Managing Social Media Strategy In-house versus Outsourcing
In an online social media discussion group I belong to, a member asked the other day whether, in order to have an effective social media strategy, a company needs to have its own social media department or in-house staff.
A discussion followed about the comparative merits and limitations of in-house staff resourcing for social media, versus outsourcing.
Some argued for outsourcing the whole process to a company specializing in social media. Others felt that it made more sense to keep, variously, some or all of the process in-house.
My own view is that it doesn’t have to be an either/or decision.
But I’ve heard the full outsourcing pitch often enough from owners of outsourcing businesses to know that they can have a firmly held belief that the only sensible thing any business can do is to outsource the whole process to them, the self-proclaimed social media expert service providers.
And of course on the business owners’ side, there is no shortage of those who would rather write a check and have someone else handle the whole thing than get directly involved themselves.
Even if they have staff who might be able to develop and implement a social media strategy, they can probably adduce some very good reasons for not wanting to either divert those people from their existing responsibilities, or hire new staff for the purpose.
I understand that approach. We’re all busy and circumstances for many businesses these days are very challenging.
But what bothers me about this “outsource it all” approach is that companies which take that course of action never really learn, from day-to-day, “hands-on” practice, what is really involved in connecting via social media with the newly connected, newly empowered customer.
It is partly an age thing. Many older business owners and executives just don’t want to learn new tricks.
But there is a lot more at stake here than new tricks. There is a whole new environment in which business has to operate.
Missing an opportunity
No matter how practical the decision may seem, it seems to me self-evident that any company which outsources completely the social media function is choosing thereby to miss out on an irreplaceable opportunity to learn from practice, including mistakes, how it all works.
Not that I expect busy professionals in fields other than social media to invest the kind of time and money I and other colleagues have done into learning about social media, or to be anything like engaged as some of us are on a daily basis.
It’s a matter of balance.
Naturally I’m all for companies engaging social media strategists!
And I believe that in that role I can usually bring something of fresh value to the table, to help the company develop a strategy that is right for it, as well as being available to provide some other support services.
The key to my preferred approach, which I spell out to clients, is that I aim to “leave the tools behind“, so that the company can become effectively self-sufficient in developing and maintaining their presence on the social web.
What that means is that I help them build their basic strategy in house so they really own it and then if they wish help them with initial implementation. I can also help with training in-house staff to take up the responsibility for implementation.
I’m also happy to do what I can to help them choose outsourced resources, if the task and their approach make that appropriate.
My objective is simply that the company’s owners and key leaders own the strategy, know how to handle the tools and keep overall responsibility for implementation, even if they outsource some or most of the day-to-day implementation tasks.
Not everyone is going to buy that approach, particularly the part about keeping at least some of the core management of the process in-house: but those that do so, and take action to implement the approach, are putting themselves on a path of a more practical learning and enriched understanding about what is happening in the new business environment and how to ride the wave, not be swamped by it.
It’s about taking a long-term view of the business and investing in the future while at the same time engaging more effectively with today’s customers.
Let’s face it: the customer is not outsourcing her or his role as a consumer and in fact is becoming more and more directly connected on a daily basis and more directly engaged via the social web. So can any company afford to be heading in a different direction?
Which is why I believe that a full-scale outsourcing of social media engagement represents not only missed opportunity for capacity building, but a serious risk of becoming less, not more connected with the customer.
What do you think? Are the companies you know more likely to buy the “full outsourcing” pitch, or keep it all in-house, or choose a blend of both?
Des Walsh
Business coach and digital entrepreneur. With coach training from Coachville.com and its Graduate School of Coaching, and a founding member of the International Association of Coaching, Des has been coaching business owners and entrepreneurs for the past 20 years. Over the same period he has also been actively engaged in promoting the business opportunities of the digital economy. He is a certified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) coach, and a certified specialist in social media strategy and affiliate marketing.
@Des:disqus, I couldn’t agree with you more on the issue of outsourcing. I think you don’t appreciate the money you spend when outsourcing until you have done some or all of the work yourself first. Its much easier to make the decision on what to keep and own and what can be done by an outside admin team when you have reached your max on internal resources. And most importantly, I don’t think that a fullly outsourced plan really conveys your relationship with your current and future clients, unless of
course you want a superficial relationship with your clients.
Wendy
xeeme.com/wendysoucie
Well put, Wendy. Of course, no one will admit to wanting only a superficial relationship with clients, but that is effectively what a lot of companies put in place.
With three pages, I find it a challenge to keep it all in house…but I know it must be done…personal and personable is best…for sure.
Thanks for a great perspective Des
You’re right David – personal and personable. And you do that well. I imagine with time you could train someone to help you with the output and responses, e.g. with scheduled sharing of interesting items on dentistry, business etc. If you do that, I’m all for making sure you have a way for people to know whether this particular tweet or Facebook post is from David personally or from one of his team. E.g. using initials at the end of the tweet/post. See for example how they do it at Sutherland Shire based Campaign Monitor on Twitter http://twitter.com/campaignmonitor
While I do agree that keeping it in-house seems more than reasonable, I think the question is how to create the policies and metrics to manage it, in-house or via an outsourced group. Looking at the essentials of content, communication, connection and community (4C’s) a company might look to divide and conquer some tasks, roles and responsibilities in-house and others to an agency/bureau. Looking back, at telemarketing centers, call centers and then contact centers, from their birth to current operation, this is very much of the same thing that happened. Until the processes and technology supported the management of the operation to a “third party” they were not outsourced. And, while it can be argued that they never should have been outsourced, many of the calls and service requirements are. And, in some cases, to bureaus that do an excellent job.
Thanks for that Keith. I agree completely about the importance of having the policies and metrics in place at the outset, whether the management of the process is going to be inhouse, outsourced or a blend of both. That also entails some decision-making about what analytic and monitoring tools are to be used. It’s an interesting and useful analogy, for the purposes of discussion at least, with call centers and contact centers
As per my view Social media is best option for In-house versus Outsourcing. With the help of it users can easily promote its business and increase the relationship with the customers.
it depends always on your capacity. We should admit that no matter how much experience we have in business, there are still a lot of things we cant do, that’s why we need to outsource.
I like your ideals. and I support your idea about keeping things in-house and hire your own employees there, whom you can manage yourself.
Some are good at the other way around, who explore skills around the world. Most also succeed in that strategy some don’t. It’s actually how you handle it and how wonderful your system is.
Thanks for sharing.