Stuck in a rut with your social media marketing efforts? Try outsourcing social media marketing.

We’ve updated this post to be relevant to our 2021 readers. All new updates are in bold. Between the immensely creative teens on TikTok and the adorable pets on Instagram, we’re not surprised you might be feeling a little lost on the content creation front. Fortunately, all hope is not lost. In fact, there’s a simple and easy solution– outsourcing! The best part is that you probably don’t even have to look that hard, that far, or all that wide to find fans and followers who are eager to create content for you. In actuality, they are probably already doing it. 

Hint: check your pending DMs on social and your tagged photos!

Learn the benefits of outsourcing the job to your fanbase here.

Managing your social media platforms can be fairly time consuming.  Hours-upon-hours are spent meticulously crafting messages and agonizing over the best way to publish those messages. The hours, cost and headaches of managing everything yourself can quickly add up. Other areas of your organization save their team from these costs and headaches by using outsourced resources. Don’t want to do that menial task? Outsource it!  Need someone to do some basic product research? Outsource it. You get the picture.

With so many aspects of your business being outsourced already, isn’t it time that you explored outsourcing some of your social media marketing as well? We’re not talking about hiring someone off of Craigslist and handing them the keys to your digital kingdom. Why spend money on someone you don’t know when you have an army of loyal followers at your disposal? That’s right I’m referring to your social media fans and followers. They are a prime source for outsourcing assistance, especially when it comes to publishing your social media communications. Using tools like SocialToaster, managing this aspect of outsourcing is a breeze and can come with a host of other benefits.

Benefit Number 1:  Louder Voice

One of the major benefits to outsourcing your social media marketing is the immediate growth of your audience.  When you’re only publishing on your platform, you can only reach your fans and followers. In a way, you’re preaching to the converted. When you outsource your social media marketing to your fans, you suddenly have access to each of their platforms, fans and followers. This exponentially increases your voice, and you didn’t even have to buy a megaphone.

Just how much more does it increase? Oh, about 28%! Your brand engagements increase when your audience and followers are exposed to a healthy mix of professionally created content and user-generated content.

Benefit number 2: More Read Messages

As you’ve heard us say time and time again, individuals trust messages they receive from their friends more than messages they receive from brands. 92% of consumers look to their friends, families, and followers when it’s time to make a purchasing decision.  When you outsource your social media marketing to your fans, they become the ones sending your communications. And with 90% of consumers noting authenticity as one of the most important factors in any brand’s messaging, UGC is a sure-fire way to ensure that your followers and fans are paying attention and absorbing your message. You can have all the impressions in the world, but that doesn’t mean diddlysquat if that message isn’t being read.

Benefit number 3: Increased Publishing Speed

When you’re outsourcing your social media marketing to your fans, not only are the messages being sent to (and read by) new audiences, they’re also being sent faster. Thanks to Millennials, who are the biggest content drivers, contributing about 70% of all UGC online. Why are they such huge drivers to create user-generated content? Because Millennials trust UGC 50% moreover brand-generated content.

When you post a communication it can take a bit of time for the retweets and shares to build up. With outsourced social media marketing that isn’t the case, the initial email containing the information goes out to your entire fan base at once. This allows your fan base to simultaneously hit the share button and begin publishing your message. The result, the message is seen by more people in less time than if you had left it up to old fashioned retweets and shares.

Benefit number 4: Reduced Cost

The main cost when you outsource your social media marketing to your fans is going to be the cost of the platform that you use to facilitate the outsourcing. That’s primarily it. This cost replaces the other costs you may currently have. For example, if you want to get your message sent to a wider audience, you may have to pay to promote that status update.

Want to have your Twitter profile put in front of new eyeballs? You may have to pay for it. Need to schedule your posts and receive analytical data? Again, you’re going to have to fork over some green. How about finding someone to do your social media publishing? Yep, you guessed it, another cost. These are all costs that can be mitigated, reduced or eliminated when you start to outsource your social media marketing.

Benefit 5: Consistent Messaging

When you simply ask a user to share your article on their social media channels, you lose control of the messaging. You have no power to dictate the words they use around your article, whether they give 100% completely accurate information or even if what they post is positive. That’s where using a social publishing tool to help you outsource your social media marketing can really come in handy.

Through tools like SocialToaster, a user is only hitting a share button. The message they are sharing has been typed by you beforehand. That means that you have complete control over the message being served. The resulting benefit: peace of mind.

Benefit number 6: Time Efficiencies

Arguably, the most expensive resource in the word is time, although unobtainium may be a close second. Luckily for you, when you outsource your social media marketing to your fans and followers, there are some time saving efficiencies that come in to play. Granted, initially there is a time investment as your team learns the platform and you start to formulate a recruitment strategy. However, once the track is built, the trains can easily run on it.

Long term, time efficiencies may mean less time focused on managing an internal publishing team, researching publishing tools, writing posts, and gathering performance data/KPIs. If outsourcing saves your team even an hour a week that can add up to 52 hours by the end of the year. You just gave yourself an extra week of time (and then some).

Benefit Number 7: It’s Now a Priority 

When social media first came onto the scene (RIP Myspace), it was strictly a place for people to unwind and peruse the daily lives of their friends and family. As social media evolved, the various platforms quickly became market spaces where brands (and people) could market and sell.

This means that now, social media should be more than just an afterthought to your brand. It should be a priority. Trust us. It’s not some college intern managing the Wendy’s or Burger King social media accounts. While companies like Wendy’s and Burger King may have the funds to staff a strong social media team, not every business has that luxury. Outsourcing your social media to your fans and followers can help you make social media a priority even if you don’t have a big marketing budget. 

Benefit Number 8: Improved Employee Morale 

Stress from being overworked and having to wear too many hats can wear down employees. When stretched far too thin, your team will not produce the results you want and need from your social media marketing. When you share the burden of content creation and execution with your fans and followers, you relieve your staff of unnecessary stress. Now your staff now has more time, energy, and resource reserves to do their best and be at their most creative – which is exactly what your business and brand needs to be successful. 

These are just some of the major benefits that come with outsourcing your social media marketing to your fans and followers. Curious about learning more? Contact an official SocialToaster rep today.

What are some benefits you’ve experienced by outsourcing? Leave a comment below and let us know.