Small Business: Don’t hire a social media manager

The philosophy that I hold here at cnctNOW is that your business is an extension of you as a person and as such the social media presence of your company should reflect that. By putting your business personality in the hands of a third party you remove all of the personality you bring to your business. Social media is inherently about connecting with people…not connecting people with business. If you leave your social media to a marketing company they will spend their efforts marketing. Which on the surface sounds like a great idea. The reality is that if you’re doing social media right the marketing is an after thought and the people who follow or engage with your social media will be more inclined to your marketing efforts if you just treat them like a human, or more specifically like a part of your community or circle of friends.

Be Human First

One of the most basic principles I try and share with my clients is that with social media we are trying to remove the Business-to-Consumer model and replace it with a Human-to-Human model. This is, for many business owners, a paradigm shift that flies in the face of business common knowledge. Only after I show them how they treat their best customers do they realize that being human first and a business owner second makes them more money.

Social Media Managers are not you

I’m not suggesting that social media managers are all going to fail you. Good marketing is always good marketing. But hiring them to be the human side of your company is almost always going to come off as artificial, particularly to your best customers. If you understand what I’ve said and you’re wondering what to do now that you know you shouldn’t send your social media responsibilities to someone else give me a call.

Related articles

• Should I Outsource My Social Media Management? | Social Media …