have your voice nailed down so it’s consistent every time. Anyone posting now or in the future should be able to follow the guidelines for your voice.

Maybe you’re the kind of brand that would never say “y’all.”

Or would always say it.

Even though it’s just a word, there’s a difference.

What they plan on posting for you shouldn’t be random, either.

A strong social media services company will identify the main types of third party posts that make sense for your brand to share—as well as curate a list resources from which to pull that content. They’ll also know how to position your company when posting self-promotional content and how frequently to do it.

And they won’t post on any channel just because it’s trendy or forgo one because it’s not.

When it comes to scheduling times, they’ll know there’s no perfect answer and that “it depends” is the closest thing to one.

A truly prepared social media services company will put the whole strategy into a broader context, too. At Envision, our strategy is in five phases and executed over nine months. The first stage is strategy itself, after which we build, amplify, analyze, and expand.

It sounds complicated because it is.

The actionables in each phase are very deliberate and the goals aren’t just vanity numbers.

Bear in, mind, too:

A lof of social media services only post content—and maybe respond to it.

Unless you’re already a master of your own digital advertising, you’ll need a lot more out of social media services.

3. The Best Social Media Services Get Creative

Earlier in this post, we used the word “presence” in reference to your business on social media. Social media presence has two meanings:

The first is more obvious. It’s merely being visible on social channels with frequent posts and timely responses.

Remember, though. Social media is an extension of your branding. Presence, then, is what you embody, how you present yourself.

Self promotion, both as digital advertising and company culture posts, is a critical part of social media marketing—and the same should go for social media services.

The latter is easy enough: humanize your company by publicly celebrating the big and small things you do as a company.

Won second place in the Pixelwood Derby? Share the hell out of it.

Digital advertising is a lot harder.

Even if the rest of your content is on-point, you’re missing out on a huge (and obvious) advantage of social if your digital ads nonexistent or cobbled together.

As if they lived anywhere else (on a billboard, in a magazine, etc.), digital ads should be consistent with your brand’s look and feel. They should be part of a greater campaign that serves a greater purpose.

4. Let’s Get Digital, Digital (Let Me Hear Your Copy Talk)

A social media services company claiming to have the resources to execute digital ads should have what an advertising agency has: a designer, a copywriter, and an art director.

But a lot just “manage” social media.

And you might think that because it’s “only” social media, quality ads are less important, but when you’re boosting a post to reach hundreds, if not thousands of carefully-targeted users (or even if you aren’t), it matters.

It’s your brand. Everything matters.

We believe that social media shouldn’t exist within a vacuum, but instead as an integrated part of your marketing at large.

That’s why we have a account strategist, content strategist, social media specialist, copywriter, and graphic designer dedicated to each one of our social media clients.

It’s why a whole team gathers to decide on the exact right copy, the exact right font, and the exact right image.

It’s why, instead of settling for easy, straightforward digital ads, we created an entire creative campaign for Night Hawk Foods.

It’s why we don’t just “service” social media.